Original Title: Crypto Startup Ideas for 2026 That Actually Matter
Original Author: Patrick Scott, Dynamo DeFi
Original Translation: Luffy, Foresight News
In the cryptocurrency cycle, there always comes a time when some people start to exit, some fail miserably, and the voices of pessimism become rampant. They claim that cryptocurrency has reached a dead end, lamenting the time they have wasted in this industry, asserting that this technology has no value other than for crime and speculation.
Such scenes play out every few years.
I write this article not to shout slogans like "the altcoin bull market is coming," but to call on everyone to remain optimistic: now is an excellent time to create real commercial value in the cryptocurrency space. This article will share a series of entrepreneurial ideas that are ready to be implemented, with potential far exceeding the small circle of the cryptocurrency community. They are practical, well-founded, and can immediately create real impact.
First, it is important to clarify that such articles are usually written by venture capitalists, but I am not one of them. I am neither a venture capital practitioner nor do I operate any investment funds, and I am certainly not an angel investor. To put it bluntly: I cannot provide funding for these entrepreneurial ideas. If you contact me saying you want to put them into practice, I will sincerely be happy to hear that you are inspired, but I truly cannot invest in you. At most, if I happen to know people in the relevant fields, I can help you retweet something or make a business connection.
My true identity is that of a founder of a successful decentralized finance media outlet, operating one of the larger decentralized finance-themed YouTube channels in the industry; at the same time, I have worked at a leading decentralized finance data company, responsible for building a sustainable revenue business system. This background is crucial because many of the entrepreneurial directions mentioned in this article come from my firsthand insights in the industry.
For the past five years, I have been a deep user of decentralized finance products. Based on practical experience and industry work, I have a profound and firm judgment on the key factors for success and potential opportunities in the cryptocurrency field.
Some may ask, since these ideas are so high-quality, why don’t I implement them myself? On one hand, I am currently responsible for revenue and growth at the decentralized finance data analysis platform DeFiLlama, which is already creating significant value for the industry; on the other hand, I do intend to put some of these ideas into practice and even hope that those who read this article do not seize these opportunities. But after thinking it over, these ideas are simply too good to keep to myself. Ultimately, I decided to share them and sincerely hope someone can turn them into reality.
Starting from the underlying logic, finding the right entrepreneurial direction
To filter out truly practical entrepreneurial projects that do not merely cater to cryptocurrency speculators, we need to derive from the underlying logic.
The underlying logic here is actually quite simple: what is the true value of cryptocurrency? What inherent advantages does it have compared to traditional financial systems?
Once we understand these two questions, we can discard the gimmick of "cryptocurrency for the sake of cryptocurrency," and avoid the misconception of "attracting users to use non-essential applications through token incentives," truly digging into the core value of cryptocurrency technology.
What we need to do is stop rigidly applying cryptocurrency to mismatched scenarios and instead explore business opportunities that naturally fit the architecture of cryptocurrency technology.
First, I summarize the core advantages of cryptocurrency technology compared to traditional financial systems, which serve as the foundation for exploring entrepreneurial directions:
· Global capital freely circulates: With cryptocurrency, cross-border transfers do not require paying foreign exchange fees and are not subject to any capital control restrictions.
· Instant settlement around the clock: Transfers can be received in real-time without waiting for several business days.
· Privacy protection features: Not all cryptocurrencies have this property, but those that support privacy functions can build truly uncensorable applications.
· Extremely low transaction costs: In addition to the intuitive advantage of "no credit card fees," low rates have also spawned innovative applications like "streaming payments" that cannot be realized under traditional high fixed-rate models.
· Programmability and composability: Digital assets are controlled by code rather than intermediaries, belonging to the "possession is ownership" type of assets, allowing them to flow freely across decentralized applications, and after being deposited into smart contracts, they can derive more functions.
· Permissionless openness: Anyone, anywhere, at any time can access the cryptocurrency network. This feature makes cryptocurrency technology an ideal choice for fundraising for groups facing the risk of "being shut down," and provides a testing ground for financial products that need to break through layers of regulatory barriers to be implemented.
· Transparency and traceability: The ownership of cryptocurrency assets and on-chain financial data can be tracked in real-time, allowing originally cumbersome corporate processes to operate automatically.
