Pantera Capital Investment Research Head Releases 12 Major Predictions for 2026: Covering DATs, AI, Stablecoins, and More

PANews December 25 News, Pantera Capital Research and Investment Head Jay Yu released 12 major predictions for the crypto industry in 2026:

Capital-efficient consumer credit: Crypto lending combining on-chain and off-chain credit modeling, modular design, and AI behavior learning will become a new frontier. Market segmentation: Prediction markets will divide into “financial” (integrating with DeFi, supporting leverage and staking) and “cultural” (more localized and long-tail interests) directions. Agentic Commerce and x402: The x402-based payment framework will expand, with Solana potentially surpassing Base in x402 transaction volume. AI as the interface layer for crypto: AI-assisted trading and analysis will become widespread, with LLM-driven trading AI still in experimental stages. Tokenized gold rise: Tokenized gold will become a popular asset for combating inflation and dollar issues. BTC quantum threat: Breakthroughs in quantum technology may trigger discussions among BTC institutions on response plans, but will not threaten value in the short term. Unified privacy development experience: Privacy frameworks (like Kohaku) will evolve into enterprise-level privacy services. DATs integration: The number of major domain DATs will decrease to 2-3, through integration or transformation into ETFs. Blurred boundaries between tokens and equity: Governance tokens face existential challenges, equity-exchangeable tokens may appear, and regulatory frameworks will become clearer. Hyperliquid leading perpetual contract DEX: Hyperliquid will maintain dominance, with stablecoins becoming core assets. Prop AMMs multi-chain expansion: Prop AMMs will expand across multiple chains, with Solana accounting for over 50% of trading volume. Stablecoin international payment flows: More fintech companies (like Stripe, Brex) will use stablecoins for international payments, with stablecoin chains like Tempo becoming major fiat-crypto gateways.