He also expects major consolidation in DeFi, with perpetual futures exchanges narrowing to a new leader, and projects stablecoin supply to grow 60% amid rising mainstream payment use
In the latest post on X (formerly Twitter) on December 29, Haseeb Qureshi, the managing partner of the venture firm Dragonfly Capital, shared his prediction for the cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence sectors for the next year, 2026.
In his prediction, he has suggested that 2026 is going to surprise, both to the upside and to the downside. He mentioned that the next year will be the year of continued growth, shaped by larger institutions, practical uses of blockchain technology, and actual successful projects being separated from overhyped ones.
Qureshi’s prediction for 2026 will be more constructive as he thinks that the cryptocurrency sector is moving beyond speculation and seeing meaningful integration with the traditional financial system.
In his prediction, Qureshi shared his crucial forecast for leading cryptocurrencies. He predicts that Bitcoin will rise above $150,000 by the end of 2026, thanks to growing institutional investment and friendly macroeconomic conditions.
However, he also expects Bitcoin’s current market dominance, which stands near 59% with Bitcoin trading around $87,000, to decrease.
He suggested that this decline will be due to investors moving capital into alternative cryptocurrencies. In his prediction, Qureshi believes that prominent networks like Ethereum and Solana will perform very well. He calls them “neutral infra chains” that continue to attract the best software developers, which will help them to become a stronger ecosystem.
In the surprising response to the user, he made a bullish remark for Zcash. He said, “I think privacy is going to be a laggard. Zcash will likely do well because people want to believe, and there will be some adoption of private transactions on Arc, Tempo, etc. But I predict mostly people will keep doing things in 2026 the way they’ve already been doing them,”
In the post on X, he mentioned an ongoing trend where major corporations and institutions are entering the crypto sector. Qureshi predicts that at least one Big Tech giant, such as Google, Apple, or Meta, will launch or acquire a cryptocurrency wallet in 2026. This potential launch could introduce billions of everyday users to crypto through platforms they already use.
Beyond consumer tech, He also expected that more Fortune 100 companies, especially in banking and fintech, would start using blockchain technology for practical purposes. These firms will likely build private or permissioned networks using existing toolkits like Avalanche subnets, OP Stacks, Orbit, or ZK Stack. This new trend shows a major adoption of blockchain as a useful tool for business, beyond its speculative asset.
Despite this corporate interest, he shared his doubt about new public blockchains launched by financial technology companies, often known as “fintech L1s.” He argues that these networks will fail to meet expectations and will not pull major activity or users away from proven chains like Ethereum or Solana.
According to him, developers mostly prefer to build on neutral and open infrastructure rather than platforms controlled by a single corporation. This view matches recent analysis from other firms like Galaxy Digital, which has also pointed out the difficulties of creating a corporate-run blockchain.
For the decentralized finance sector, he said that “Perp DEX market share consolidates to something like 3 big venues a la HBO (market share something like 40 / 30 / 20), followed by a long tail of smaller players who compete over the leftovers (last 10%).”
He believes that the market for perpetual futures exchanges will narrow to just a few leading platforms, increasing competition between projects like GMX and Gains Network. He also predicts that perpetual contracts based on stocks will capture more than 20% of the derivatives market.
However, he also raised a warning in his prediction. He warned that a high-profile insider trading scandal within DeFi is likely in 2026. These kinds of events could bring heavy regulatory attention and affect the market.
On the flip side, the stablecoin market is expected to see impressive growth. From a current market capitalization of $312 billion, Qureshi predicts a 60% increase in 2026, helped by clearer regulations and more real-world use.
