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 Monday, the investment firm argued that the next phase will be defined by convergence, not disruption, dubbing it “hybrid finance” — crypto rails merging with traditional finance to create new market plumbing.

“Digital assets are no longer operating outside the traditional economy,” CoinShares CEO Jean-Marie Mognetti said, adding that 2026 looks set to bring “consolidation into the real economy.”

The report said this integration is increasingly visible in stablecoin usage and the growth of tokenised assets, led by private credit and U.S. Treasuries, alongside more tokenised funds, tokenised deposits and stablecoin launches from incumbents.

Bitcoin’s mainstreaming is also accelerating, the report noted, pointing to more than $90 billion in U.S. spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) inflows and over one million BTC held by corporate treasuries across 190 public companies.

For 2026, the asset management firm expects broader access via wealth platforms and retirement accounts, plus more direct institutional settlement from custody 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 muted growth implies $110,000–$140,000; and stagflation or recession could hit prices in the near term before a rebound.

Competition to become the settlement layer for hybrid finance is intensifying, the report argued, with Ethereum still the institutional anchor as rivals gain ground.

“2026 will be defined by a financial system quietly rearchitecting 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 evolving U.S. stablecoin policy and Asia’s Basel-style approach, and flags structural shifts including miners moving into HPC and AI infrastructure and prediction markets gaining mainstream relevance.

Read more: Diversification, Not Hype, Now Drives Digital Asset Investing: Sygnum