The price of XRP fell by 3% on Wednesday, although Ripple President Monica Long presented one of the most optimistic institutional views on the cryptocurrency asset to date.
In her opinion, the year 2026 will be a crucial turning point from the experimental phase to full production across the global financial sector.
Ripple President Monica Long's predictions for 2026
Monica Long shared a detailed post along with a report showing that the industry is entering an 'era of production'.
She stated that reliable infrastructure and real utility are finally pushing banks, corporations, and financial service providers to move beyond the testing phase and start large-scale implementation.
“After one of the most exciting years for crypto (and Ripple), the industry is entering its production era,” Long began.
According to the Ripple executive, the year 2026 will be the era of institutionalization of crypto assets, where:
Stablecoins Become Key Infrastructure for Transaction Settlements
The center of Long's thesis lies in stablecoins, which he believes have shifted from an alternative payment route to the foundation of global settlement. This aligns with the prediction of Coinbase's CEO that banks will ultimately demand stablecoins that yield interest.
Monica Long revealed that major payment networks and fintech companies are already starting to integrate digital dollars directly into existing systems.
“Stablecoins will become the foundation of global settlement, no longer an alternative pathway,” Long said, pointing to Visa, Stripe, and major financial institutions integrating stablecoins into payment flows.
Although retail adoption continues, he emphasizes that B2B payments are becoming the main growth engine, with corporations leveraging digital dollars for real-time liquidity and capital efficiency.
The President of Ripple also highlighted data showing that B2B stablecoin payments reached an annual run rate of $76 billion last year, up from less than $100 million per month in early 2023.
He explained that the reward is to free up trillions of dollars of working capital that has been stagnant on corporate balance sheets.
Crypto Access Becomes Mainstream
Long's second big prediction is that crypto assets will no longer be viewed as speculation by institutions, but rather as core financial infrastructure.
By 2026, he estimates that about 50% of Fortune 500 companies will have exposure to crypto or structured digital asset treasury strategies.
“Crypto assets are no longer speculative — these assets are becoming the operating layer of modern finance,” he wrote, projecting active use of tokenized assets, on-chain T-bills, stablecoins, and programmable financial instruments on corporate balance sheets.
He also highlighted the rapid expansion of crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which now provide institutional access, but still represent only 1–2% of the ETF market in the US, so there is still a large growth opportunity.
Capital Markets and Custodians Following On-Chain
As adoption increases, Long predicts that capital markets will follow. He forecasts that 5–10% of global settlement activity will shift on-chain, driven by tokenization and stablecoin-based collateral mobility.
At the same time, crypto custody services are entering a consolidation phase. With the value of mergers and acquisitions in crypto assets reaching $8.6 billion in 2025, Long predicts that custody services will become the next major competitive arena, where commoditization drives vertical integration and multi-custodian strategies.
Heading into 2026, he estimates that more than half of the 50 largest banks in the world will formalize new custody partnerships.
Blockchain Meets AI but the Market Remains Cautious
Long also emphasizes the convergence between blockchain and AI, where smart contracts, AI models, and zero-knowledge proofs that maintain privacy will automate treasury management, collateral optimization, and real-time risk assessment.
Although its vision is very broad, the market response is rather flat as the price of XRP has dropped more than 3% to $1.90, thus falling below the $2 mark.
The decline in XRP's price reflects the ongoing gap between short-term price movements and the long-term infrastructure narrative. This occurs despite Ripple positioning 2026 as a pivotal year for institutional crypto adoption.