2026 is shaping up like a startup pitch deck – full of bold claims, a sprinkle of optimism, and just enough chaos to keep investors awake. Expect tech evolution, economic plot twists, and maybe even a few unicorns trotting by. It is shaping up to be an exciting year.

Stablecoins: From “send me a wire” to “ping me a token”

Going into 2026, stablecoins feel less like crypto and more like plumbing, quietly digitalising money transfers across consumer, corporate, and capital markets. The shift is already visible. According to payments infrastructure firm BVNK, adjusted stablecoin payment volumes rival major networks and have already surged into the multi‑trillion range. Meanwhile, Visa’s on-chain analytics show that real-world stablecoin payments have grown from half a trillion in 2020 to $7.4 trillion over the last 12 months.

Expect significant growth to continue as a full “stablecoin stack” matures. This stack will consist of issuers, wallets, compliance, analytics, and on/off‑ramps all making it possible for cross‑border payouts to be completed in minutes, not days, at a fraction of the cost.

In 2026, yield and full‑service offerings should become mainstream. Treasury‑grade accounts, instant settlement, automated compliance – all wrapped in enterprise APIs. Larger players won’t wait; they’ll acquire technology to accelerate rollout (payment processors, banks, and fintechs are already moving).

Obstacles? Regulation, interoperability, and risk tooling – but frameworks in the EU, US, and Asia are converging fast. Multiple application areas – from payroll to partner settlements to trading cash legs – will power the next leg up “tokens as tender,” finally.

AI in 2026: Hype, hardware, and hard yards

In 2026, the “AI movement” shifts from demo theatre to deployment discipline. Boards will stop asking “what’s our AI?” and start asking “where’s the value – at scale, safely, and measured?”

The winners (“Pacesetters”) will still be the stubborn 13–14% who treat AI as a system – strategy, data, infra, governance, talent, culture – rather than a single model. Expect agentic AI everywhere, but readiness (not rhetoric) will separate ROI from R&D.

Most firms will over‑promise with agents while under‑investing in infrastructure, security, and workforce planning. Think rising workloads, patchy governance, and an uncomfortable “AI Infrastructure Debt” that quietly compounds.

Capital will continue to flood the stack, including chips, neo-clouds, sovereign AI, but the bubble test won’t be met (yet). Valuations continue to be stretched, but the fundamentals still carry more weight than 1999‑style speculation, and diversification remains the adult in the room.

OpenAI 2026 = Cisco 2000? Tempting headline, wrong decade. Today’s leaders have stronger balance sheets, cash‑funded capex, and less systemic leverage than the telco fibre frenzy. Translation: corrections, not collapse.

My bet for Venture Capital is that funds will act as AI‑readiness enablers providing data quality pipelines, observability, security for agents, and infrastructure efficiency. It’s time to back the “boring” rails or “picks and shovels”

Private Markets: “Mind the (liquidity) gap”

In 2026, private markets could become the default growth engine in global portfolios, not the “alternative.” Allocations keep climbing as LPs chase diversification and alpha – even with fundraising tightening and exit windows stubbornly narrow.

Public markets? Still on a diet. Data collected by the Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP), shows the number of firms with publicly listed shares in the US has roughly halved since the late‑1990s – from 8,000+ to ~4,000. Meanwhile, private deals continue to outpace IPOs post‑2022, further concentrating index exposure in a handful of mega‑caps (Magnificent Seven).

Despite the tighter fundraising and gnarly valuation resets, capital deployment is adapting; LPs are allocating more to privates, and secondaries/co‑investments are set up for early returns as liquidity demands rise.

The prediction is that we will see the first USD $1T privately held company emerge in 2026 – a poster child for the power shift from public to private value creation. Remember when growth used to IPO at Series C?

Bitcoin 2026: “Bitcoin moves from edgy to everyday”

In 2026, I am expecting Bitcoin to go full‑stack. DeFi on Bitcoin will finally feel useful, not just nerdy – lightning and emerging L2s will make yield, credit, and instant settlement feel like switching from dial‑up to fibre-optic.

Bitcoin ETFs keep lowering the operational barrier for everyone from family offices to sleepy pension committees, anchoring sentiment and price discovery. According to Coin Telegraph their record‑pace AUM growth in 2025 wasn’t a fad – it was onboarding. With FASB’s (accounting standard) fair‑value rule hitting full effect, treasurers get cleaner P&L optics so one more hurdle to institutional adoption has been removed.

Macro tailwinds remain absurd: Western deficits aren’t suddenly going away, so the money printer hums – and $200K BTC becomes a realistic target as opposed to cocktail‑party bravado. Markets will mature, which means more hedging, more custody, more sober risk frameworks, policy pivots and geopolitics will keep volatility spicy.

Expect Bitcoin to embed more deeply into corporate treasuries and strategic reserves for nation‑states. Meanwhile, the Bitcoin-native startup ecosystem keeps compounding, pushing L2 finance and infrastructure from pilot to production. If fintech was a facelift, Bitcoin is reconstructive surgery.

