a16z predicts that decentralized payments will become mainstream, but my judgment is as follows:

Original article by Odaily Planet Daily ( @OdailyChina )

Author/ Wenser ( @wenser2010 )

Yesterday, a16z, known as the industry's leading narrative-driven VC, released a report titled "17 Most Anticipated Creative Trends in Crypto for 2026," covering multiple areas including stablecoins, tokenization, payments and finance, privacy, security, AI, and agents. The report highlighted that "stablecoin trading volume reached $46 trillion in 2024, exceeding PayPal's trading volume by 20 times and approaching three times that of Visa."

Considering recent news such as OSL Group's upcoming launch of the stablecoin USDGO , Jupiter's stablecoin JupUSD launching next week , and YouTube supporting US creators to receive earnings via PayPal's stablecoin PYUSD , Odaily boldly predicts that 2026 will be a "critical turning point" for the crypto industry and crypto payments. Based on the above information, we make the following judgments regarding the future direction of crypto payments.

Judgment 1: Stablecoin "gateways" are undergoing revolutionary changes.

As mentioned in the a16z report , "The core issue that remains unresolved is how to integrate these digital dollars into the financial system people use every day—that is, the channels for stablecoins to enter and exit."

Currently, the mainstream methods in the market include C2C trading on exchanges, exchange networks of payment giants, and stablecoin issuer channels. Next year, many stablecoin networks under payment giants will be launched gradually (such as the Tempo network supported by Stripe and Paradigm). At that time, the "gateway" of stablecoins will be more deeply integrated with traditional financial markets, daily payment networks, and life transaction scenarios.

If China's mobile payment system has solved a series of problems related to usage scenarios, cost reduction, and promotion and popularization through QR code solutions and digital red envelopes, then the introduction of regional and global payment networks under payment giants will provide a more convenient user experience, lower transaction costs, and a smoother fiat-to-stablecoin process for the inflow and outflow of stablecoins.

In addition, the B2B merchant usage is also expected to usher in a new round of growth as regulatory laws are further improved, mobile applications become more abundant, and payment efficiency is further enhanced.

Satoshi Nakamoto's vision of a "Peer-to-Peer" electronic payment system will be realized through stablecoins.

Judgment 2: The integration of RWA assets and stablecoins will give rise to on-chain lending services.

At the crossroads of DeFi and TradeFi, RWA assets are of paramount importance.

However, in the past, RWA assets have been limited by the complexity of off-chain assets and fixed product forms, making it difficult to achieve a complete "on-chain transformation". At the same time, the anchor value and price of RWA assets often vary due to regional differences, time changes and industry differences.

As traditional financial markets face the impact of interest rate cuts leading to liquidity devaluation, the stablecoin system may need to transform the on-chain and off-chain trading systems for RWA assets.

In other words, in 2026, RWA assets may be priced in stablecoins through the banking system and payment networks, thereby exploring RWA contracts, RWA lending, RWA asset acquisitions and other aspects.

This year, Nasdaq's voluntary application to the U.S. SEC for stock tokenization trading has already shown signs of this trend. Next year, based on USDC, the stablecoin of Circle (the first listed stablecoin company), and USAT, the stablecoin launched by Tether (the leading stablecoin company), there may be more scenarios where stablecoins can be used to purchase traditional financial market products and participate in traditional financial market trading processes and more stages.

As mentioned in the a16z report , "perpetual contracts" are expected to provide deeper liquidity for RWA assets, and the tokenization of crypto-native RWA assets will be further developed; after meeting compliance and standardization requirements, on-chain lending business will also see rapid growth.

Third prediction: The internet-as-bank model is arriving, and AI agents, the x402 protocol, and stablecoins will offer even more possibilities.

This change may mark the beginning of the most anticipated wave of "mass adoption of encryption" in 2026.

Just as YouTube has added the option to pay creators revenue via PayPal stablecoins, stablecoins and cryptocurrencies will undergo a "financial transformation" of the entire internet as AI agents rapidly develop, the x402 protocol expands, and penetrates more aspects of life, work, and business. This will bring about a series of astonishing changes.

1. The integration of online and on-chain payments significantly improves transaction efficiency. From the previous "what you see is what you get" to the future "what you want is what you buy," the combination of AI Agents and stablecoin payment systems will meet people's diverse online shopping needs. Product selection, demand insight, and payment convenience will all undergo revolutionary changes.

2. Internet products can be tokenized and quantified for payment. Based on the expansion of stablecoin payment networks, many internet products (tangible and intangible) will be quantified by stablecoins. With convenient entry and exit channels, buyers and sellers can efficiently exchange goods and currencies without intermediaries, losses, or long turnover periods.

3. The virtual digital economy will be further stimulated. Whether it's current YouTube creators or various professionals providing online virtual services, they will further supplement the online economy, and stablecoin payment systems will become a more efficient option. Compared to the past, supporting virtual idols required purchasing merchandise, offline support, and in-person meetings; the convenient and quick "direct payment" may become the choice of more people.

Judgment 4: Entering an era of universal finance, investment thresholds are further lowered.

This is perhaps the most direct and far-reaching aspect of the further development of stock tokenization and stablecoin systems.

Limited by the structure and regulatory policies of the past banking and financial system and securities trading market, ordinary individual users often find it difficult to participate in the economic and financial market and capital efficiency market with low threshold, low cost and small share; however, in the coming year and beyond, with more mature stock tokenization platforms, processes and regulatory environment, combined with the investment advisor role and investment advice reference of AI, everyone will become an indispensable and closely related part of the financial system.

In the not-too-distant future of 2026, it may become possible to purchase SpaceX IPO shares for one dollar; while investing one's limited funds in a DeFi funding platform jointly launched by the banking system and crypto-native projects, which offers an annualized return slightly higher than that of government bonds, may also be a good option.

Most importantly, the tokenization and fragmentation of assets will further improve capital utilization efficiency and inject deeper liquidity into the global economic and financial markets.

At that time, through tokenization systems and stablecoin networks, everyone will be a mesh in the financial network. Of course, this will inevitably come with risks, but it will also truly give each individual the right to make their own investment choices.

Judgment 5: The fierce competition among stablecoin companies will continue, and user benefits will always exist.

In 2025, the main themes of the crypto industry will be mainstreaming, regulatory compliance, and institutional adoption, while next year will see an even fiercer "battle of a hundred stablecoin groups".

The competition for Hyperliquid's native stablecoin code USDH this year is just a warm-up and a small glimpse into the fierce battle in the stablecoin industry next year. Compared to USDT, Circle's USDC may face even fiercer competition and suffer more market share losses.

Just like the previous "hundred-group wars" in food delivery and ride-hailing, the fierce competition on the supply side will bring asymmetric benefits to the demand side to some extent. Ordinary users are expected to continue to receive decent stablecoin usage subsidies or other economic incentives.

The fact that Hong Kong-compliant exchange OSL Group and Solana ecosystem platform Jupiter have both ventured into stablecoins suggests that more compliant institutions and crypto service platforms will launch their own native stablecoins to gain a competitive edge in payment networks, business revenue, and user growth.