Delphi Digital: Crypto is Building the Foundation of Global Finance – 10 Predictions for 2026
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Delphi Digital: Crypto is Building the Foundation of Global Finance – 10 Predictions for 2026
The crypto industry is entering a new phase—institutionalization has arrived.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Delphi Digital
Translation: TechFlow
Perpetual decentralized exchanges (Perp DEXs) will become the new Wall Street. AI agents will enable autonomous trading, and exchanges will evolve into "superapps." Below are our top ten key predictions from the 2026 Outlook Report.
AI Agents Begin Autonomous Trading
The x402 protocol allows any API to be accessed via encrypted payments. When an agent needs a service, it can instantly pay in stablecoins—no shopping carts or subscriptions required. The ERC-8004 standard enhances trust by creating a reputation registry for agents, complete with performance history and collateral.
Together, these form an autonomous agent economy. For example, a user could delegate travel planning to their agent, which would subcontract to a flight-searching agent, pay data fees via x402, then book tickets on-chain—all without human intervention.
Perp DEXs Disrupt Traditional Finance
Traditional finance is costly due to fragmentation: trading happens on exchanges, settlement through clearinghouses, and custody via banks. Blockchain consolidates all of this into a single smart contract.
Now, Hyperliquid is building native lending functionality. Perp DEXs may soon act as brokers, exchanges, custodians, banks, and clearinghouses all in one. Competitors like @Aster_DEX, @Lighter_xyz, and @paradex are racing to catch up.
Prediction Markets Evolve Into Traditional Financial Infrastructure
Thomas Peterffy, chairman of Interactive Brokers, sees prediction markets as a real-time informational layer for portfolios. Initial demand focuses on weather contracts tied to energy, logistics, and insurance risks.
In 2026, new categories will emerge: stock event markets for earnings forecasts and guidance ranges, macroeconomic indicators such as CPI and Fed decisions, and cross-asset relative value markets. A trader holding tokenized Apple shares (AAPL) could hedge earnings risk with a simple binary contract—no complex options strategies needed. Prediction markets will become first-class derivatives.
Ecosystems Reclaim Stablecoin Yields From Issuers
Last year, Coinbase earned over $900 million in reserve yield just by controlling USDC distribution. Meanwhile, public blockchains like Solana, BSC, Arbitrum, Aptos, and Avalanche collectively earn about $800 million annually in fees, despite hosting over $30 billion in USDC and USDT. The platforms driving stablecoin usage are generating more revenue for issuers than they retain themselves.
This is changing. Hyperliquid captures half of USDH’s reserve yield through a competitive bidding process for its relief fund. Ethena’s “stablecoin-as-a-service” model is now adopted by Sui, MegaETH, and Jupiter. Yields once passively accumulated by traditional issuers are increasingly being reclaimed by platforms that generate demand.
DeFi Cracks Unsecured Lending
DeFi lending protocols hold billions in total value locked (TVL), but nearly all require over-collateralization. The breakthrough lies in zkTLS technology. Users can prove their bank balance exceeds a certain threshold—without revealing account numbers, transaction history, or identity.
@3janexyz offers instant unsecured USDC credit lines validated against Web2 financial data. Algorithms monitor borrowers in real time and dynamically adjust interest rates. The same framework can use agent performance history as credit scores, enabling loan underwriting for AI agents. @maplefinance, @centrifuge, and @USDai_Official are also tackling this space. In 2026, unsecured lending will graduate from experiment to infrastructure.
Onchain FX Finds Product-Market Fit
Dollar-denominated stablecoins currently make up 99.7% of total supply—but this dominance may have peaked. Traditional foreign exchange is a multi-trillion-dollar market riddled with intermediaries, fragmented settlement, and high fees. Onchain FX eliminates multiple middlemen by placing all currencies as tokenized assets on a shared execution layer.
Product-market fit may emerge in emerging-market currency pairs where traditional FX costs are highest and efficiency lowest. These underserved markets are precisely where crypto’s value proposition shines brightest.
Gold and Bitcoin Lead Devaluation Trades
Since we listed gold as one of the best charts to watch, prices have surged 60%. Despite record highs, central banks purchased over 600 tons of gold last year, with China among the most aggressive buyers.
The macro environment supports continued strength in gold. Global central banks are cutting rates, fiscal deficits are expected to persist through 2027, global M2 money supply has hit new highs, and the Fed is nearing the end of quantitative tightening (QT). Gold typically leads Bitcoin by three to four months. As currency devaluation becomes a mainstream issue ahead of the 2026 midterms, both assets will attract increasing flows from risk-off capital.
Exchanges Evolve Into Superapps
Coinbase, Robinhood, Binance, and Kraken are no longer just exchanges—they’re building superapps.
Coinbase has Base as its operating system, the Base App as the interface, USDC yield as foundational revenue, and Deribit for derivatives. Robinhood Gold membership grew 77% YoY, becoming a powerful retention engine. Binance has reached superapp scale with over 270 million users and $250 billion in payment volume. As distribution costs fall, value will consolidate around platforms with user ownership. In 2026, winners will begin pulling away.
Privacy Infrastructure Meets Demand
Privacy is under pressure. The EU passed the Chat Control Act, cash transactions are capped at €10,000, and the European Central Bank plans a digital euro with a holding limit of €3,000.
Privacy infrastructure is catching up. @payy_link launched a privacy-focused crypto card, @SeismicSys offers protocol-level encryption for fintech firms, @KeetaNetwork enables onchain KYC without exposing personal data, and @CantonNetwork provides privacy infrastructure for major financial institutions. Without privacy rails, stablecoin adoption will hit a ceiling.
Altcoin Returns Remain Polarized
The broad-based rallies of previous cycles won’t return. Over $3 billion in token unlocks loom, while competition intensifies in AI, robotics, and biotech. ETF inflows concentrate on Bitcoin and a handful of large-cap tokens.
Capital will cluster around structural demand: tokens with ETF flows, protocols with real revenue and buyback mechanisms, and applications with genuine product-market fit. Winners will come from teams building moats and participating in real economic activity.
Conclusion
The crypto industry is entering a new phase. Institutionalization has arrived. Prediction markets, onchain credit, agent economies, and stablecoins as infrastructure represent true paradigm shifts.
Crypto is becoming the foundational layer of global finance. Teams that understand this will define the next decade.
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Delphi Digital
