So many cryptocurrencies aren’t even real – but that’s starting to change | Luck
We spend a lot of time traveling with LPs, other investors and founders. No matter where the conversation starts – whether in Singapore, Abu Dhabi, London or anywhere else – it often turns to a simple, sometimes rhetorical question: Is any of this real?
That’s the question. Cryptos have become a peculiar reflection of our wider economy and society: part financial spectacle, part social experiment, part collective delusion. For every breakthrough in cryptography or blockchain infrastructure, there are ten new ways to speculate. The mood in the entire ecosystem has changed. It’s not outrage or denial anymore…it’s tired.
Over the past few years, cryptocurrencies have had one speculative story after another: Layer 1 blockchains trading quickly for huge appreciation; NFTs that promised culture and brought cash; Metaverse real estate in the clouds; Play-to-earn games that crashed before they even shipped. The most recent cycle brought us a flood of memecoins, growing the token universe from 20,000 in 2022 to over 27 million today, and now accounting for over 60% of daily app revenue on Solana. Then there are the perpetual futures platforms that offer 100x leverage to mostly retailers.
Each cycle creates a new form of entertainment and a new way to churn out speculative capital. To date, the three most successful crypto retail apps of the current era – Pump.fun, Hyperliquid and Polymarket – have all fueled this speculative bubble. One reality became abundantly clear. The casino always finds a new table.
And yet, buried beneath all the speculative noise, something real is taking shape.
The most visible sign is stablecoins breaking into the mainstream with a number of real-world use cases. The circulation of stablecoins has already reached more than $280 billion, leading financial holders to search for an answer. The boom in stablecoins reflects how institutional investors and asset managers are becoming less focused on the speculative nature of cryptocurrencies and what can actually be built when the pipeline actually works and the benefits of faster, cheaper and safer rails become increasingly clear.
Meanwhile, AI accelerates the cognitive part of the equation. Where blockchain creates verifiable systems of record, AI introduces adaptability, reasoning and speed. These two technologies complement each other in powerful ways: verifiable and immutable data for smart models, smart models for decentralized networks. Together, they create the architecture for products that solve real-world use cases that couldn’t exist before—autonomous systems that trade, coordinate, and learn in real time.
This convergence is where the next chapter begins. Founders with deep expertise are building financial infrastructure, global payments, AI computing networks, media, telecommunications and more – massive sectors where the combination of trusted systems and intelligent automation can unlock whole new markets. These are not speculative casino games; they are fundamental rewrites of how value and data move through the economy.
The question was never about available capital or interest. It was about why investors should feel enough conviction to allocate to an industry that has historically favored the casino. The consensus is that despite blockchain’s potential, too many projects are chasing the same users, while too many teams are designing for each other instead of the broader market. The result has been a landscape full of potential energy waiting for its moment of release—a release that institutional investors are finally realizing is coming.
So, is any of this real?
The truth is, most of it still isn’t, but it’s becoming more real every day. For the first time in over 10 years in the digital asset space, institutional investors are now realizing that this technology has the potential to touch industries far beyond cryptocurrency in ways that can reshape finance, commerce, media, data and more. And much of that potential is not far away.
That’s why we believe 2026 will mark the most meaningful shift we’ve seen in this space. The casino may still collapse, but the builders that survive will drive lasting innovation.
We are betting on them and we are more optimistic than ever about the future of this technology.
Pete Najarian is the managing partner of Raptor Digital, a digital asset and traditional finance firm. Joe Bruzzesi is a general partner at Raptor Digital and serves on the boards of Titan Content and Nirvana Labs.Their views do not necessarily reflect those of Fortune.