Crypto asset manager CoinShares said digital assets are shifting from an outside-the-system experiment to a core layer of financial infrastructure as large institutions build on public blockchains.
In its 2026 Digital Asset Outlook published on Monday, the investment firm argued that the next phase will be defined by convergence, not disruption, calling it “hybrid finance” – cryptos that merge with traditional finance to create new market plumbing.
“Digital assets no longer work outside the traditional economy,” said CoinShares CEO Jean-Marie Mognetti, adding that 2026 looks set to bring “consolidation into the real economy.”
The report said that this integration is increasingly visible in the use of stablecoin and the growth of tokenized assets, led by private credits and US Treasury bonds, along with more tokenized funds, tokenized deposits and stablecoin launches by established companies.
Bitcoin’s mainstreaming is also accelerating, the report noted, pointing to more than $90 billion in US spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) inflows and over a million BTC held by corporate treasuries across 190 public companies.
For 2026, the asset management firm expects wider access via wealth platforms and retirement accounts, plus more direct institutional settlement from custodian banks.
The firm sees three bitcoin price paths tied to the macro backdrop: a soft landing with productivity gains could lift the crypto above $150,000; steady but subdued growth implies $110,000–$140,000; and stagflation or recession can hit prices in the short term before a recovery.
The race to become the settlement team for hybrid finance is intensifying, the report claimed, with Ethereum still the institutional anchor as rivals gain ground.
“2026 will be defined by a financial system quietly re-architecting itself around public blockchains and digital settlement layers,” said James Butterfill, CoinShares head of research.
The report also highlighted widening regulatory divergence, from Europe’s MiCA framework to US stablecoin policy development and Asia’s Basel-style approach, marking structural shifts including miners moving into HPC and AI infrastructure and prediction markets gaining mainstream relevance.
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