 
 
Roughly half of the U.S.’s largest corporations will hold crypto exposure by the end of 2026, implementing formal strategies that include holding digital assets or using blockchain-powered financial instruments and tokenized assets, according to Ripple president Monica Long.
The Institutionalization Of Crypto In 2026
In a Jan. 20 blog post, which also spanned topics such as stablecoins, crypto custody, and artificial intelligence, Monica Long noted that blockchain is turning into the “operating layer of modern finance,” predicting that this year will witness a massive increase in institutional adoption.
The Ripple President asserted that the crypto and blockchain industry has, over the last couple of years, striven to lay the “technical and regulatory groundwork” to bolster mass adoption and push the industry into the mainstream.
“By the end of 2026, balance sheets will hold over $1 trillion in digital assets, and roughly half of Fortune 500 companies will have formalized digital asset strategies,” Long postulated, adding:
“And not just crypto exposure, but active participation across tokenized assets, digital asset treasuries, stablecoins, onchain T-bills and programmable financial instruments.”
 
Long cited a Coinbase survey in mid-2025, which found that 6 out of 10 top leaders from Fortune 500 companies had signaled that their employers were already working on blockchain projects. To support her view, she pointed out that there has been robust growth in the number of publicly listed companies adding Bitcoin to their corporate treasuries.
Some of the Fortune 500 companies currently holding Bitcoin include GameStop, which first snapped up 4,710 BTC in May last year. Others include payments firm Block and Elon Musk’s Tesla.
“And digital asset treasury (DAT) companies have grown from just four in 2020 to over 200 today, with nearly 100 formed in 2025 alone,” Long continued.
The exec also shared a bullish forecast for the stablecoin sector, suggesting the assets would become “the foundation for global settlement, not an alternative rail,” on the back of integration by Wall Street bigwigs such as Visa, Stripe, and Mastercard.
Moreover, Long anticipates a wave of financial institutions, including banking institutions, service providers, and crypto firms, beginning to directly custody crypto assets in a bid to push “their blockchain strategies.”