1/
I don’t usually write prediction posts, but 2026 feels different.
AI is already here. Crypto is changing payment rails slowly, then all at once. And from my vantage point in DAO governance, the shift is already visible. 👇
2/ First, a reality check:
Yes—crypto’s most obvious use case for mainstream adoption so far has been speculation.
Speculation was a phase, not the destination.
3/
Every foundational technology starts this way.
Railroads. Oil. Telecom. The internet.
Speculation attracts capital, funds experimentation, and builds infrastructure long before regulation and norms catch up.
Crypto followed the same pattern.
4/
What’s changing now is technical abstraction.
Crypto is finally moving away from:
• exposed plumbing
• multi-step workflows
• “think like an engineer” UX
And toward natural language interfaces.
5/
Prediction #1:
Crypto wallets stop looking like transaction forms and start acting like assistants.
Natural language → intent → execution.
“Send $500 to a friend” instead of chains, gas, approvals, and warnings.
@NEAR Intents is already on the forefront of this.
6/
Prediction #2:
DeFi becomes consumer-app-like.
Multi-step workflows (lend, swap, pay) get bundled into simple actions.
Users interact with what they want to do—not how protocols work.
7/
Prediction #3:
Privacy-native AI.
As trust in big platforms erodes, private AI interactions become a user demand.
8/
Centralized AI systems can store prompts, train on them, or be legally compelled to disclose them.
That’s a problem for industries built on confidentiality:
• healthcare
• therapy
• law
9/
We’re starting to see early examples of privacy-first AI stacks:
• local or confidential execution
• minimized data retention
• non-custodial infrastructure
@NEAR and Brave on the forefront here once again.
11/
The real success case for crypto won’t be when everyone “adopts” it.
It’ll be when people stop noticing it at all—because it just works.
12/
Full post here if you want the deeper breakdown 👇
Curious what others think we’re underestimating about 2026.