Pantera Capital Researcher: 12 Predictions About the 2026 Crypto Market

### 1 - Capital efficient consumer credit

Capital efficient consumer credit is the next frontier in cryptocurrency lending. They combine complex on-chain and off-chain credit modeling, modular design, collateral management, and artificial intelligence learning of user behavior, ultimately encapsulated in an accessible application.

2 - Polarization of Prediction Markets

Prediction markets will evolve in two very different directions: “Financial” and “Cultural”.

• Financial direction: Prediction markets will have stronger integration with DeFi, easier access to leverage, enable liquidity staking, and create tools similar to refined options.
• Cultural direction: Cultural markets will tend to capture more mass imagination, exhibit stronger regional differences, and attract enthusiasts in long-tail areas.

3 - Agentic Commerce explodes with x402 protocol

Using x402 endpoints, agentic commerce will expand into more service areas. While its core appeal remains micro-payments, x402 will increasingly be used as a regular payment framework—similar to Apple Pay.

• Some websites may see over 50% of transaction volume and revenue from x402 payments.
• In terms of tiered (cent-level) x402 transaction volume, Solana will surpass Base.

4 - AI becomes the interface layer for cryptocurrency

AI-mediated transaction loops will become mainstream. Although fully autonomous trading AI based on large models is still experimental, AI assistance (trend analysis, project insights, wallet tracking) will gradually permeate most user flows of consumer-facing crypto applications.

5 - Rise of Tokenized Gold

Tokenized gold trading volume will grow, becoming a leading asset in the Real World Asset (RWA) wave. Tokenized gold can serve as a way to circumvent certain regional restrictions on physical gold and, facing structural issues with the US dollar (geopolitics, inflation, debt), will become an increasingly attractive store of value.

6 - Bitcoin’s “Quantum Panic”

A potential quantum panic (possibly triggered by a technological breakthrough) may occur, prompting large Bitcoin holders to discuss quantum contingency plans. The resilience of Bitcoin and Satoshi-era code will be a focus. Fortunately, current technology is not yet capable of posing a real threat to asset value.

7 - Unified developer experience (Dev-Ex) for privacy protection

Privacy technologies will gain a unified and user-friendly developer interface, with frameworks like Ethereum’s Kohaku continuing to evolve. Its development will resemble the previous cycle’s “Wallet as a Service (WaaS)” platforms—offering application-level products that abstract away complex technical connectors. We may see companies offering Privacy-as-a-Service bundles mainly for enterprise workflows.

8 - Merging and integration of DATs

DATs (Distributed Autonomous Trust/Assets) will undergo consolidation, leaving only 2-3 major players in each main track. This may be achieved through liquidation and exit, conversion into ETF-style products, or mergers and acquisitions (M&A) between DATs.

9 - Breaking the boundaries between tokens and equity

Governance tokens that lack legal control over companies will face survival crises. We will see more high-quality companies choosing to remain private for longer periods. There may also be exchangeable equity tokens, and regulatory frameworks around token legal ownership will become more stable.

10 - Hyperliquid maintains dominance in perpetual contract DEXs

Decentralized perpetual contract trading platforms (Perp DEX) will undergo integration, with Hyperliquid maintaining market leadership. The HIP3 market will become the main trading driver, and yield-bearing stablecoins (like HyENA) will be the preferred assets on HYPE. USDC’s dominance on HYPE will give way to USDe and USDH.

11 - Institutional AMMs (Prop AMMs) moving towards multi-chain

Institutional AMMs (Prop AMMs) will expand across multiple chains, capturing over half of the trading volume on Solana. They will also be used to price more assets, such as RWA.

12 - Stablecoins become the backbone of international payment flows

An increasing number of traditional fintech giants (Stripe, Ramp, Brex, Klarna) will use stablecoins for international payment flows. Stablecoin chains like Tempo will become the main entry point for fiat onramps, initially accepting fiat payments and then converting them into stablecoins for settlement.

This article link: https://www.hellobtc.com/kp/du/12/6177.html

Source: