Karla Barker 
Major corporations moving toward blockchain adoption
Ripple president Monica Long has made some pretty bold predictions about where corporate America is heading with crypto. She thinks that by the end of 2026, roughly half of Fortune 500 companies will have formal digital asset strategies in place. That’s about 250 of the largest U.S. corporations either holding crypto or using blockchain-powered financial instruments.
Long published these thoughts in a blog post earlier this week. She argues that the industry has spent the last few years building what she calls the “technical and regulatory groundwork” needed for mass adoption. I think she might be onto something there, though it’s still early days.
The numbers behind the prediction
What’s interesting is that Long points to some actual data to back up her claims. She mentions a Coinbase survey from mid-2025 that found 6 out of 10 Fortune 500 executives said their companies were already working on blockchain initiatives. That’s a pretty significant number if it’s accurate.
She also notes the growth in public companies holding Bitcoin on their balance sheets. While the number of Fortune 500 companies currently holding BTC is still limited—GameStop, Block Inc, and Tesla come to mind—the trend seems to be moving in that direction. GameStop made its first purchase of 4,710 BTC back in May 2025, which was a pretty notable move at the time.
Perhaps more telling is the growth of digital asset treasury companies. According to Long, these have grown from just four in 2020 to over 200 today, with nearly 100 formed in 2025 alone. That’s a pretty rapid expansion, though I wonder how sustainable that growth rate is.
Stablecoins and institutional custody
Long also made some strong predictions about stablecoins. She thinks they’ll become a primary tool for global settlement within the next few years. “Within the next five years, stablecoins will become fully integrated into global payment systems—not as an alternative rail, but as the foundational one,” she wrote.
That’s a pretty ambitious claim. She points to regulatory advancements and moves by companies like Visa and Mastercard as driving factors. I’m not entirely convinced it’ll happen that quickly, but the direction seems clear.
On the custody front, Long expects more financial institutions—banks, service providers, crypto companies—to start directly custodying crypto. She thinks this will accelerate what she calls “blockchain strategies” across the industry.
AI and blockchain convergence
One of the more interesting parts of Long’s predictions involves artificial intelligence. She sees AI and blockchain converging in ways that could provide utility that “were previously impossible.”
She gives some specific examples: “Stablecoins and smart contracts will enable treasuries to manage liquidity, execute margin calls and optimize yield across onchain repo agreements, all in real-time without manual intervention.”
Privacy seems to be a key concern in this vision. Long mentions zero-knowledge proofs allowing AI systems to assess creditworthiness or risk profiles without exposing sensitive data. That could reduce friction in lending and potentially unlock broader adoption of digital assets in regulated markets.
It’s worth noting that these are predictions, not guarantees. Long is clearly optimistic about where things are heading, and she’s not alone in that optimism. But whether we’ll see half of Fortune 500 companies with formal digital asset strategies by 2026 remains to be seen.
The broader trend, though, seems hard to ignore. More companies are exploring blockchain, more are holding crypto assets, and the infrastructure is developing. Maybe Long’s timeline is a bit aggressive, but the direction of travel seems pretty clear.