Crypto’s next phase goes beyond new blockchains, a16z says

Andreessen Horowitz’s digital assets arm, a16z crypto, has asserted that the next phase of the industry’s evolution this year will be defined less by new blockchains and more by how the technology reshapes markets, computing infrastructure, and media, as prediction markets scale, cryptographic proofs move into enterprise systems, and financial “skin in the game” becomes a new foundation for trust.

In a new outlook published on Thursday, the division argued that crypto-native tools are increasingly spilling into industries far beyond decentralized finance, driven by advances in cryptography, artificial intelligence, and market design that allow blockchains to serve as infrastructure rather than destinations.

Prediction markets

The firm pointed first to prediction markets, which it said are poised to become larger, broader, and more sophisticated in 2026 as they intersect with crypto and AI.

According to The Block’s data, sector leaders Polymarket and Kalshi recorded a combined cumulative trading volume of roughly $28 billion by the end of 2025. This duopoly highlights how quickly these markets have moved from niche experiments to mainstream information tools.

Andy Hall, an a16z crypto research advisor and professor of political economy at Stanford University, said the next stage of growth will involve not just more contracts, but better ways to resolve truth in contested outcomes. He pointed to recent disputes around political and geopolitical markets as evidence that centralized resolution mechanisms will struggle at scale, creating demand for decentralized governance models and AI-assisted oracles to determine outcomes more transparently.

Cryptographic proofs and staked media

Beyond prediction markets, a16z crypto said 2026 could mark a turning point for cryptographic proofs as they move into non-blockchain industries. Justin Thaler, a member of the firm’s crypto research team and an associate professor at Georgetown University, opined that advances in zero-knowledge virtual machines are dramatically reducing the cost of generating proofs, making verifiable computation viable for cloud CPU workloads and, eventually, consumer-scale devices.

Thaler said the shift could unlock long-discussed use cases such as verifiable cloud computing, allowing businesses to obtain cryptographic guarantees that computations were executed correctly without having to re-run them. As proving overheads continue to fall and hardware performance improves, he said cryptographic verification could move beyond blockchains and become a common feature of broader digital infrastructure.

The firm’s third theme focused on what it called the rise of “staked media,” a model in which creators, analysts, and commentators use crypto tools to make publicly verifiable commitments that align their incentives with their claims. Robert Hackett of the a16z crypto editorial team said tokenized assets, programmable lockups, and onchain histories allow media participants to demonstrate credibility by putting capital or reputation at risk in a way audiences can audit.

As AI-generated content proliferates and the cost of producing persuasive narratives collapses, Hackett believes that cryptographic commitments could provide a new signal of trust. In his view, this would ultimately supplement traditional journalism rather than replacing it. He added that this model supports credibility established not by claims of neutrality, but by transparent exposure to outcomes.

The outlook builds on a broader set of predictions from a16z crypto this year, including its recent argument that privacy will emerge as the most important competitive moat for blockchain networks in 2026.