 
 
Roughly half of the U.S.’s largest companies will maintain crypto publicity by the top of 2026, implementing formal methods that embrace holding digital property or utilizing blockchain-powered monetary devices and tokenized property, in keeping with Ripple president Monica Lengthy.
The Institutionalization Of Crypto In 2026
In a Jan. 20 weblog submit, which additionally spanned subjects reminiscent of stablecoins, crypto custody, and synthetic intelligence, Monica Lengthy famous that blockchain is popping into the “working layer of contemporary finance,” predicting that this yr will witness a large enhance in institutional adoption.
The Ripple President asserted that the crypto and blockchain trade has, over the past couple of years, striven to put the “technical and regulatory groundwork” to bolster mass adoption and push the trade into the mainstream.
“By the top of 2026, stability sheets will maintain over $1 trillion in digital property, and roughly half of Fortune 500 corporations can have formalized digital asset methods,” Lengthy postulated, including:
“And never simply crypto publicity, however energetic participation throughout tokenized property, digital asset treasuries, stablecoins, onchain T-bills and programmable monetary devices.”
 
Lengthy cited a Coinbase survey in mid-2025, which discovered that 6 out of 10 prime leaders from Fortune 500 corporations had signaled that their employers have been already engaged on blockchain initiatives. To assist her view, she identified that there was strong progress within the variety of publicly listed corporations including Bitcoin to their company treasuries.
A few of the Fortune 500 corporations at the moment holding Bitcoin embrace GameStop, which first snapped up 4,710 BTC in Might final yr. Others embrace funds agency Block and Elon Musk’s Tesla.
“And digital asset treasury (DAT) corporations have grown from simply 4 in 2020 to over 200 right now, with practically 100 fashioned in 2025 alone,” Lengthy continued.
The exec additionally shared a bullish forecast for the stablecoin sector, suggesting the property would grow to be “the muse for world settlement, not another rail,” on the again of integration by Wall Avenue bigwigs reminiscent of Visa, Stripe, and Mastercard.
Furthermore, Lengthy anticipates a wave of monetary establishments, together with banking establishments, service suppliers, and crypto companies, starting to immediately custody crypto property in a bid to push “their blockchain methods.”