Venture 2026: Fewer shots, bigger cannons

In 2026, venture will feel less like angelic spray-and-pray and more like disciplined artillery. Liquidity could tighten, but IPO windows could stay open. M&A should improve, but DPI may still lag, forcing funds to underwrite for longer holding periods or earlier paths to cash (read: secondaries, structured rounds).

Top-tier firms will double down on private‑equity‑style playbooks: concentrated portfolios, value‑creation teams, and hands‑on co‑investments to bridge undercapitalised rounds. Expect more company creation in‑house and a decisive shift from passive board‑sitting to active company‑building.

Will this mean fewer deals overall? Maybe, but there will likely be fatter tickets and more mega‑rounds, especially in AI, defence tech and deeptech, that will define the year. Europe will continue its maturation, resulting in integrated capital stacks, bigger local funds, and globally relevant exits, but late‑stage liquidity and pension participation will remain the Achilles’ heel.

I met a European solo GP who joked that he’s now an “SPE – Single‑Person Equity” – raising co‑invests, staging secondaries, and building in public. This archetype will rise in popularity as early‑stage supply risks outpacing truly seed‑ready companies.

Europe: From cookies to innovation – if we choose it

2026 could be the year Europe stops being “the continent of almost” and starts building on its own terms. Yes, we famously missed the PC, mobile, semis and – so far – the EV boom. But autonomous systems (on roads and in factories) could be Europe’s comeback chapter if we swap compliance theatre for progress engines.

Expect Brussels to push the 28^th-regime “EU Inc.” concept from memo to momentum, wih simpler company formation, less red tape, cross‑border hiring, and procurement that supports innovation rather than paperclips.

Don’t expect capital markets to harmonise overnight; late‑stage firepower will still be thinner than the US, even as listing talk heats up (Bolt, n8n and others are writing the playbooks for European listings). Meanwhile, as liquidity improves and venture keeps compounding, AI and deeptech rounds lift valuations and exits, but discipline remains the watchword.

The bottom line is that by 2026, regulation needs to shift from cookie banners and notaries, to speed, talent mobility, and scale – otherwise Europe risks watching autonomous cars… autonomously pass it by (once again).

NVIDIA – The beginning of the end of a monopoly?

For years, NVIDIA has been the undisputed king of AI infrastructure, the GPU monarch sitting comfortably on its silicon throne. But as we step into 2026, the cracks in that crown are starting to show. Why? Because monopolies, like bad diets, are unsustainable in the long run.

NVIDIA’s GPUs remain the gold standard for AI training, but they have also become the gold-plated bottleneck – expensive, scarce supply, and slowing innovation. When your computing bill looks like the GDP of a small nation, something’s got to give.

Enter Google’s TPUs and a growing cast of challengers. These aren’t just side hustles; they’re serious contenders. As hyperscalers and startups alike explore alternatives, dependency on NVIDIA is waning. More competition means lower prices, and lower prices mean democratisation of AI development.

Suddenly, building the next ChatGPT won’t require a venture round the size of a Series Z. Capital efficiency improves, and investors shift from the “spray and pray” party rounds to fewer, deeper bets on companies with real differentiation. In short, 2026 could mark the year NVIDIA goes from being the only game in town to just one of several players in a much bigger league.

M&A “cash is king, and AI is the crown jewel”

If you thought 2025 was busy for dealmakers, buckle up – 2026 is shaping up to be a blockbuster year for M&A. Why? Because corporate balance sheets are practically bursting with cash, and CFOs are itching to put that money to work.

Forget the old “organic growth” mantra; this year, it’s all about buying capabilities, outsourcing R&D, and hedging bets through diversification. AI remains the star of the show. Companies aren’t just chasing algorithms – they’re hunting proprietary models, elite talent, and high-performance infrastructure like it’s the last slice of pizza at a board meeting. Private equity is fuelling the fire, with “buy and build” strategies becoming the new black. And it’s not just tech firms playing – retail, healthcare, and even energy giants are snapping up tech to turbocharge digital transformation.

Add tariffs and supply chain headaches to the mix, and nearshoring is back in vogue. But beware: while the burning platform will push acquisitions, integration and skills gaps will still trip up even the boldest buyers. Prediction: Global M&A could smash previous records.

Ready for 2026?

Right now, 2026 looks like it will be a year of consolidation, discipline, and power shifts. The loudest narratives, AI, crypto, private capital, geopolitics, are no longer emerging stories; they’re maturing systems in which execution, not hype, will determine the winners.

Capital will be more selective, technology more infrastructural, and advantage more concentrated among those who build quietly, integrate deeply, and manage risk with intent. The opportunity in 2026 isn’t in predicting the next hype cycle, but in positioning for durability, owning the rails, controlling the optionality, and staying liquid enough to be flexible.

Forbes article