Big Tech Crypto Wallets Coming by 2026, Fintech Blockchains Set to Struggle: Dragonfly

A major Big Tech company is likely to integrate a crypto wallet by 2026, while more Fortune 100 firms are expected to roll out their own blockchains, according to Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly.

Key Takeaways:

• Big Tech and major banks are expected to expand blockchain use by 2026.
• Most private blockchain efforts remain small-scale pilots.
• Fintech L1s are unlikely to rival Ethereum or Solana.

In a post on X, Qureshi said much of the next wave of corporate blockchain adoption will come from banks and fintech firms, rather than consumer brands or crypto-native startups.

He expects these companies to favor modular setups built on infrastructure such as Avalanche, along with tooling like OP Stack, Orbit, and ZK Stack, allowing firms to operate permissioned or semi-private networks while still settling to a public blockchain.

Major Banks Test Private Blockchains, but Adoption Remains Limited

Several financial heavyweights have already experimented with private blockchains, including JPMorgan, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and IBM.

However, most of these initiatives remain limited to pilots or narrowly scoped use cases.

Earlier this month, Galaxy Digital echoed that view, predicting that at least one Fortune 500 bank, cloud provider, or e-commerce platform would launch a layer-1 blockchain in 2026 capable of settling more than $1 billion in real economic activity, complete with a bridge into decentralized finance.

Qureshi also expects one of the dominant Big Tech firms, potentially Google, Meta, or Apple, to launch or acquire a crypto wallet next year.

Such a move, he argued, could instantly expose billions of users to digital assets, far surpassing the onboarding capacity of any crypto-native app.

Despite growing interest in fintech-led blockchains, Qureshi is skeptical that these networks will gain meaningful traction.

He said layer-1s launched by fintech firms to compete with Ethereum and Solana are unlikely to attract enough developers or users.

“Despite the excitement around the recent crop of fintech chains, their metrics will underwhelm,” Qureshi wrote, pointing to weak daily active addresses, stablecoin flows, and real-world asset activity.

In contrast, he expects Ethereum and Solana to continue outperforming as developers gravitate toward neutral, crypto-native infrastructure.

Bitcoin Seen Above $150K by 2026, but Dominance May Fade

On the market side, Qureshi forecast that Bitcoin will trade above $150,000 by the end of 2026, though he expects its dominance to decline as capital rotates into other sectors.

Galaxy Digital declined to offer a precise target, calling 2026 “too chaotic” and warning Bitcoin could end the year anywhere between $50,000 and $250,000.

Qureshi also predicts the $312 billion stablecoin market will expand by roughly 60% next year, while Tether sees its share slip from about 60% to 55%.

Looking ahead to 2026, the industry remains divided. Strategy CEO Phong Le has argued that Bitcoin’s underlying fundamentals held up throughout 2025 despite weaker prices, while Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan said earlier this year that he expects 2026 to be an “up year” for the asset.

According to Linh Tran, market analyst at XS.com, Bitcoin’s recent price action underscores the market’s sensitivity to monetary policy expectations rather than headline economic data.

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