Ripple said regulated stablecoins are setting the foundation for trillion-dollar digital asset markets as institutional adoption accelerates and crypto shifts into core financial infrastructure.
Ripple president Monica Long said corporates are driving the next phase of adoption as firms seek to unlock idle capital through real-time settlement and liquidity enabled by stablecoins.
“By the end of 2026, balance sheets will hold over $1 trillion in digital assets, and roughly half of Fortune 500 companies will have formalised digital asset strategies,”
Long said.
She added that regulated, US-issued stablecoins such as Ripple USD are emerging as the default rail for global B2B settlement, reducing carrying costs and improving cash-flow efficiency.
Ripple expects digital assets to expand beyond exposure into active use cases, including tokenised assets, digital treasuries, onchain T-bills and programmable financial instruments.
Long also predicted that 5–10% of capital markets settlement could move onchain by 2026 as custodian banks and clearing houses adopt tokenisation to modernise settlement.
She said the convergence of blockchain and artificial intelligence will focus on usability and integration, positioning 2026 as the year crypto becomes foundational to global finance.