{"id":"MbNDq7OM9p4","title":"New Years Predictions! What Does 2026 Have in Store? Crypto, AI, Macro and More","description":"Join the NEAR Legion at https://nearlegion.com/\n\nFollow us on X:   / nearlegion  \n\n#NEAR #nearprotocol #NEARAI #ai #ainews","channel_name":"NEAR Protocol","published_at":"2026-01-05T00:00:00.000Z","thumbnail_url":"https://img.youtube.com/vi/MbNDq7OM9p4/hqdefault.jpg","transcript_text":"Good morning Legion. It's that time of the year. We get to look at all of the AI and crypto predictions from everyone else around the space to see what people think 2026 holds in store. And this time, we have four very different perspectives. We'll start with Haseeb Qureshi from Dragonfly Capital. This is a selective choice of his many predictions that is linked in his thread below. First and relevant to NEAR, primary. AI use cases in crypto remain within software engineering and security. Everything else remains a prototype. Second, AI agents will still not be paying each other or spending any meaningful money in 2026. That's a bold prediction. Third, and this is now no longer AI prediction. Markets grow like crazy big legal fights over sports betting regulation and federal preemption, but nothing major gets resolved next year, so status quo continues through 2026. Fourth, the well known Clarity Act gets signed into law in 2026 after some significant markups in horse trading. A bit of buyer's remorse from crypto insiders, as well. Fifth, a big tech company Google, Facebook, Apple launches or acquires a crypto wallet in 2026. That would kind of be huge for mass adoption. Six Bitcoin is over $150,000 by year end. The Bitcoin dominance decreases in 2026 if I'm understanding that correctly, would bode very well for a potential alt season. Let's go on to our second perspective, which is from Graeme, a crypto AI enjoyer that lists ten things coming for 2026. This is very focused on crypto and AI. First, autonomous Commerce scaling via x402 and ACP. Second, stablecoin settlement rails become seamless, meaning better on and off ramps, cards and fintechs UX. Third, stablecoin routing and clearing emerge as a major industry on the level of exchange and with the best execution. Fourth, on chain equities become real once the Clarity Act unlocks tokenized securities at scale. This is again predicting that the Clarity Act passes in line with the seed. Fifth, tokenization maturing enabled to be used as collateral. Six app layer dominance perps, wallets Dexs capturing fees while base layers compress. Very interesting. And again, kind of a take on the less relevance of ones these days. Seventh prediction markets going mainstream. An AI driven trading analysis on top of them. That's that's now two for two. Both people thinking that prediction markets are going to be huge. Eighth info-fi evolving, not dead. It's a bit of a hot take with distribution incentives penetrating new verticals and markets. Ninth and great for NEAR privacy becoming mandatory not only for your money, but also hopefully for your AI as well. And then 10th, the agent stack hardening with identity. No your agent microtransactions and value abundance. Our third of fourth predictions is from Forbes. A little more mainstream, but also interesting to see what people think outside of the crypto bubble. So high level 11 predictions from Forbes for 2026. Every employee will have a dedicated AI assistant. Human machine teams are the ticket to advancement. Physical AI pilots will transform manufacturing and beyond. Multi-agent orchestration becomes an enterprise breakthrough. Agentic AI runs logistics and production. Wow. A lot of bullish AI sentiment. Amazon reemerges as an AI infrastructure leader. data centers will be the key to AI acceleration and controversy. Space industry investment becomes mainstream, probably both AI related and separately. Voice becomes the next frontier of contextual advertising targeting identity becomes the new security battlefield, and the browser seizes the empire's throne. They add this at the end of the article as well. They write 2026 will reward those who learn to work with intelligence as a strategic partner and teammate. 2026 will also separate AI leaders from master multi-agent orchestration, governance and human AI collaboration for those stuck in pilots. This coming year will be one where institutions, leaders and workforces who embrace the reality of intelligence as infrastructure lead. Now and create the future of the coming decade. So, to put it lightly, a very important year. Last but not least, this will be really quick. Robert Leshner, CEO of Super State, an investor at Robot Ventures, puts some brief 2026 predictions. Bitcoin and metals all time high crypto industry consolidation, market structure, legislation passes. Everyone thinks that the Clarity Act is going to pass a tech internet outage cascades. That's a big one. New Iranian revolution politically, what the consensus seems to be the Democrats win the House, the Republicans keep the Senate and the AI CapEx bubble grows. We wish everyone best of luck in 2026. It's hard to imagine it being worse than 2025. Stay on the lookout for near updates. In the run up to NEARCON. There's a lot cooking across the NEAR ecosystem. Stick around. We'll do this all again real soon.","transcript_synced_at":"2026-11-03T04:44:53.740Z","segments":[{"start_seconds":0,"text":"Good morning Legion. It's that time of the year.