2026 Crypto Growth Drivers: RWA Derivatives, AI, Robotics

• Coinbase Ventures released its 2026 outlook, highlighting RWA perpetuals and AI integration.
• The firm predicts a rise in “Prop-AMMs” on Solana to protect liquidity from toxic flow.
• Robotics data collection via DePIN networks is identified as a major emerging sector.

Coinbase Ventures has released a detailed overview of the technological categories it expects to define the next phase of on-chain development, highlighting new activity in real-world-asset derivatives, specialized market infrastructure, next-generation DeFi models, and emerging intersections between artificial intelligence, robotics, and cryptographic identity.

The firm said that the growth of stablecoin payments, faster settlement systems, and the wider adoption of prediction markets in 2025 have created the conditions for new teams to create innovative designs across several fields. It added that deeper liquidity, improving privacy tools, and stronger interoperability have shaped a more mature environment heading into 2026.

RWA Perpetuals: Trading Macro Events On-Chain

One of the areas identified involves perpetual futures tied to real-world assets. These contracts enable synthetic exposure without requiring the underlying instruments, thereby creating on-chain markets for data releases, private company performance, or macroeconomic indicators, such as commodities, credit spreads, or inflation expectations.

Coinbase Ventures noted two clear vectors of development: instruments that track hard-to-access off-chain assets and tools allowing traders to express macro views within crypto-native systems. The firm also pointed to new market-structure experiments.

Related: Former Coinbase Ventures Member Expects the Crypto Exchange to Acquire Circle

Among them are alternative automated-market-maker models designed to shield liquidity providers from toxic order flow. Prop-AMMs on Solana were highlighted as one structure in which resting liquidity can only be accessed through aggregators, limiting predatory execution. A parallel track involves trading terminals for prediction markets, which aim to unify fragmented liquidity and provide features such as multi-venue routing, advanced order tools, and consolidated price discovery.

The Next DeFi Frontier: Unsecured Credit and Privacy

Perpetual-futures protocols integrating with lending markets form another pillar of expected activity. The firm highlighted the increasing interoperability between derivatives venues and collateral-based yield systems, enabling positions that maintain leverage while generating returns.

Additional focus is directed toward unsecured lending schemes that combine on-chain systems with external data sources. The stated market opportunity encompasses access to large pools of unsecured credit that are traditionally managed within conventional finance.

Privacy-focused architecture remains a priority. The firm cited developments across privacy-preserving assets, protected order flow environments, borrowing platforms, and networks built specifically for confidential payments, utilizing technologies including zero-knowledge proofs, multi-party computation, and trusted execution environments.

Beyond Finance: Incentivizing Robotics Data

Looking beyond finance, Coinbase Ventures identified robotics as an emerging field. The firm noted a limited availability of fine-grained physical interaction datasets. 

To solve this, the report suggests incentivized models similar to decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN). These systems could scale the data collection needed to train advanced robotic fleets.

Related: Coinbase Joins Corporate Shift Out Of Delaware, Chooses Texas For Legal Home