Blockchain will evolve into the "fundamental layer of infrastructure" in 2026, says Moody's

Source: PortaldoBitcoin Original Title: Blockchain will evolve into a “fundamental layer of infrastructure” in 2026, says Moody’s Original Link: The technology behind digital assets will evolve into a “fundamental layer of infrastructure” for the financial services sector in 2026, according to a new report from rating agency Moody’s.

In the 2026 Digital Finance Outlook report, Moody’s predicts that blockchain-based technology will have an increasing impact this year on capital allocation and market operations of traditional financial companies.

The report states that stablecoins and tokenized assets gained adoption in payments and liquidity management in 2025, and highlights the most likely trends this year in the evolution and adoption of digital assets.

This includes the use of blockchains and other emerging technologies to foster a “unified digital ecosystem” in which previously distinct sectors — such as transition finance, private credit, and emerging markets — will become more integrated.

“Digital finance platforms now host tokenized U.S. Treasury securities and structured credit products,” the report says. “The adoption of new technology is expected to increase further next year, demonstrating efficiency gains, although operational, regulatory, and cyber risks remain.”

The report also forecasts the growing use of tokenized issuances and programmable settlement to deliver efficiency gains, helping financial institutions accelerate asset-to-cash conversions while reducing reconciliation work and lowering other costs.

Co-author Cristiano Ventricelli, Vice President and Senior Digital Assets Analyst at Moody’s, reiterates that evolving technologies such as stablecoins, tokenization, and blockchains will “interconnect” areas of finance that were previously separate.

“Various institutions are positioning themselves to adopt stablecoins for cross-border payments and liquidity management, helping to bring digital finance closer to traditional finance,” he said. “Meanwhile, asset tokenization is gaining momentum, making it easier and cheaper to issue and trade assets, as well as opening new opportunities in markets that were previously hard to access.”

Overall, Ventricelli suggested that blockchain-based technology is already optimizing traditional financial processes, which should encourage more financial institutions and service companies to launch their own solutions.

He predicted: “As these innovations mature, markets will increasingly compete for the robustness and maturity of their infrastructure layers, which should be not only secure and efficient but also highly interoperable, enabling seamless integration with existing financial systems and reducing the gap between old and new financial models.”

Regulatory Fragmentation

Although the report states that digital finance entered a “new phase” in 2026, Ventricelli acknowledges that progress may be slowed by some core challenges.

“One of the biggest is the lack of harmonized regulation across countries, which leads to fragmented infrastructure and makes institutions cautious about adopting new digital products on a large scale,” he explained.

While some regions — especially the European Union, with the MiCA regulation — are advancing regulatory harmonization, fragmentation elsewhere hampers interoperability between different systems.

For Ventricelli, this increases operational risks and makes digital assets less liquid. Additionally, he adds that increased adoption may, at least in the short term, elevate the risk of cyberattacks.

There is no doubt that adoption of blockchain-based technologies by the traditional financial sector is growing, as evidenced by recent spot ETF filings and launches, for example, with CoinShares’ annual report revealing that digital funds attracted over US$47 billion in investments last year.

But for these trends to continue and expand, Moody’s argues that a robust infrastructure and broad participation are necessary.

Ventricelli stated: “Without clear cross-border cooperation and regulatory clarity, these advantages may not be fully realized, and the growth of digital finance as a whole could be limited.”