2026 will be a year full of adventures.
Author: HEADBOY
Compiled by: Deep Tide TechFlow
The development of the cryptocurrency industry has always been accompanied by the evolution of trends and narratives. The ability to capture opportunities before these trends take shape is a key skill for many successful figures in the crypto space. In this article, I will outline the main narratives that may lead the crypto community's focus in 2026.
▪️ GambleFI: Prediction and Opinion Markets
Prediction and opinion markets have gradually evolved from tools primarily aimed at crypto enthusiasts to important resources for decision-making in everyday life.
When people want to judge the veracity of an event, they often need to sift through a large number of articles, blogs, and social media posts, yet still struggle to find reliable insights. Opinion markets have changed this situation. They not only provide clear views on specific events but also support these views through economic investments.
Currently, Polymarket and Kalshi are the two giants in this field, capturing most of the market attention and trading volume. However, I believe their potential has not yet been fully realized, and more protocols will explore different dynamics of this narrative in the future.
This area is worth close attention, especially because it naturally aligns with the needs of real-world users.
▪️ Launchpads: The Return of Financing and ICOs
As airdrops gradually cease to be the default mode for community launches, we may see more community-led fundraising activities, which may even start from the seed round stage, accompanied by a strong return of ICOs.
Since October 27, 2025 (62 days ago), over $341.35 million has been raised through community fundraising and community-led financing, and more projects are expected to launch in the first quarter of 2026:
MegaETH: $50 million
Monad: $187.5 million
Gensyn: $16.14 million
Aztec: $5.231 million
Superform: $3 million
Vooi: $1.5 million
Solomon Labs: $8 million
Solstice, Football Fun: $1.5 million
Makina: $1.3 million
Rainbow: $3 million
Immune fi: $5 million
Reya Labs: $3 million
Humidi fi: $6.1 million
Zkpass: $3 million
With the launch of some successful projects, community fundraising is expected to become the default mode for community launches, fundamentally changing the way projects interact with communities.
In this process, the biggest winners will be those fundraising platforms that can offer the most investor-friendly terms while prioritizing strong protocol economics.
Currently, Legion, MetaDao, Buildpad, Echo, Coinlist, and Kaito are the platforms hosting the most token sales this year.
On November 14, 2025, I analyzed the current state of Launchpads based on the performance of these platforms:
Next year, we will undoubtedly see more new platforms exploring dynamic token issuance models to achieve community fundraising while balancing the interests of investors and protocols. This model will become the new focus of the crypto industry.
▪️ Privacy: The "Secret" World on the Chain
The lifeline of the cryptocurrency industry is liquidity, and currently, institutions control a large portion of it. To attract institutional capital, privacy is no longer optional but a necessity.
Some data simply cannot be made public, such as trading strategies, account balances, counterparty information, or internal fund flows, especially under the watchful eyes of competitors.
The next phase of on-chain applications will no longer be merely about hiding activities but achieving selective disclosure: proving legitimacy without exposing all information. This is the only way to attract serious capital into the chain.
Since the beginning of 2025, over 44 privacy-focused dApps and blockchain projects have received funding, with a total financing amount exceeding $500 million, clearly indicating the rapid growth in demand for privacy-first applications.
Looking ahead to 2026, we are likely to see more such projects emerge, and existing protocols will gradually release their full potential as privacy shifts from a niche feature to a core requirement.
▪️ New Banks for Digital Assets: Comprehensive Upgrades to Wallets
The cryptocurrency industry has surpassed the functions of traditional wallets.
Tools that are only used for storage and transfers can no longer meet the demand. As more capital, protocols, and real-world businesses operate on-chain, the gap is evident: there is still a lack of a true bridge that connects wallets with a complete financial workflow.
Next year, the industry's focus will shift from single-function wallets to Neo-Banks for Digital Assets that are native to wallets. These products will integrate functions such as custody, payments, yield, reporting, and compliance into a single interface.
This is not about replacing traditional banks but upgrading wallets to financial infrastructure.
This year, @Revolut has led in overall attention, while the newcomer @AviciMoney has performed particularly well, raising $3.5 million through community fundraising but still delivering impressive results.
In the future, we may see more similar applications emerge, especially those that provide utility not only for crypto-native users (CT Natives) but also attract a broader user base.
▪️ DePINs: The Decentralized Future of the Internet of Things
We witnessed the rise of Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePINs) in 2024, but then experienced a sharp decline in 2025. However, I believe that next year will be the time for it to fully unleash its potential.
Projects like Helium have proven that distributed connections can operate on a large scale; Hivemapper has shown that crowdsourced maps can compete with traditional giants; Render has pushed decentralized computing into real demand cycles. Emerging networks like Grass are turning idle resources into measurable economic output.
What is even more interesting is that venture capital firms (VCs) continue to inject funds into these infrastructures, and some well-known projects have not only maintained usage but have successfully turned it into revenue sources.
What was once seen as a "tokenized hardware narrative disguised as malware" is now gradually transforming into networks with real users, actual use cases, and revenue. The industry is clearly shifting towards products with real use cases and profitability, which is where DePINs (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks) stand out.
▪️ Perpetual Contract DEX: The Future of the Derivatives Market
This year, perpetual contract decentralized exchanges (Perpetual DEXs) have dominated the narrative of crypto trading, and this trend is far from over.
Platforms like Hyperliquid, dYdX, Lighter, and Aster have already proven that perpetual contracts can generate substantial trading volume and fee income, even competing with centralized exchanges.
Looking ahead to next year, the ultimate winners will not just be the DEX platforms with the highest trading volume, but those that can offer capital-efficient products, low slippage, and innovative risk management. Such platforms will make derivatives trading more accessible to both retail and institutional investors.
▪️ AI: The Crypto Evolution of Artificial Intelligence
In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has dominated the broader internet landscape, and it is only a matter of time before it sparks similar transformations in the crypto space.
We have witnessed some individuals using AI tools to "vibe-code" DeFi applications from scratch and successfully launch them, which illustrates how rapidly AI tools are advancing.
However, the role of AI in the cryptocurrency industry goes far beyond trading bots or trading signal analysis. The real transformation will occur when AI becomes the infrastructure—it will be responsible for writing smart contracts, managing risks, optimizing liquidity, and running protocols faster and at lower costs than humans.
It is foreseeable that AI will emerge as a significant narrative in the cryptocurrency industry, becoming increasingly important over time. This is an area worth close attention.
Before 2026 arrives, you should familiarize yourself with the following emerging AI skills:
Vibecoding
Prompting
AI-Augmented Research
Automation
Additionally, there are other narratives worth noting:
→ x402: On-chain Simplification
→ Robots: Tokenized Automation Systems
→ Stablecoins: Tokenized Fiat Currency
→ Real-World Assets
The future of the cryptocurrency industry is bright. I believe that for those curious about the future of crypto, 2026 will be a year full of adventures. Looking forward to seeing you on the side of wealth creation!
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