Traditional financial institutions are abandoning their skepticism towards cryptocurrencies, and the shift is accelerating in 2026.
Banks, brokerages and exchanges are racing to offer cryptocurrency products as demand from retail investors, institutions and wealthy clients reaches a tipping point.
David Ripley, co-CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, He said Axios reported that “almost all traditional financial services companies will offer cryptocurrencies, bitcoin and ethereum to their customers” – a development it described as “a big story for 2026.”
The turning point reflects a broader collision of megatrends reshaping financial markets. Stablecoins, crypto, artificial intelligence, and long-hours trading are converging to create a financial system that is more digital, more global, and increasingly operates around the clock.
Ripley said rising stablecoins Blockchain-based versions of traditional assets prepared investors for what came next: tokenized public stocks.
“The next most important place we see tokenized stocks or tokenized assets will be public stocks,” he said.
The risks are high. Kraken Recently announced plans To offer token IPO shares to retail investors, targeting ordinary Americans who Ripley says are “completely locked out” of large, wealth-creating companies until late in their growth cycles.
The IPO market itself is preparing for a historic wave. SpaceX is Targeting The Nasdaq company made its debut this week, seeking to raise about $75 billion at a $1.7 trillion valuation — making it the largest initial public offering ever.
Nasdaq CFO Sarah Youngwood told Axios that the US market has the depth to absorb a trillion-dollar array of offerings, including OpenAI and Anthropic, without structural changes.
Nasdaq is to push In trading for long hours, in line with cryptocurrency markets that never close.
Coinbase Executive: Institutions are buying
These comments come to Axios as Bitcoin struggles near $60,000, but its 50% drop from the all-time high has not deterred major institutional investors. According to To Coinbase’s head of institutional strategy, John D’Agostino, who says sovereign wealth funds, family offices and other large investors are actively buying the dip.
Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, Mubadala, more Its exposure to BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF has increased for the fourth straight quarter, while the combined Bitcoin ETFs still have roughly $100 billion in assets despite the market decline.
D’Agostino attributed the sell-off to a combination of macroeconomic uncertainty, rising interest rates, regulatory delays, geopolitical tensions, and concerns raised by Strategy’s sale of 32 bitcoins. However, he said institutions remain confident in Bitcoin’s long-term value, a view reinforced by Strategy’s subsequent purchase of 1,550 Bitcoin for $101 million.
