Ripple President Monica Lengthy says 2026 would be the yr institutional crypto utilization shifts decisively from pilots to manufacturing, as regulated infrastructure and clearer guidelines pull banks, corporates, and market intermediaries deeper onchain. In a January 20 weblog put up, Lengthy frames the following leg of adoption round 4 forces: stablecoins, tokenized belongings, custody consolidation, and automation powered by AI.
#1 Stablecoins (Ripple USD) As The Settlement Layer
Lengthy’s central prediction is that stablecoins will cease being handled as an “various rail” and turn into foundational to world settlement. “Throughout the subsequent 5 years, stablecoins will turn into absolutely built-in into world fee methods—not instead rail, however because the foundational one,” she wrote. “We’re seeing this shift not in principle, however in follow, as heavyweights like Visa and Stripe hard-wire these rails into incumbent flows.”
She ties that trajectory to US coverage momentum, arguing the GENIUS Act “inaugurated the digital greenback period,” and positioning “extremely compliant, US issued stablecoins, together with Ripple USD (RLUSD)” as an ordinary for programmable, 24/7 funds and collateral use in markets. Lengthy additionally factors to “conditional approval from the OCC to constitution the Ripple Nationwide Belief Financial institution” as a part of Ripple’s compliance technique.
The near-term demand driver, in her telling, is B2B, not retail. Lengthy cites analysis claiming B2B funds grew to become the biggest real-world stablecoin use case final yr, reaching an annualized $76 billion run-rate—up sharply from early 2023 ranges. She argues stablecoins can unlock liquidity and scale back working-capital drag, citing “over $700 billion” of idle money on S&P 1500 stability sheets and “greater than €1.3 trillion throughout Europe.”
#2 Institutional Publicity And Tokenization
Lengthy argues crypto is more and more used as monetary infrastructure moderately than only a speculative asset. “Crypto has advanced from a speculative asset into the working layer of contemporary finance,” she wrote. “By the top of 2026, stability sheets will maintain over $1 trillion in digital belongings, and roughly half of Fortune 500 corporations may have formalized digital asset methods.”
She factors to a 2025 Coinbase survey she says discovered 60% of Fortune 500 corporations are engaged on blockchain initiatives, and notes “greater than 200 public corporations” holding bitcoin in treasury. She additionally highlights the rise of “digital asset treasury” companies, claiming they grew from 4 in 2020 to greater than 200 right this moment, with almost 100 shaped in 2025 alone.
On market construction, Lengthy forecasts “collateral mobility” as a key institutional use case, with custodians and clearing homes utilizing tokenization to modernize settlement. Her said expectation is that “5–10% of capital markets settlement” strikes onchain in 2026, supported by regulatory momentum and stablecoin adoption by systemically vital establishments.
#3 Custody Consolidation Accelerates
Lengthy frames digital asset custody because the institutional on-ramp and predicts consolidation as custody choices commoditize. “M&A exercise on this area is a sign of maturity, not simply momentum,” she wrote, citing $8.6 billion in crypto M&A in 2025. She argues regulation will push banks towards multi-custodian setups and predicts “greater than half of the world’s prime 50 banks” will add a minimum of one new custody relationship in 2026.
She additionally factors to convergence between crypto and conventional finance by way of offers resembling Kraken’s buy of NinjaTrader and Ripple’s acquisitions of GTreasury and Hidden Street, positioning them as steps towards safer, extra built-in institutional workflows.
#4 Blockchain And AI Converge
Lengthy’s closing theme is automation: sensible contracts paired with AI fashions operating treasury and asset-management processes repeatedly. “Stablecoins and sensible contracts will allow treasuries to handle liquidity, execute margin calls and optimize yield throughout onchain repo agreements, all in real-time with out guide intervention,” she wrote.
She argues privateness tech is essential for regulated deployment, pointing to zero-knowledge proofs as a manner for AI to evaluate danger or creditworthiness with out exposing delicate information.
Lengthy’s overarching declare is that 2026 marks a transition from experimentation to infrastructure: stablecoins as settlement and collateral, tokenization in core market plumbing, custody as a belief anchor, and AI-driven automation because the effectivity layer.
At press time, XRP traded at $1.905.
Featured picture created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
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