Around 250 of the largest US corporations are expected to either hold cryptocurrencies or use blockchain-based financial instruments by the end of 2026, according to Ripple president Monica Long.
In a blog post published Monday, Long said the crypto and blockchain industry has spent the past several years building the “technical and regulatory groundwork” needed to drive mass adoption and bring the sector into the mainstream.
As part of a broader set of predictions covering areas such as stablecoins, crypto custody, and artificial intelligence, Long described blockchain as emerging as the “operating layer of modern finance” and said institutional adoption is poised to accelerate sharply by 2026.
“By the end of 2026, balance sheets will hold more than $1 trillion in digital assets, and roughly half of Fortune 500 companies will have formalized digital asset strategies,” she said.
“And not just crypto exposure, but active participation across tokenized assets, digital asset treasuries, stablecoins, onchain T-bills and programmable financial instruments.”
Long pointed to a Coinbase survey from mid-2025 showing that six out of 10 executives at Fortune 500 companies said their businesses were already working on blockchain projects.
She also noted that more public companies are adding Bitcoin to their balance sheets. While only a small number of Fortune 500 firms currently hold Bitcoin, GameStop is one example after buying 4,710 BTC in May 2025. Block Inc. and Tesla are also among the companies holding Bitcoin.
Long added that digital asset treasury (DAT) companies have grown quickly, increasing from just four in 2020 to more than 200 today, with nearly 100 launched in 2025 alone.
She made a strong prediction about stablecoins, saying they are likely to become a main tool for global payments in the coming years. This growth, she said, is being driven by clearer regulations, support from major payment companies like Visa and Mastercard, and the practical benefits of the technology.
“Within the next five years, stablecoins will be fully built into global payment systems—not as an alternative, but as the main system,” Long said.
Long also expects many banks, financial service providers, and crypto firms to start holding and managing crypto directly to move their blockchain plans forward.
She added that combining artificial intelligence with blockchain will significantly boost the industry and create new uses that were not possible before.
“Stablecoins and smart contracts will help companies manage cash, handle margin calls, and improve returns across onchain agreements in real time, without manual work,” she said.
She also stressed the importance of privacy, explaining that zero-knowledge proofs will allow AI systems to evaluate credit risk without sharing sensitive information. This could make lending easier and support wider use of digital assets in regulated markets.
