From tamping to pulling, critical comments on 21 mainstream encrypted narratives in 2026

As the capital structure and technical route are gradually clarified, the market is pricing the 2026 encryption cycle in advance. From the old narrative that was once hyped to the extreme gradually ebb to the beginning of a new direction that truly has the ability to implement, the main line is switching. Combined with the latest developments such as Bitcoin ETF capital flows, Ethereum ecosystem upgrades, and AI and DeFi integration, and re-examining the rise and fall and potential of 21 mainstream encryption narratives, it may be better to see the true focus of the next round of market than chasing short-term hotspots.

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Tokenization: RWA(Risk Weighted Assets) have hit record highs (about US$20 billion), and more and more stocks and commodities have been tokenized. As major funds and custodians expand in major trading venues, this is no longer just a concept.

stablecoin: The stablecoin market has a size of US$310 billion and is gradually becoming the default channel for foreign exchange, payments, bank cards and new bank distribution. They are the clearest bridge between cryptocurrencies and real-world applications.

Forecast Market: The forecast market continues to hit record highs in trading volume and user numbers. As mainstream cryptocurrency apps and transaction finance companies integrate the forecasting market, its popularity is accelerating.

Spot trading: Spot trading still dominates cryptocurrency trading volume, and its derivatives trading volume far exceeds spot trading. The trading volume of on-chain spot trading platforms is the same as that of the centralized exchange (CEX), exceeding US$1 trillion per month.

Top Level:

BTCfi: Bitcoin is being converted into productive capital, with billions of bitcoins being used for pledges, gains and mortgages, with Babylon and Lombard accounting for a large share of bitcoin pledged TVL.

Privacy: As more and more traditional financial capital is transferred onto the chain, selective disclosure is critical: Institutions need compliance-friendly privacy protections for payments, identities and corporate capital flows.

Artificial intelligence: Artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies are still developing, and they are gradually becoming tools for data, agents, and verifiable computing, with huge potential. This industry is huge and cannot be ignored.

DeFi: DeFi is transforming into consumer apps, Coinbase now provides in-app DEX transactions and USDC lending through Morpho, DeFi TVL has hit a record high, and new consumer apps are emerging rapidly.

Human:

Chain abstraction: With the advent of smart accounts, intentions and embedded wallets, chains will become invisible, reducing friction. Significantly improving the user experience is critical to promotion, but development will slow down.

InfoFi: Despite recent fluctuations in market sentiment, InfoFi remains a refining platform for data markets, incentive mechanisms and tradable signals. InfoFi is about to undergo major changes. InfoFi 2.0?

Robot technology: Its significance is far greater than its development process. Hardware and deployment speeds are not as fast as cryptocurrency, so it is more like an early infrastructure application.

ZK: ZK is undoubtedly the core technology, but as a transaction method, it is confusing. Most of the value flows to the ecosystem where ZK is deployed on a large scale, rather than ZK itself as a stand-alone narrative.

Infrastructure: Essential, constant demand (RPC, indexing, interoperability, data availability), but severely overloaded. Still, some excellent projects may emerge here.

NPC:

Pledge/re-pledge: Re-pledge does exist, but yields continue to decline, risks do exist, and its complexity is scaring off retail investors. From the beginning, this statement was exaggerated.

DePIN: Ideally, DePIN can achieve actual integration and collaboration, but many projects still have difficulty doing this. Regulation and the lack of sustainable financial flows are the main factors hindering its development.

L1/L2: Rollup technology is quite mature, but the stability of the new chain is poor. Most of the value is transferred to applications, liquidity and distribution channels rather than another underlying layer.

SocialFi: Despite occasional surges in user activity, user Retention rate and lasting product-to-market fit (PMF) have not yet been achieved. I suspect it will be difficult to achieve in the short term.

It exploded:

GameFi: P2E mode has fundamentally failed. Although some game chains are still in operation, most GameFi projects are nothing more than DeFi projects that add extra steps and have a worse user experience.

NFT: We have tried many times to bring NFT back into the market, but the market situation is already clear. In addition to JPEG and PFP, if there are no new application scenarios, NFT is in trouble. Even game integration is no longer popular.

Memoin: While the memoin supercycle is interesting, liquidity is shifting to legal projects and memoin\'s market share is also declining. Retail investors are tired of being scammed and tired of chasing the next 100-fold increase.

Modularity: Architecture is important, but narrative is terrible. Developers don\'t care, investors only care about whether there is a clear and reliable path to value realization; most modular projects lack such a path.