Based on these core advantages, I categorize the entrepreneurial ideas in this article into five major directions, each relying on multiple core values of cryptocurrency technology:
· Internet capital markets: Leveraging the three advantages of global capital circulation, programmability and composability, and permissionless openness.
· Censorship-resistant applications: Leveraging the three advantages of privacy protection, permissionless openness, and global capital circulation.
· Decentralized science (DeSci): Leveraging the two advantages of global capital circulation and programmability and composability.
· Stablecoins: Covering all the core advantages mentioned above.
· On-chain corporate governance: Leveraging the core advantage of transparency and traceability.
Internet Capital Markets
The future of cryptocurrency, and indeed the future of the entire financial and internet industry, largely lies within internet capital markets.
Recently, this concept has gained a somewhat bad reputation. The reason is that many people have applied the mechanics of meme coins to various assets, producing products that are essentially no different from meme coins, filled with poorly designed token economic models, and packaging speculation as ownership investment.
To be honest, we may need a whole new set of terminology to define this track, but its underlying framework is inherently valuable.
In my view, a true internet capital market is not a game centered around speculative tokens, but rather aims to make cash flow inherently investable on the internet.
Let’s imagine a future where not only on-chain decentralized finance applications but also the cash flows of all things in the world can be tokenized—including businesses generating stable cash flow in the real economy, dividend-paying stocks, royalty income streams, real estate projects, various applications, micro-subscription software bundles, and all on-chain and off-chain products.
These assets will become investable, tradable, and can be recombined to form entirely new financial products. The entire process will be open globally, permissionless, and with extremely low transaction costs.
This is the true form of internet capital markets.
I believe the following several subfields are in urgent need of someone to create on-chain fundraising tools and investor cash flow distribution applications:
· Financing for small and medium-sized enterprises
· Financing for micro-subscription software and information products
· Securitization of royalty income streams
· Financing for creator revenue rights
When the "friends and family fundraising" model becomes unsustainable, where will new paths for capital formation lie?
In traditional entrepreneurial models, entrepreneurs typically rely on friends and family to raise startup funds. To this day, this remains the primary financing method for small and medium-sized enterprises.
However, changes in social structure have gradually rendered this model ineffective: family sizes are shrinking, friends are scattered globally, and relatives live in different countries.
Today, fundraising from friends and family is not only cumbersome in procedure and questionable in compliance, but even the operational process of pooling funds is fraught with difficulties.
The internet capital market makes global fundraising possible again, and this model is applicable to various asset classes.
What’s more, the cash flows generated from these investments can be repackaged and embedded into new financial products. When millions of businesses and products achieve cash flow tokenization, we can leverage the financial primitives that have been tested in the native decentralized finance field to build a new financial ecosystem on these assets.
Censorship Resistance: An Indispensable Core Capability
Another core attribute of crypto assets is censorship resistance.
This attribute is rooted in the two characteristics of cryptocurrency technology: permissionless and privacy protection.
Public chains have already achieved permissionless openness, but privacy protection features have long been overlooked.
It should be noted that my current work heavily relies on the transparency of on-chain data. However, I must admit that in many application scenarios, privacy protection is not only a better solution but also a necessity.
The boundaries between compliance and non-compliance are quietly shifting.
You may feel that you do not need censorship resistance at all. But can you be sure that one day in the future, you won’t have such a need? In some parts of Europe, trends are already emerging: dissenters are being suppressed, bank accounts are being closed, and some are being arrested for their social media statements.
The next direction of development is evident: political groups are deprived of fundraising channels, bank accounts are frozen, and payment channels are completely cut off. When that day comes, how will these groups operate? The answer is self-evident: based on cryptocurrency networks.
The following sub-tracks naturally fit cryptocurrency technology and are in urgent need of entrepreneurs to lay out:
· Censorship-resistant fundraising tools for political groups: Governments in various European countries are increasingly cracking down on populist parties, and it is only a matter of time before these parties are deprived of banking services. Cryptocurrency solutions can allow them to fundraise and store funds safely without worrying about being shut down. The privacy protection features of such tools are particularly critical to avoid retaliation against members.
