Opinion: By 2026, digital assets will shift from speculative tools to financial infrastructure

On January 8, according to CoinDesk, investment bank B. Riley stated that as regulation gradually matures and traditional financial institutions begin large-scale deployment of blockchain technology, digital assets are expected to cross a key threshold in 2026, transitioning from a primarily speculative asset class to a practical financial infrastructure. Analysts pointed out that the increasingly clear regulatory rules around stablecoins, the ongoing tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) by institutions, improved governance frameworks, and the continuous enhancement of interoperability between bank ledgers and public blockchains are collectively changing the “usage methods” of digital assets, not just their “trading methods.” This evolution is prompting digital asset treasury companies to shift from merely accumulating tokens to investing digital assets in actual operations, creating sustainable and recurring revenue business models. MSCI has decided to temporarily delay removing companies with high holdings of cryptocurrencies from its indices, which is a short-term positive for the valuation and capital inflow of digital asset-related companies. B. Riley pointed out that companies like BitMine are transitioning from simply hoarding tokens to engaging in revenue-generating operational businesses, and this shift is expected to spread across the entire industry.