Behold, dear reader, the prophetic utterances of the illustrious Ms. Monica Long, president of the enigmatic Ripple, who, with the solemnity of a monk in a cathedral of algorithms, declares that the year 2026 shall witness the grand metamorphosis of institutional crypto usage from mere experiments to sacred rituals of production! Verily, the regulated infrastructure and clearer rules shall entice banks, corporates, and market intermediaries to don the digital robes of onchain existence, as if summoned by a sorcerer’s wand.
#1 Stablecoins (Ripple USD) As The Settlement Layer
Oh, how the stablecoins, those humble tokens, shall ascend from the shadows of “alternative rails” to the throne of foundational global settlement! With the fervor of a zealot, Long proclaims that within five years, these coins shall be woven into the very fabric of payment systems, no longer mere alternatives but the bedrock of commerce. “We are witnessing this shift not in theory, but in practice,” she writes, as if the very heavens themselves have conspired to endorse Visa and Stripe’s digital tributes.
And lo, the GENIUS Act, that miraculous legislation, shall inaugurate the digital dollar era, with Ripple USD (RLUSD) standing as the paragon of programmable, 24/7 payments. The OCC’s conditional approval for the Ripple National Trust Bank is but a feather in the cap of this grand endeavor, as if the regulators themselves have donned the robes of crypto’s high priests.
The near-term demand, according to Long, is not for the retail masses but the B2B elite, who, with their $76 billion annualized run-rate, shall unlock liquidity as if unshackling a dragon. “Over $700 billion of idle cash on S&P 1500 balance sheets!” she exclaims, as if the corporations have been hoarding gold in their vaults, waiting for a savior to arrive with a stablecoin.
#2 Institutional Exposure And Tokenization
Behold, the crypto, once a mere speculative asset, now ascends to the role of the operating layer of modern finance! By 2026, balance sheets shall groan under the weight of $1 trillion in digital assets, while half of the Fortune 500 shall have formalized their digital asset strategies, as if they had been preparing for this moment since the dawn of time.
And lo, the 2025 Coinbase survey reveals that 60% of Fortune 500 companies are now engaged in blockchain initiatives, while “more than 200 public companies” hold bitcoin in their treasuries, as if the CEOs have collectively decided to invest in a digital gold rush. The rise of “digital asset treasury” firms, from four in 2020 to 200 today, is but a testament to the madness of the age.
On the matter of market structure, Long foresees “collateral mobility” as the key institutional use case, with custodians and clearing houses using tokenization to modernize settlement. “5-10% of capital markets settlement” shall move onchain, as if the very laws of physics have been rewritten by the whims of regulators and stablecoins.
#3 Custody Consolidation Accelerates
Long, with the wisdom of a sage, frames digital asset custody as the institutional on-ramp, predicting consolidation as custody offerings commoditize. “M&A activity in this space is a signal of maturity, not just momentum,” she writes, citing $8.6 billion in crypto M&A in 2025. “More than half of the world’s top 50 banks” shall add new custody relationships in 2026, as if the banks have been waiting for this moment to finally embrace the digital age.
She also points to the convergence between crypto and traditional finance through deals such as Kraken’s purchase of NinjaTrader and Ripple’s acquisitions of GTreasury and Hidden Road, positioning them as steps toward safer, more integrated institutional workflows-though one might wonder if these are merely the latest in a series of grand delusions.
#4 Blockchain And AI Converge
Long’s final theme is automation: smart contracts paired with AI models running treasury and asset-management processes continuously. “Stablecoins and smart contracts will enable treasuries to manage liquidity, execute margin calls, and optimize yield across onchain repo agreements, all in real-time without manual intervention,” she writes, as if the machines have finally learned to think for themselves.
She argues privacy tech is critical for regulated deployment, pointing to zero-knowledge proofs as a way for AI to assess risk or creditworthiness without exposing sensitive data. “A marvel of modern engineering!” one might exclaim, though the true marvel lies in the audacity of those who believe such systems can replace human judgment.
Long’s overarching claim is that 2026 marks a transition from experimentation to infrastructure: stablecoins as settlement and collateral, tokenization in core market plumbing, custody as a trust anchor, and AI-driven automation as the efficiency layer. A tale as grand as any in Gogol’s oeuvre, though one wonders if the characters are more likely to be found in a spreadsheet than a village.
At press time, XRP traded at $1.905, a price as enigmatic as the predictions themselves.
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2026-01-21 15:12