· Censorship-resistant crowdfunding platforms: Some crowdfunding platforms, while claiming to be censorship-resistant, are ultimately still subject to payment service providers. In the past, activists and governments often pressured payment service providers to force crowdfunding platforms to take down specific fundraising projects. However, crowdfunding platforms built on cryptocurrency technology can fundamentally solve this problem, as the payment process operates on a decentralized network with no central nodes that can be pressured. Even if opponents of free speech shout, it will be in vain.
Decentralized Science (DeSci): The Intersection of Artificial Intelligence and Internet Capital Markets
The development of artificial intelligence is significantly lowering the barriers for individuals and small teams to conduct original scientific research.
This has been evidenced in breakthroughs in cutting-edge sciences like protein folding. AI can digest vast amounts of literature and data, uncovering potential correlations that may take humans decades to discover.
But mere scientific discovery is far from enough; bringing research results to market requires capital support.
This is precisely the gap that decentralized science (DeSci) fills.
Core Pain Points Addressed by DeSci
I once worked at a nonprofit organization focused on childhood cancer research. That experience made me deeply aware of the immense value DeSci can create in medical funding and research.
Many rare or niche diseases are often overlooked by pharmaceutical giants due to their small patient base and limited short-term commercial value. Research in these areas either relies on the secondary development of existing drugs or suffers from a lack of funding and slow progress.
With a permissionless global capital market, we can find those who genuinely care about these diseases and inject funding into research projects.
When artificial intelligence combines with DeSci, individuals and small teams can effectively conduct cutting-edge research.
The most heartbreaking scenario is the plight of patients with rare diseases. There may only be 20 people in the world suffering from the same disease, and research on such diseases is nearly nonexistent, with the probability of research projects being initiated being minuscule.
The emergence of DeSci makes research work on such diseases possible and even holds the potential to foster breakthrough treatment solutions.
This model is also applicable to disease areas with large patient populations that have been shelved by pharmaceutical giants.
Capital Return Path of DeSci
Fundraising is just one part of the DeSci ecosystem. We also need to establish a mechanism for verifying research results, distributing returns to investors, packaging intellectual property and royalty income, and achieving efficient distribution of profits.
A funding unlock mechanism based on on-chain milestones can significantly reduce administrative management costs, allowing more funds to be genuinely invested in research work. At the same time, higher transparency can enable donors to clearly understand the flow of funds, making them more willing to invest additional capital.
To enhance the investment attractiveness of DeSci projects, we can draw on the investment portfolio model from venture capital and film financing—where the success of one project can cover the costs of the entire portfolio.
Specifically, we can construct a portfolio containing 10 high-risk, high-reward research projects. By investing in this project basket, investors increase the probability of breakthrough research outcomes. Once a project develops a treatment plan, AI tools can also help identify other commercial application scenarios for that plan.
Stablecoins: The Least Controversial Golden Track
Currently, the total supply of stablecoins worldwide has surpassed $300 billion, growing by hundreds of billions over the past two years.
According to predictions from the Treasury, by 2030, the total supply of stablecoins will approach $3 trillion.
Conservatively estimated, hundreds of billions of funds will flow on-chain in the coming years; optimistically, this figure could reach the trillion-dollar level. This does not even account for the funds that already exist on-chain but have not yet been fully utilized.
Entrepreneurial opportunities in stablecoins can mainly be divided into two categories: "savings" and "payments."
Savings Applications
Globally, a large number of people wish to hold dollar-denominated assets. This is particularly evident in developing countries.
Despite various flaws, the dollar remains the most stable and liquid trade settlement currency worldwide.
Leveraging stablecoins, we can develop savings products that far exceed those of traditional financial systems. For example, savers can configure customized currency and commodity portfolio assets and earn returns from foreign exchange transactions with liquidity providers.
Payment and Practical Applications
The payment advantages of stablecoins are significant: instant settlement, no cross-border fees, extremely low transaction costs, and availability around the clock.
Several companies have already demonstrated the feasibility of stablecoin payments.
The following areas are excellent landing scenarios for stablecoin payment solutions:
· Gig economy platforms: Labor arbitrage models often involve cross-border payments, and traditional transfer processes are cumbersome and costly; stablecoins can perfectly address this pain point.
· Cross-border remittances: Wire transfer services may be the first traditional financial service impacted by cryptocurrencies, but there is still a market gap; we need better services to bridge the last mile between cash and cryptocurrency payments.
