Insights 2026: a16z Unveils the Future of the Crypto World, RWA, AI Agents, and Privacy Chains Will Reshape the Industry

Global top venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has released its annual flagship report “17 Crypto Trends for 2026.” The report points out that the annual trading volume of stablecoins has reached an astonishing $46 trillion, a figure not only 20 times that of PayPal but also close to three times the annual transaction volume of global payments giant Visa.

As AI intelligences are integrated into economic life on a large scale, the form of financial services is being redefined. The report proactively indicates that blockchain technology will evolve from a tool for trading and speculation to infrastructure supporting the value flow of the next-generation internet.

01 Industry Barometer: Observing the Path of Crypto Evolution through a16z’s Annual Review

As one of the most influential barometers in the crypto world, a16z’s annual trend report has long been regarded by industry insiders as an important basis for predicting the future. This year’s report compiles forward-looking observations from its crypto team and several invited industry experts.

The report covers a wide range of key areas including stablecoins, real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, payment finance, AI intelligences, privacy and security, and prediction markets. Its core insight is that the development focus of the crypto industry is shifting from mere on-chain performance competition to competition based on network effects and application value.

This means that building products and protocols capable of solving real-world problems and creating genuine demand will be the main theme in 2026.

02 Comprehensive Upgrades of Stablecoins and Financial Infrastructure

Stablecoins are no longer just “supporting roles” in the crypto world. Data shows that their massive trading volume is rapidly approaching the scale of the US Automated Clearing House (ACH), marking digital dollars as an important medium for global value exchange.

However, a16z experts point out that the current core bottleneck lies in how to seamlessly connect on-chain “digital dollars” with the traditional financial systems used daily by people—namely, the stablecoin deposit and withdrawal channels.

A group of emerging startups is bridging this gap by integrating regional payment networks, utilizing QR codes and real-time payment channels, and even building global interoperable wallet layers.

A more transformative view is that stablecoins could become a key external force driving the technological upgrade of the outdated global banking system.

a16z investment partner Sam Broner notes that a large amount of global assets are still recorded on “core ledgers” running on mainframes and programmed in COBOL.

Stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and bonds provide banks and financial institutions with a “low-risk path” to innovate without rewriting old core systems. This will also unlock new scenarios such as real-time cross-border payments and merchant acceptance without bank accounts.

03 Deep Integration of AI Agents and Blockchain: From Tools to Economic Entities

As AI intelligences take on large-scale commercial activities, the way value flows must undergo a fundamental transformation. The report believes that future systems will act based on “intent” rather than step-by-step instructions.

To achieve this, value must be able to flow as quickly and freely as information, which is where blockchain and smart contracts play a critical role.

Currently, smart contracts can settle global USD payments within seconds. By 2026, with the development of emerging protocols like x402, settlements will become programmable and responsive.

For example, AI intelligences can instantly and permissionlessly pay each other for data, GPU compute power, or API calls, without manual invoicing and reconciliation.

a16z experts Christian Crowley and Pyrs Carvolth foresee that in this model, “payment flows” will no longer be an isolated operational layer but will become a network behavior, with “the internet itself becoming a financial system.”

This evolution brings an urgent new requirement: AI intelligence identities (KYA). The report cites Circle co-founder Sean Neville, who states that in financial services, “non-human identities” have reached 96 times the number of human employees.

But most of these intelligences are “ghosts that cannot access banking systems.” Future intelligences will need cryptographic signatures to link their delegates, behavioral constraints, and responsibilities to conduct transactions. This is seen as a key bottleneck in the current AI agent economy development.

04 New Paradigm of RWA Tokenization: From “Simulating Reality” to “Crypto-Native”

The wave of tokenizing real-world assets (RWA) has become spectacular by 2025. According to CoinShares, the RWA market grew by 229% in 2025, driven mainly by tokenized US Treasuries, which increased from $3.91 billion to $8.68 billion.

a16z general partner Guy Wuollet offers a deeper reflection: many current RWA tokenization practices fall into a “mimicry trap.”

That is, simply transferring traditional assets (like stocks or commodities) onto the chain without fully leveraging the native advantages of crypto.

Wuollet believes that synthetic derivatives like perpetual futures often provide deeper liquidity and simpler implementation, making them more aligned with crypto-native product-market fit.

He specifically points out that emerging market stocks are among the asset classes worth trying to “perpetualize.”

This idea extends into the stablecoin domain. The report predicts that by 2026, we will see more “native issuance,” rather than just “tokenization.”

Debt assets should be issued directly on-chain, rather than tokenized after off-chain issuance, significantly reducing service costs and increasing accessibility.

05 Evolution of Privacy, Security, and Verifiable Computation

As crypto applications penetrate mainstream use, the importance of privacy and security will become even more prominent. Although the report does not dedicate a specific chapter to this, the theme is implied across multiple trends.

For example, solutions for stablecoin deposit and withdrawal channels mention using cryptographic proof techniques to enable users to privately convert local currency balances into digital dollars.

Additionally, zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP), SNARKs, and other verifiable computation technologies are considered key drivers for shifting the industry from speculation to building durable, value-creating decentralized networks.

These technologies not only protect user transaction privacy but also provide verifiable guarantees for AI agent behaviors and on-chain data authenticity, fostering deeper trust.

A Forbes article predicting trends for 2026 echoes this view, stating that blockchain is evolving into an “AI trust network,” with more companies integrating blockchain for signing, provenance, and verification to ensure compliance and accountability of autonomous agent actions.

06 Investment and Market Perspective: Seizing New Opportunities on Gate Platform

For exchanges and investors, the trends highlighted in the a16z report point to new market opportunities and asset allocation directions.

On mainstream trading platforms like Gate, assets related to the RWA narrative merit ongoing attention.

Projects focusing on stablecoin infrastructure, AI agent identities (KYA), privacy-enhancing technologies, and modular blockchains (Appchain) are likely to become the focus of next-round capital interest and user growth.

From a wealth management perspective, the report predicts that as more asset classes are tokenized, personalized investment strategies guided by AI suggestions can be executed and rebalanced instantly at very low costs.

This means active portfolio management will no longer be exclusive to high-net-worth clients but accessible to a broader user base through platforms like Revolut, Robinhood, Coinbase, and Gate.

Meanwhile, DeFi tools like Morpho Vaults can automatically allocate assets into the most risk-adjusted, yield-optimized lending markets, providing core income streams for portfolios. Holding idle funds in stablecoins or tokenized money market funds will further expand yield opportunities.

Future Outlook

Returning to the futuristic scene depicted in the report: AI agents autonomously negotiate, pay, and complete services, with the entire process settled within seconds without human intervention.

To realize such a scenario, a complete tech stack is being built—from underlying privacy and security protocols, verifiable computation, to mid-layer stablecoin payment rails and KYA identity layers, and finally to top-layer AI agent applications.

Each layer harbors enormous innovation and investment opportunities. The narrative of the crypto industry is shifting from pursuing price volatility to building a solid foundation supporting the future digital economy.