Here’s what executives, investors and policymakers expect in 2026.
One of the most obvious ways for fintech companies to increase their margins next year is to cut out the middleman. To access the Fed’s main payment systems and accept deposits, cryptocurrency exchanges and neobanks must rely on licensed banks – unless they have their own charter. Now fintechs are lining up to get one.
“When it comes to the banking-fintech environment, regulators are in their year of yes,” Amias Gerety, partner and head of U.S. investments at fintech investment firm QED, said in a statement. “Banks and fintechs should go directly to Washington for feedback on their ideas; they should not wait for their next review.”
As part of the Trump administration’s crypto-friendly regulatory turnaround, preliminary bank charter approvals have been granted to five crypto companies, including Circle Internet Group Inc. and Ripple Labs. Crypto exchange Coinbase Global Inc. has its own app, as do online payments giant PayPal Inc. and neobank operator Mercury Technologies Inc.
The rewards are potentially significant. Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller has floated the possibility of a “skinny” master account, which would grant these companies direct access to federal payment channels like the Automated Clearing House and Fedwire networks.
More approvals are expected next year, according to Phil Goldfeder, executive director of the American Fintech Council.
“2025 was a testing time for the waters,” Goldfeder said. “In 2026, you will see many fintech companies, innovative banks and regulators finally moving in the same direction. »
A stablecoin for everyone
Stablecoins — which maintain a constant value, typically backed by U.S. dollar-denominated assets — are poised for a big 2026 as companies in the retail, banking and technology sectors pile in in hopes of making faster, cheaper transfers on the blockchain.
Credit card giants Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. have both announced plans to settle stablecoins this year and expect the trend to accelerate next year. Mastercard said “crypto could be the financial story of the early 21st century.”
Oliver Jenkyn, Visa Group president of global markets, said in an article on the company’s website this month that he expects significant and stable coin growth in emerging markets such as Argentina, where demand for U.S. dollars is high as a hedge against inflation.
“I am confident that 2026 will be the year we see it truly take off,” Jenkyn wrote.
Companies such as Bridge, Coinbase and Stripe Inc.’s Anchorage Digital have also launched stablecoin issuance platforms to meet growing demand.
“You get so much free buzz if you have stablecoin in your company description,” Will Robinson, chief technology officer of fintech data aggregator Plaid Inc., said during a Dec. 17 corporate webinar.
Plaid co-founder and CEO Zach Perret predicted during the same webinar that 2026 would see a boom in crypto-native financial platforms. “Half of the neobanks we see launched around the world will be stable first,” he said.
AI may not completely manage people’s lives yet, but it could soon manage shopping carts.
“2026 is the year native agent commerce goes mainstream,” Jorn Lambert, Mastercard’s chief product officer, told Bloomberg. “We will go beyond assistants: AI agents will research, negotiate and make secure purchases on behalf of consumers.”
Lambert envisions a future in which someone planning a birthday party could ask an AI agent to compile an inventory list and finalize purchases. Mastercard, PayPal and others are already partnering with AI companies to make this happen.
Earlier this month, Visa’s Jenkyn told Bloomberg, “We’re going to make AI-assisted shopping mainstream” in 2026, with consumers relying on these agents for routine purchases.
However, concerns about an AI bubble remain significant, with the potential to derail some of this momentum if funding dries up.
“There’s only so much talk about the possibility of a bubble before prices start to adjust downward,” QED’s Gerety said. “Absent a recession, I don’t expect a crash, but peak periods tend to be short-lived.”