· Disaster relief: In disaster-stricken and war-torn areas, distributing stablecoins to the wallets of affected individuals can bypass bureaucratic red tape, corruption loopholes, and the obstacles of a paralyzed banking system, achieving precise delivery of aid funds.
Programmable Money and Streaming Payments
Another core advantage of stablecoins is their programmability.
This feature has given rise to a continuous streaming payment model, as opposed to the discrete payroll cycle model in traditional financial systems. The decentralized payment protocol LlamaPay is an excellent example of this model.
Based on this concept, we can develop more innovative products:
· Streaming payroll systems: Linking streaming payments with attendance software—when employees clock in, the payment stream automatically starts; when they clock out, the payment stream stops. Salaries are settled by the second and arrive in real-time, eliminating the need to wait two weeks for payroll and avoiding concerns about salary delays.
· Pay-as-you-go subscription software: Currently, users are increasingly fatigued by subscription services. The subscription model for software and interface services can be combined with streaming payments, allowing users to pay only for the actual usage time. This model can establish a clearer connection between usage and revenue, avoiding cumbersome processes like invoices and bills.
On-chain Corporate Governance: New Possibilities Beyond Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs)
The governance model of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) has become a laughingstock within the community. This assessment is not without reason.
However, on-chain corporate governance may be one of the most transformative applications of cryptocurrency technology.
Even leaders in traditional finance recognize the value of on-chain voting: Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, wrote, "Tokenization technology allows for the digital tracking of asset ownership and voting rights, enabling shareholders to conveniently and securely exercise their voting rights from anywhere in the world, significantly reducing governance costs."
The failure of the DAO governance model stems from its attempt to implement direct democracy, which is entirely unsuitable for corporate operations.
What Should Ideal On-chain Governance Look Like?
Token holders often worry that the tokens they hold are worthless, and this concern is often not unfounded.
However, the solution to the problem is not to let token holders vote on every matter.
The ideal on-chain governance model should mimic the governance structure of traditional enterprises: clearly defining the rights of all parties, protecting the interests of minority shareholders, allowing shareholders to elect the board of directors, and having the board appoint management to handle daily operations.
Daily business decisions should not be directly voted on by shareholders or token holders. Instead, the core right of token holders is to elect the board of directors, with management fully responsible for company operations. We can codify these rules on-chain, for example, granting the group holding the majority of tokens the right to take over the treasury.
Currently, the market is in urgent need of a product that can replicate this traditional corporate governance structure on-chain.
From Crypto Governance Tools to Public Company Infrastructure
Currently, thousands of crypto protocols are testing various on-chain governance models like experimental fields. Once this governance structure is validated, it can be continuously optimized and iterated, ultimately being promoted to traditional public companies.
In the future, we can build on-chain equity and on-chain shareholder voting systems for traditional public companies.
Thus, a clear path emerges from niche DAO tools to the infrastructure of public capital markets.
Other Derivative Products of On-chain Corporate Governance
As more and more companies adopt on-chain governance models, a series of related supporting products will also emerge:
· Standardized financial disclosure tools: Over the past few years, if the crypto market could achieve standardized financial disclosures, publicizing the flow of treasury funds, disclosing token unlocks and buyback information, and announcing significant events, many risks could have been avoided. These tools will also be applicable to other on-chain enterprises in the future.
· M&A tools: As some crypto teams face funding chain breaks, a wave of industry consolidation and mergers is imminent. The market needs a professional platform to facilitate token swaps, payment of merger consideration, treasury mergers, etc., with full transparency throughout the process.
· On-chain governance access tools for public companies: Providing tools for traditional public companies to help them gradually test on-chain voting models without disrupting their existing governance structures.
· Compensation management tools: Managing performance bonus distributions, token option unlocks, and other compensation-related matters based on on-chain milestone verification.
Compound Effect: Positive Cycle of the On-chain Ecosystem
In the coming years, one of the attractions of the crypto industry is that every on-chain cash flow from the real economy will enhance the value of the decentralized finance technology architecture while improving the utility of other financial primitives.
All the entrepreneurial ideas mentioned in this article can currently create tangible value. However, the real magic will manifest after tens of millions of real economy enterprises complete their on-chain transformation; at that point, the various financial primitives that have been tested in the decentralized finance field over the past five years will be re-empowered to serve these external cash flows, giving rise to a new financial ecosystem.
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