The price of XRP fell by 3% on Wednesday, even as Ripple's CEO Monica Long presented one of the most optimistic institutional forecasts for cryptocurrencies yet.
In her opinion, 2026 will mark a critical transition from experimentation to full production through global financing.
Forecasts from Ripple's CEO Monica Long for 2026
Monica Long shared a detailed post and an accompanying report, noting that the industry is entering the "production era."
She states that reliable infrastructure and real-world facilities are pushing banks, companies, and financial service providers beyond experimentation to widespread deployment.
"After one of the most exciting years for cryptocurrencies (and Ripple), the industry is entering its own production era," Long began.
According to the executive at Ripple, 2026 will mark the establishment of cryptocurrencies, where:
Stablecoins become the virtual infrastructure for settlement
At the heart of Long's thesis are stablecoins, which she says are shifting from an alternative payment rail to the foundation of global settlement. This aligns with Coinbase CEO's expectation that banks will eventually demand stablecoins that pay interest.
Monica Long points out that major payment networks and fintech companies have already begun integrating digital money directly into existing systems.
Long said: "Stablecoins will be the foundation of global settlement, not a substitute," referring to companies like Visa, Stripe, and major financial institutions linking stablecoins to the payment flow system.
As retail sector adoption continues, she emphasized that B2B payments are the real growth driver, with companies using digital dollars to unlock instant liquidity and capital efficiency.
The head of Ripple also highlighted data showing that B2B stablecoin payments reached an annual run rate of $76 billion last year, up from less than $100 million monthly in early 2023.
She noted that the prize is freeing up trillions of dollars of trapped working capital stuck in corporate balance sheets.
The exposure to cryptocurrencies has become widespread
Long's second key prediction is that cryptocurrencies will no longer be viewed as speculative by institutions, but as essential financial infrastructure.
By 2026, it is expected that around 50% of Fortune 500 companies will have exposure to cryptocurrencies or formal strategies for digital asset treasury.
"Cryptocurrencies are no longer speculative — they have become the operational layer of modern finance," anticipating the active use of tokenized assets, on-chain treasury bonds, stablecoins, and programmable financial instruments across corporate balance sheets.
She also pointed to the rapid expansion of traded cryptocurrency funds, which now provide institutional access but still represent only 1-2% of the US ETF market, indicating a significant area for growth.
Capital markets and custody follow suit on-chain
With increasing adoption, Long expects capital markets to go on their upward trajectory. She anticipates that 5-10% of global settlement activity will move to on-chain, driven by tokenization and the movement of collateral based on stablecoins.
Meanwhile, cryptocurrency custody is entering a phase of consolidation. With $8.6 billion in M&A activity in cryptocurrencies recorded in 2025, Long expects custody to become the next major battleground, driven by the shift to commodity in vertical integration and multi-custodial strategies.
By 2026, it is estimated that more than half of the world's top 50 banks will establish new custody relationships.
Blockchain meets artificial intelligence, but markets remain cautious
As Long highlighted, the convergence of blockchain and artificial intelligence is where smart contracts, AI models, and privacy-preserving zero-knowledge proofs automate treasury management, improve guarantees, and assess risks in real-time.
Despite the broad vision, the market reacted quietly as the price of XRP fell by over 3% to $1.90, effectively dipping below the $2 mark.
This decline in XRP price reflects the ongoing separation between short-term price movements and the long-term infrastructure narrative. This occurs even with Ripple’s 2026 positioned as a crucial year for institutional cryptocurrency adoption.
