Long shared her predictions in an official blog report, which centered on institutional adoption and clearer regulation. The Ripple President argues that the industry could see an observable growth in stablecoins, institutional balance sheet exposure, custody services, and AI use in crypto.
In her recent predictions, Long noted that she expects stablecoins to become a standard part of global payment systems. Major payment networks and financial platforms like Visa and Stripe already integrate stablecoins into existing processes, and she believes this trend will continue.
Interestingly, data already confirms the gradual growth in stablecoin usage. Notably, last year, B2B stablecoin payments reached an annualized $76 billion, up sharply from early 2023, when monthly volumes stayed below $100 million. It bears mentioning that Ripple entered the stablecoin market with the launch of its RLUSD product in December 2024.
For her second prediction, Long sees crypto growing into a major financial tool. By the end of 2026, she expects institutions to hold more than $1 trillion in digital assets on their balance sheets. In addition, around half of Fortune 500 companies could adopt formal digital asset strategies that include stablecoins, tokenized assets, and onchain financial instruments.
This trend already shows up in recent figures. Specifically, a 2025 survey found that 60% of Fortune 500 companies actively work on blockchain initiatives. More than 200 publicly traded companies now hold bitcoin as part of their treasury strategies. Meanwhile, digital asset treasury firms have expanded from just four in 2020 to over 200 today, with nearly 100 launched in 2025 alone.
Moreover, crypto exchange-traded funds continue to bring institutions into the market. More than 40 crypto ETFs launched in 2025, yet they still account for only 1-2% of the U.S. ETF market.
Long sees this gap as a sign of long-term growth potential. In 2026, she expects collateral mobility to become a key use case, with tokenization improving settlement speed and efficiency. As adoption grows, 5-10% of capital markets settlement could move onchain.
In her third prediction, Long focused on digital asset custody. For context, crypto mergers and acquisitions reached $8.6 billion in 2025, driven largely by institutional interest. She expects custody services to play a central role in the next phase of consolidation.
As custody solutions become more standardized, standalone providers face pressure to broaden their offerings or integrate with larger platforms. At the same time, regulators encourage banks to rely on multiple custodians to manage risk. Because of this, Long predicts that more than half of the world’s top 50 banks will form at least one new digital asset custody partnership in 2026.
Finally, Long called attention to the growing link between blockchain and AI. She expects these technologies to work together to automate financial tasks that still depend on manual processes. Specifically, stablecoins and smart contracts could allow treasuries to manage liquidity, execute margin calls, and optimize returns in real time.
At the same time, she believes asset managers may likely use AI alongside blockchain systems to adjust exposure to tokenized assets and stablecoin-based products throughout the day.
Notably, the XRP community has begun responding to Long’s 2026 predictions. For instance, WrathofKahneman (WOK), a notable community figure, commented on the outlook, noting that it sets stablecoins up as the main settlement asset.
He also highlighted the predicted link between blockchain and AI, suggesting it could be important for financial agents. WOK also observed that the report did not mention XRP or the XRP Ledger (XRPL) and expressed interest in seeing whether the growth of digital asset custody will require broader public neutrality.
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