Experts also forecast the emergence of a new media format.

By 2026, the digital asset market will focus on integrating tools like prediction platforms and cryptographic proofs into traditional businesses and infrastructure. This prediction comes from analysts at a16z crypto.

According to them, crypto-native tools are increasingly penetrating industries far beyond decentralized finance. This trend is fueled by advancements in cryptography, artificial intelligence, and the creation of new economic systems and rules, allowing blockchains to serve as foundational infrastructure rather than mere end products.

Prediction Platforms

a16z predicts that prediction markets will grow larger, broader, and more complex due to the intersection of crypto technologies and AI.

By the end of 2025, the total trading volume on the two largest platforms—Polymarket and Kalshi—will reach $28 billion.

Andy Hall, a scientific advisor at the firm, noted that future development will be determined not just by the increase in the number of contracts but by improvements in truth verification methods for resolving disputed outcomes.

He cited recent conflicts surrounding political and geopolitical markets, which clearly demonstrated that centralized arbitration mechanisms struggle to keep up with scale. This creates a sustained demand for decentralized governance models and oracles that use AI for more objective and transparent outcome determinations.

Cryptographic Proofs

a16z also believes that 2026 could be a turning point for ZK-proofs, which will begin to be widely adopted in traditional sectors unrelated to blockchain.

Justin Taller, a member of the research team, emphasized that advancements in zkEVM are significantly lowering the cost of generating proofs. This makes it economically viable to use computations even for cloud CPU tasks, and eventually for consumer devices.

According to the expert, this technological shift will pave the way for long-discussed applications like verifiable cloud computing. Businesses will be able to obtain cryptographic guarantees that computations are performed correctly without needing to rerun them or conduct expensive audits.

As the overhead costs of generating proofs continue to decrease and hardware performance improves, cryptographic verification may cease to be an "exotic" blockchain feature and become a standard component of digital infrastructure as a whole.

A New Media Format

The third trend is the emergence of staked media. The idea is that content creators use tokens and smart contracts to create publicly verifiable commitments that directly link their reputational incentives to their claims and forecasts.

“As AI has made it cheap and easy to generate endless content—claiming anything from any perspective or on behalf of any character, real or fictional—simple trust in the words of people (or bots) may prove insufficient,” explained Robert Hackett from a16z's editorial division.

He stated that this mechanism will allow media figures to demonstrate their neutrality and objectivity. For instance, when expressing their position or forecast, an expert could lock tokens to show they are not engaging in speculation or a Pump & Dump scheme.

“Alternatively, an analyst could tie their forecasts to public markets, thereby creating a verifiable track record,” added Hackett.

He emphasized that this new format will not replace traditional media but will serve as an important complement.

Recall that a16z has identified privacy as the main trend in the crypto market for 2026.