A16z – 2026 might be the year when blockchain becomes ‘just the plumbing’

For years, the promise of blockchain has been just around the corner. However, according to a16z crypto’s latest outlook for 2026, the corner has finally been turned.

We are moving into an era where the most successful crypto applications won’t feel like crypto at all. They will simply be the plumbing that makes the modern world work. That’s what the report says. 

Here are the three foundational shifts that will define the landscape in 2026.

Rise of the agentic economy

Topping the list is the birth of the AI Agent economy.

As autonomous agents begin to handle our grocery shopping, SaaS subscriptions, and professional workflows, they face a wall – They lack identity and bank accounts.

According to A16z’s latest prediction, we can expect the emergence of KYAs (Know Your Agents).

Just as humans have credit scores and passports, agents will use cryptographically signed credentials to transact. This would allow a merchant to know that an agent is authorized by a specific principal and operates within defined legal and financial constraints.

Without blockchain-based identity, the AI revolution hits a dead end. With it, agents would become full-scale economic actors.

From tokenization to origination

While 2024 and 2025 were about “tokenizing” existing Real-World Assets (RWAs) like T-bills, 2026 will be about on-chain origination.

The report suggested that narrow banking, simply holding safe, liquid assets on a chain, is just the starting point. The real breakthrough occurs when credit infrastructure moves on-chain.

We will see the rise of synthetic financial products and programmable credit that offer lower operational costs and greater composability than traditional finance.

In this world, the internet becomes the bank, providing wealth management and sophisticated investment tools to anyone with a smartphone.

Privacy as the ultimate competitive moat

Finally, for a decade, the transparency of blockchains was touted as a feature. By 2026, it will become a bug for institutional adoption.

According to A16z, privacy will be the most important moat in crypto.

As global finance migrates to the blockchain, institutions cannot afford to have their strategies and sensitive data exposed on public ledgers. This creates a privacy lock-in effect. Bridging tokens between chains is easy, but bridging secrets is hard.

The networks that successfully implement Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) and Secrets-as-a-Service will likely win the majority of the market share. Especially since users will be reluctant to leave a secure, private environment.

What’s more?

By 2026, crypto’s success will be measured by its invisibility.

Whether it’s stablecoins settling $46 trillion in volume (surpassing Visa), or prediction markets becoming the primary way we price the future, the crypto part of the equation is receding into the background. What remains is a faster, more private, and more autonomous internet.

This is interesting. Especially since a recent report by AMBCrypto found that crypto underperformed this year as gold and equities rallied, with Bitcoin [BTC] dropping by nearly 20%. Despite broader risk assets holding up.

Even so, some analysts believe money is already circling back to crypto. On the contrary, historical midterm-year patterns suggest 2026 could still be a stress point.

With LTHs steady, capital hesitant, and price unmoved, Bitcoin’s next move depends on a structural shift rather than sentiment alone.

Final Thoughts

• Technology is shifting from consumer-facing hype to invisible, indispensable plumbing for digital life.
• Most successful crypto platforms will be frictionless, silent, and embedded deep inside everyday applications.