- XRP slips despite Ripple predicting crypto’s full institutional production era by 2026
- Stablecoins, tokenization, and custody consolidation anchor Ripple’s long-term financial vision.
- Markets remain cautious as infrastructure narratives outpace short-term XRP price action.
The XRP price slipped by 3% on Wednesday, even as Ripple President Monica Long laid out one of the most bullish institutional outlooks for crypto to date.
In her opinion, 2026 will mark a decisive shift from experimentation to full-scale production across global finance.
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Ripple President Monica Long’s Predictions for 2026
Monica Long shared a detailed post and an accompanying report, indicating that the industry is entering its “production era.”
She says trusted infrastructure and real-world utility finally push banks, corporates, and financial service providers beyond pilots and into scaled deployment.
“After one of crypto’s most exciting years (and Ripple’s), the industry is entering its production era,” Long started.
According to the Ripple executive, 2026 will deliver the institutionalization of crypto, where:
Stablecoins become the default settlement infrastructure
At the center of Long’s thesis are stablecoins, which she says are transitioning from an alternative payment rail into the foundation of global settlement. This aligns with the Coinbase CEO’s prediction that banks will eventually demand interest-paying stablecoins.
Monica Long notes that major payment networks and fintech firms are already embedding digital dollars directly into existing systems.
“Stablecoins will be the foundation for global settlement, not an alternative rail,” Long said, pointing to Visa, Stripe, and major financial institutions hard-wiring stablecoins into payment flows.
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While retail adoption continues, she emphasized that B2B payments are the real growth engine, with corporates using digital dollars to unlock real-time liquidity and capital efficiency.
The Ripple president also highlighted data showing that B2B stablecoin payments reached an annualized run rate of $76 billion last year, up from less than $100 million per month in early 2023.
The prize, she noted, is freeing up trillions of dollars in trapped working capital sitting idle on corporate balance sheets.
Crypto exposure goes mainstream
Long’s second major prediction is that crypto will no longer be viewed as speculative by institutions, but as core financial infrastructure.
In 2026, she expects roughly 50% of Fortune 500 companies to have crypto exposure or formalized digital asset treasury strategies.
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“Crypto is no longer speculative — it’s becoming the operating layer of modern finance,” she wrote, forecasting active use of tokenized assets, on-chain T-bills, stablecoins, and programmable