The 3 next big things in fintech, crypto, and blockchain for 2026

Fintech and blockchain technology has seen its fair share of boom and bust cycles in the past decade, from the cryptocurrency explosion during the COVID pandemic to the AI era launched by ChatGPT. But the tech has continued to evolve in step with it all, and the work being done in this space is exciting—from companies that are challenging social norms to those that are betting on futuristic visions. MeshFor connecting crypto’s fragmented payment ecosystemEven as cryptocurrency matures, a pain point for consumers remains: The system is fragmented by design. Hundreds of different blockchains, digital wallets, exchanges, and payment platforms exist as islands on their own. That may be frustrating for the more than 900 million global crypto users—who made over $27 trillion in transactions with stablecoins alone this year—as moving money around often requires custom engineering. Mesh bridges the islands. It built a layer of infrastructure that links wallets, exchanges, and platforms at a single point, turning a cacophony into a harmonious orchestration—a shopper in Lagos could pay in Bitcoin, Solana, or any other token owned, and a merchant in Manila could instantly settle in USDC, dol…