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=0s"},{"start_seconds":3,"text":"We get to look at all of the AI and crypto predictions from everyone else around the space to see what people think 2026 holds in store.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=3s"},{"start_seconds":11,"text":"And this time, we have four very different perspectives.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=11s"},{"start_seconds":14,"text":"We'll start with Haseeb Qureshi from Dragonfly Capital.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=14s"},{"start_seconds":18,"text":"This is a selective choice of his many predictions that is linked in his thread below.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=18s"},{"start_seconds":26,"text":"First and relevant to NEAR, primary.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=26s"},{"start_seconds":29,"text":"AI use cases in crypto remain within software engineering and security. Everything else remains a prototype.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=29s"},{"start_seconds":35,"text":"Second, AI agents will still not be paying each other or spending any meaningful money in 2026. That's a bold prediction.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=35s"},{"start_seconds":43,"text":"Third, and this is now no longer AI prediction.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=43s"},{"start_seconds":46,"text":"Markets grow like crazy big legal fights over sports betting regulation and federal preemption, but nothing major gets resolved next year, so status quo continues through 2026.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=46s"},{"start_seconds":56,"text":"Fourth, the well known Clarity Act gets signed into law in 2026 after some significant markups in horse trading.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=56s"},{"start_seconds":64,"text":"A bit of buyer's remorse from crypto insiders, as well.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=64s"},{"start_seconds":67,"text":"Fifth, a big tech company Google, Facebook, Apple launches or acquires a crypto wallet in 2026.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=67s"},{"start_seconds":73,"text":"That would kind of be huge for mass adoption.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=73s"},{"start_seconds":76,"text":"Six Bitcoin is over $150,000 by year end.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=76s"},{"start_seconds":82,"text":"The Bitcoin dominance decreases in 2026 if I'm understanding that correctly, would bode very well for a potential alt season.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=82s"},{"start_seconds":91,"text":"Let's go on to our second perspective, which is from Graeme, a crypto AI enjoyer that lists ten things coming for 2026.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=91s"},{"start_seconds":100,"text":"This is very focused on crypto and AI.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=100s"},{"start_seconds":103,"text":"First, autonomous Commerce scaling via x402 and ACP.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=103s"},{"start_seconds":108,"text":"Second, stablecoin settlement rails become seamless, meaning better on and off ramps, cards and fintechs UX.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=108s"},{"start_seconds":117,"text":"Third, stablecoin routing and clearing emerge as a major industry on the level of exchange and with the best execution.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=117s"},{"start_seconds":126,"text":"Fourth, on chain equities become real once the Clarity Act unlocks tokenized securities at scale.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=126s"},{"start_seconds":132,"text":"This is again predicting that the Clarity Act passes in line with the seed.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=132s"},{"start_seconds":136,"text":"Fifth, tokenization maturing enabled to be used as collateral.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=136s"},{"start_seconds":141,"text":"Six app layer dominance perps, wallets Dexs capturing fees while base layers compress. Very interesting.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=141s"},{"start_seconds":148,"text":"And again, kind of a take on the less relevance of ones these days.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=148s"},{"start_seconds":153,"text":"Seventh prediction markets going mainstream.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=153s"},{"start_seconds":155,"text":"An AI driven trading analysis on top of them. That's that's now two for two.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=155s"},{"start_seconds":160,"text":"Both people thinking that prediction markets are going to be huge. Eighth info-fi evolving, not dead.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=160s"},{"start_seconds":166,"text":"It's a bit of a hot take with distribution incentives penetrating new verticals and markets.