Monica Long, president of Ripple (CRYPTO: XRP), predicts half of Fortune 500 companies will adopt formal crypto strategies by the end of 2026 as stablecoins become the default for global payments.

Stablecoins Become The Default Payment Rail

Long says stablecoins will replace traditional payment systems within five years, not as an alternative but as the foundation.

The shift is already happening. Visa Inc (NYSE:V) and Stripe are building stablecoin infrastructure into their core systems. 

The GENIUS Act legalized compliant U.S. stablecoins, making them the standard for 24/7 global payments.

Ripple’s recent conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to charter a national trust bank signals where this is headed. 

Long says this positions Ripple USD (CRYPTO: RLUSD) as the gold standard for programmable payments.

The numbers back up the momentum. B2B payments drove stablecoin adoption to $76 billion annualized in 2025 — a massive jump from under $100 million monthly in early 2023. 

But the real opportunity lies in the over $700 billion sitting idle on corporate balance sheets that stablecoins could unlock for real-time liquidity.

Fortune 500 Goes All-In On Crypto

Long predicts balance sheets will hold over $1 trillion in digital assets by the end of 2026, with roughly half of Fortune 500 companies running active crypto strategies.

The data supports it. A 2025 Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ:COIN) survey found 60% of Fortune 500 companies are working on blockchain initiatives. Over 200 public companies now hold Bitcoin as a treasury strategy.

Digital asset treasury companies grew from four in 2020 to over 200 today. Nearly 100 formed in 2025 alone.

Additionally, more than 40 crypto ETFs launched in 2025, but they still represent only 1-2% of the total U.S. ETF market. That gap shows how much room exists for institutional money to flow in.

Long expects 5-10% of capital markets settlement to move on-chain in 2026 as custodian banks and clearing houses adopt tokenization.

The Custody Consolidation Wave

Crypto M&A hit $8.6 billion in 2025, driven by institutional participation.

Long predicts more than half of the world’s top 50 banks will formalize at least one new custody relationship in 2026. Custody is becoming commoditized, forcing standalone providers to diversify or integrate.

Banks are adopting multi-custodian strategies to manage risk. Regulatory requirements are pushing consolidation.

Ripple made moves into traditional finance through acquisitions of GTreasury and Hidden Road.

Kraken bought NinjaTrader. The pattern shows crypto companies buying their way into existing financial infrastructure rather than building from scratch.

AI Meets Blockchain In 2026

Long sees AI and blockchain converging to automate financial operations that currently require manual work.

Stablecoins and smart contracts will let treasuries manage liquidity, execute margin calls, and optimize yield automatically. Asset managers will use AI to rebalance exposure to tokenized assets in real-time across 24/7 onchain markets.

Zero-knowledge proofs will let AI assess credit risk without exposing sensitive data, reducing friction in lending and expanding digital asset adoption in regulated markets.

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