Dragonfly partner Rob Hadick struck an upbeat note for crypto’s medium-term outlook on CNBC’s Squawk Box on Dec. 24, arguing that recent volatility masks a broader adoption trend that should accelerate into 2026—especially in stablecoins, prediction markets and tokenized assets. Pushing back on the idea that crypto has entered a fresh “winter,” Hadick urged viewers to “zoom out.” He pointed to multi-year returns to show the market hasn’t broken: relative to the day before the 2024 U.S. election, he said, bitcoin is up roughly 26% and the Nasdaq about 28%; over two years bitcoin has doubled while the Nasdaq is up about 50%. “It hasn’t had a great year. But I think it’s important to zoom out,” he said, adding that he’s not trading chart patterns: “I’m not a technical investor. I’m a long-term investor. We’re a VC fund.” Hadick said he expects a “strong and constructive 2026,” driven by better macro policy and compounding real-world usage of tokenized solutions. That, he argued, should support continued momentum in major token prices such as bitcoin and ether and drive growth in areas of practical utility. He cited a McKinsey figure that he said shows stablecoins now account for roughly 3% of cross-border payments—up from basically zero a year ago—and predicted “another tenfold increase.” Dragonfly’s strategy, Hadick said, is deliberately non-ideological and cross-chain: the firm backs projects across ecosystems rather than taking a “bitcoin vs. ethereum” stance. “We invest in everybody that’s doing anything that’s interesting in tokenized digital assets,” he said. “We’re not… ideological about crypto. What we are is investing in the future of innovation in financial markets.” Two categories he singled out for rapid growth are stablecoins and prediction markets. “Stablecoins I think are here to stay. I think it’s going to grow tenfold,” he said. “Prediction markets I think are here to stay. I think they’re going to grow tenfold.” On prediction markets, Hadick argued the market goes well beyond betting on sports. He pointed to Polymarket’s recent volume surge as evidence of expanding use cases: from around $50 million a month in early 2024, he said, Polymarket is on pace for about $4 billion of volume this month—only about 35% of which is sports-related. He contrasted that with Kalshi, which he characterized as being more focused on sports infrastructure for platforms like Robinhood. Hadick also invoked the tokenization thesis advanced by Intercontinental Exchange CEO Jeff Sprecher, saying prediction markets could converge with mainstream financial infrastructure rather than remain a novelty. “If you talk to Jeff Sprecher over at ICE… he’ll tell you he believes in the tokenization of all markets,” Hadick said, adding that Sprecher viewed opportunities such as Polymarket as potentially very large. He framed prediction markets as programmable risk-transfer tools, not just wagers, citing an example of an insurance company exploring weather-related hedges via market structures. “Every single thing and every single market and outcome that can be put into a market—or really just a binary option, which is what it is,” he said. Asked about Ethereum versus Solana, Hadick rejected a zero-sum “MySpace vs. Facebook” comparison: “No, they’re both Facebook.” His view: multiple settlement environments will be necessary if tokenization takes off. Ethereum holds advantage in where value and stablecoin liquidity live today; Solana is optimized for high-throughput, low-cost trading. He acknowledged the platform layer isn’t fixed and noted Dragonfly’s investment in a newer chain, Monad, calling it “trying to be a Solana killer” and citing an early-stage valuation around $2 billion and a token price near $0.002. At press time the total crypto market cap was $2.92 trillion. Hadick’s message was clear: volatility and headlines may dominate headlines in the near term, but he sees structural adoption—stablecoins, prediction markets, tokenization and market infrastructure—driving a more constructive 2026. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

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