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=166s"},{"start_seconds":171,"text":"Ninth and great for NEAR privacy becoming mandatory not only for your money, but also hopefully for your AI as well.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=171s"},{"start_seconds":179,"text":"And then 10th, the agent stack hardening with identity.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=179s"},{"start_seconds":182,"text":"No your agent microtransactions and value abundance.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=182s"},{"start_seconds":187,"text":"Our third of fourth predictions is from Forbes.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=187s"},{"start_seconds":190,"text":"A little more mainstream, but also interesting to see what people think outside of the crypto bubble.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=190s"},{"start_seconds":195,"text":"So high level 11 predictions from Forbes for 2026.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=195s"},{"start_seconds":199,"text":"Every employee will have a dedicated AI assistant.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=199s"},{"start_seconds":203,"text":"Human machine teams are the ticket to advancement.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=203s"},{"start_seconds":206,"text":"Physical AI pilots will transform manufacturing and beyond.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=206s"},{"start_seconds":210,"text":"Multi-agent orchestration becomes an enterprise breakthrough.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=210s"},{"start_seconds":214,"text":"Agentic AI runs logistics and production. Wow. A lot of bullish AI sentiment.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=214s"},{"start_seconds":221,"text":"Amazon reemerges as an AI infrastructure leader.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=221s"},{"start_seconds":224,"text":"data centers will be the key to AI acceleration and controversy.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=224s"},{"start_seconds":228,"text":"Space industry investment becomes mainstream, probably both AI related and separately.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=228s"},{"start_seconds":234,"text":"Voice becomes the next frontier of contextual advertising targeting identity becomes the new security battlefield,","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=234s"},{"start_seconds":243,"text":"and the browser seizes the empire's throne.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=243s"},{"start_seconds":245,"text":"They add this at the end of the article as well.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=245s"},{"start_seconds":247,"text":"They write 2026 will reward those who learn to work with intelligence as a strategic partner and teammate.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=247s"},{"start_seconds":254,"text":"2026 will also separate AI leaders from master multi-agent orchestration, governance and human AI collaboration for those stuck in pilots.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=254s"},{"start_seconds":262,"text":"This coming year will be one where institutions, leaders and workforces who embrace the reality of intelligence as infrastructure lead.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=262s"},{"start_seconds":269,"text":"Now and create the future of the coming decade.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=269s"},{"start_seconds":272,"text":"So, to put it lightly, a very important year.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=272s"},{"start_seconds":275,"text":"Last but not least, this will be really quick.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=275s"},{"start_seconds":277,"text":"Robert Leshner, CEO of Super State, an investor at Robot Ventures, puts some brief 2026 predictions.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=277s"},{"start_seconds":284,"text":"Bitcoin and metals all time high crypto industry consolidation, market structure, legislation passes.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=284s"},{"start_seconds":290,"text":"Everyone thinks that the Clarity Act is going to pass a tech internet outage cascades. That's a big one.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=290s"},{"start_seconds":297,"text":"New Iranian revolution politically, what the consensus seems to be the Democrats win the House, the Republicans keep the Senate and the AI CapEx bubble grows.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=297s"},{"start_seconds":307,"text":"We wish everyone best of luck in 2026.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=307s"},{"start_seconds":310,"text":"It's hard to imagine it being worse than 2025. Stay on the lookout for near updates. In the run up to NEARCON.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=310s"},{"start_seconds":316,"text":"There's a lot cooking across the NEAR ecosystem. Stick around. We'll do this all again real soon.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4&t=316s"}],"youtube_url":"https://youtube.com/watch?v=MbNDq7OM9p4","url":"https://near-pedia.xyz/videos/MbNDq7OM9p4"}