Hashed Predicts 2026 Will Be the Year Digital Assets Become a True Economy, With Asia Leading Adoption

Korean venture firm Hashed has outlined its 2026 investment thesis, highlighting stablecoins, AI agents, and on-chain credit markets as the foundations of a real digital economy. The firm sees Asia emerging as the first region where enterprise adoption is taking shape.

According to Hashed, the crypto market is finally moving from narrative-driven hype to structural growth. The firm predicts that 2026 will mark a turning point, as digital assets begin functioning as an economy rather than a purely speculative category. Stablecoins are expected to serve as global settlement rails, while AI agents emerge as autonomous economic participants, redefining where real investable value lies.

In its Protocol Economy 2026 report, Hashed outlines how Asia is already showing early signs of this shift. Regulated stablecoin pilots, initial AI agent deployments, and expanding on-chain real-world asset (RWA) and treasury workflows are forming the region’s first enterprise-grade blockchain systems.

Hashed argues that the investable frontier now rests in these structural layers, where payments, credit, and settlement are moving onto programmable rails. Applications are evolving into adaptive economic systems supported by stable liquidity and verifiable demand. The firm is focusing capital on teams with active users and ongoing on-chain activity, rather than projects driven by momentum narratives.

The shift represents a correction from the past two years, when excess liquidity and speculative flows obscured which parts of the crypto stack were producing meaningful usage. Today, data points clearly to stablecoins, on-chain credit, and automation infrastructure as the sectors where activity compounds rather than spikes.

This trend is particularly evident in Asia, where regulators in Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore are establishing frameworks that allow stablecoin settlement, tokenized deposits, and RWA issuance to integrate with existing financial systems.

Hashed also emphasizes that AI will accelerate this transition, as agents can route payments, manage liquidity, and execute transactions programmatically—creating demand for transparent, programmable financial rails.

Looking ahead, the next growth phase will favor builders operating at the intersection of real liquidity and automation, where digital assets function as economic systems rather than speculative instruments. This is precisely where Hashed intends to allocate capital in 2026.

Market Snapshot

• BTC: Bitcoin trades around $92,000 after failing to sustain an overnight push toward $94,000, reinforcing analyst views of a low-liquidity range between $85,000 and $95,000.
• ETH: Ether holds above $3,100, outperforming Bitcoin on the day, with a decline of less than 1% as markets trade sideways.
• Gold: Gold hovers around $4,200 in a tight consolidation. A weaker US dollar provides support, while higher Treasury yields and firm risk appetite limit follow-through, leaving the metal range-bound ahead of key U.S. data.
• Nikkei 225: Asia-Pacific markets opened lower Friday. Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.36% and the Topix dropped 1.12%, following a muted Wall Street session.