A16z releases 17 expectations for the crypto market in 2026 17 views on future development trends mainly from a16z's various cryptocurrency partners (as well as some invited contributors) It covers a wide range of topics from intelligent agents and artificial intelligence, stablecoins, tokenization and finance, privacy and security, predictive markets, other applications, to how they will be built. At the bottom of the article, there will be personal thoughts. Pay attention to the main core sectors ⚠️ Non investment advice, only for exchange and learning Stablecoins, RWA, and Payment Finance 1. The trading volume of stablecoins is rapidly increasing, with the core bottleneck being compliance and integration with local payments. New entrepreneurs can use encrypted proof, regional payment networks, QR codes RTP、 The use scenarios of global card and wallet layers were expanded, making stable currencies move from niche tools to the Internet settlement layer. 2. RWA tokenization should be more "crypto native": synthetic products (such as perpetual contracts) are easier to implement, have deep liquidity, and intuitive leverage; Emerging market stocks are suitable for PERPS. Debt should be initiated on chain rather than generated off chain and then tokenized to reduce costs and increase efficiency, but compliance and standardization are key challenges. 3. Stable currency promotes "upgrading" of bank ledger: without rewriting the legacy core system, token deposits, treasury bond and bonds on the chain become institutional innovation carriers. 4. The value changes into network behavior: agents trigger automatic clearing and settlement, primitive languages such as x402 make settlement more programmable and responsive, and the Internet itself has evolved into the bottom layer of the financial system. Wealth management for everyone 1. Asset tokenization+AI assisted execution/rebalancing, making active management more accessible to the public. 2. DeFi tools perform risk adjusted profit routing; Stablecoins and tokenized money market funds expand cash management returns. 3. Tokenization connects the private equity market with compliance stratification, and the combination can be automatically rebalanced without wire transfer. AI agent 1. From KYC to KYC: There is an increase in non-human "agents" without accounts, and encrypted credentials are needed to bind agents with principals, permissions, and responsibilities, making it easier to access the financial system. 2. AI will undertake substantive research: multi-layer agent collaboration, providing reasoning and innovation; Cross model interoperability and measurable compensation are required, and encryption can provide a basis for verification and settlement. 3. The 'invisible tax' of open networks: AI extracts content to bypass existing monetization, requiring real-time compensation based on usage, micro payments, and attribution mechanisms (assisted by blockchain). Privacy (Security) 1. Privacy is the biggest moat of encryption: Privacy brings strong network effects and high migration costs, which may form a "winner takes all" privacy chain pattern. 2. Secret/Key-as-a-Service ": using decentralized key management, programmable data access, and client encryption to make privacy the underlying public infrastructure. 3. DeFi Security Transitions from 'Code as Law' to 'Specification as Law' Application and Industry 1. Predict that this track will be bigger, wider, and smarter: more contracts and news will be integrated; Decentralized governance and LLM oracle for resolving arbitration disputes; AI agents participate in trading and signal mining. (Prediction itself is an exchange, because everything can be predicted) 2. Mortgaged media/stakeholder media ": Use public commitment mechanisms such as lock-in, on chain history, and market forecasting to enhance credibility and form auditable performance records. 3. SNARK/zkVM popularization: By 2026, prove that the cost will be reduced to about 1e4 times, the memory will be several hundred MB, and the mobile phone/GPU can provide real-time proof, promoting the implementation of verifiable cloud computing. Explanation: SNARKs (a type of encrypted proof that verifies computation results without the need for re execution) Finally, it is believed that Transactions are intermediate stations rather than endpoints: premature transformation of transactions will lead to homogenization and internal friction, and focusing on the "product" itself will have a long-term moat. Clear market structure legislation will bring transparent standards, clear financing, and decentralized paths, replacing uncertain enforcement environments and promoting positive industry development. In the end The upcoming loose cycle will bring more liquidity, and I believe that in addition to Bitcoin and several mainstream public chains, as well as governance coins from major platforms, more new asset types will emerge For example, AIi agents, Defi+AI, Rwa related, predictive, and so on, or there may be others that have not yet been discovered and created by the market. Perhaps these will become speculative targets for a new loose cycle