Crypto asset manager CoinShares said digital assets are moving from an off-system experiment to a core layer of financial infrastructure as large institutions build on top of public blockchains.
In its Digital Asset Outlook 2026, released Monday, the investment firm argued that the next phase will be defined by convergence, not disruption, and called it “hybrid finance”: cryptocurrencies that merge with traditional finance to create new market pipelines.
“Digital assets no longer operate outside the traditional economy,” said CoinShares CEO Jean-Marie Mognetti, adding that it looks like 2026 will bring “consolidation of the real economy.”
The report says this integration is increasingly visible in the use of stablecoins and the growth of tokenized assets, led by private credit and US Treasuries, along with more tokenized funds, tokenized deposits, and stablecoin launches by holders.
Bitcoin integration is also accelerating, the report noted, noting more than $90 billion in US spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) inflows and more than one million BTC held in corporate treasuries at 190 public companies.
By 2026, the asset management company expects broader access through wealth platforms and retirement accounts, as well as more direct institutional settlement from custodian banks.
The company sees three bitcoin price trajectories linked to the macroeconomic context: a soft landing with productivity gains could lift the crypto above $150,000; constant but moderate growth implies between $110,000 and $140,000; and stagflation or recession could affect prices in the short term before a rebound.
The competition to become the settlement layer for hybrid finance is intensifying, the report argued, with Ethereum remaining the institutional anchor as rivals gain ground.
“2026 will be defined by a financial system that quietly restructures around public blockchains and digital settlement layers,” said James Butterfill, head of research at CoinShares.
The report also highlighted growing regulatory divergence, from Europe’s MiCA framework to the evolution of US stablecoin policy and Asia’s Basel-style approach, noting structural changes including miners moving to HPC and AI infrastructure and prediction markets becoming mainstream relevant.
Read more: Diversification, Not Hype, Now Driving Digital Asset Investment: Sygnum
