Empire

Our 2026 Predictions

43 snips
Dec 26, 2025
The hosts reflect on their 2025 predictions before diving into insights for 2026. They explore stablecoin growth, with predictions for Visa's massive card settlements and bank-backed stable USD accounts. The discussion covers on-chain identity and decentralized storage's revival. They also foresee fintechs adopting DeFi solutions while predicting a tenfold growth in prediction markets. The forecast includes potential acquisitions in the crypto space and the emergence of tokenized collateral, highlighting a pivotal year ahead for digital assets.
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INSIGHT

Prediction Markets Are Breaking Out

  • Prediction markets grew materially in 2025 and are poised for much larger adoption next year.
  • Rob Hadick and others view prediction markets as a durable growth area with expanding use beyond elections.
INSIGHT

Stablecoins: Legitimacy With Slower Issuance

  • Stablecoins continued to gain share and legitimacy in 2025 but adoption and issuance grew slower than some expected.
  • Hosts expect stablecoins to be a major vector for payments, treasury, and corporate use in 2026.
INSIGHT

DeFi Mullet Returns: UX Front, DeFi Back

  • Expect a 'DeFi mullet' where consumer UX stays simple but DeFi rails power lending, yield, and settlement behind the scenes.
  • Fintechs and brokerages will increasingly embed DeFi protocols for backend liquidity and products.
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