Ripple: Half of Fortune 500 to Adopt Digital-Asset Treasury Strategies by 2026
Ripple President Monica Long forecasts that about half of Fortune 500 companies will formalize digital-asset treasury (DAT) strategies in 2026, moving corporate use of crypto from pilots to production. Core use cases are regulated stablecoins for faster 24/7 settlement and liquidity management, tokenized assets (including tokenized treasuries and on-chain T‑bills), and expanded custody relationships. Long credits U.S. regulatory progress (GENIUS Act), ETF launches and institutional channels for accelerating adoption. She cites surveys and data showing growing corporate planning and Bitcoin treasury additions, and points to idle corporate cash (hundreds of billions on S&P and European balance sheets) that tokenization and on-chain liquidity could unlock. Ripple highlights its own product stack and deals—RLUSD (Ripple USD), conditional approval for a national trust bank charter, GTreasury and Hidden Road acquisitions, and a $150m financing plus RLUSD settlement integration with LMAX—to support settlement, custody and collateral mobility. Institutional ETF activity (notably record ETH and SOL ETF volumes in early Jan 2026 and Bitwise altcoin ETF filings) and strong 2025 crypto M&A are cited as signs of momentum. Long expects more than half of the world’s top 50 banks to add at least one new custody relationship in 2026, and foresees automation and routine on-chain liquidity/collateral management. For traders, the story signals accelerating institutional infrastructure building, wider corporate balance-sheet exposure to stablecoins and tokenized instruments (beyond BTC), and potential increases in on-chain settlement flows that could change liquidity patterns.
Bullish
The news is bullish for the crypto market because it signals accelerating institutional and corporate adoption of stablecoins, tokenized assets and custody services—developments that tend to increase on-chain transaction volume, liquidity demand and long-term capital flows into crypto infrastructure. Specific factors supporting a bullish impact: (1) corporate treasury adoption shifts demand from pilot projects to production usage, increasing steady, utility-driven demand for stablecoins and settlement rails; (2) regulatory progress (GENIUS Act) and ETF activity lower institutional friction and broaden access; (3) Ripple’s product integrations (RLUSD, custody charter steps, acquisitions and settlement partnerships) reduce operational barriers for corporates to use on-chain instruments; (4) expected expansion of bank custody relationships and automated on-chain liquidity management will deepen institutional market-making and custody capacity. Short-term price effects may be modest or uneven: stablecoins themselves are pegged (limited direct price upside), while greater demand for on-chain settlement and collateral could raise trading volumes and positive sentiment across related tokens (ETH, SOL and exchange-listed assets). Over the medium-to-long term, greater corporate treasury adoption and improved infrastructure are likely to be net positive for market liquidity, reduced settlement frictions and increased institutional flows—supporting higher valuations for infrastructure tokens and broader crypto market participation.