Recently, Huobi HTX officially released the "2026 Digital Asset Trend White Paper" (hereinafter referred to as the "White Paper"). This white paper is jointly released by BlockBeats, ChainCatcher, Foresight News, HTX Learn, HTX Research, Odaily, PANews, Rootdate, TechFlow and many other industry organizations and media. Against the backdrop of the current period of market downturn and industry sentiment becoming cautious, this 10,000-word in-depth report came into being. It aims to re-examine the development path of digital assets from a structural perspective, provide the market with forward-looking judgments and a systematic framework, and help investors establish long-term confidence and cognitive anchors in uncertain cycles.

The white paper provides an in-depth analysis of the ten core trends in the digital asset market in 2026, and points out: Digital assets are completing the historic establishment of their asset class, have completely bid farewell to a single "price cycle drive", and have officially entered a new era of "structural trend drive", gradually transitioning from a high-volatility innovation field to a core component of the global asset allocation system. In this wave of global liquidity reconstruction, Huobi HTX is taking "stability, transparency, institutionalization, and AI empowerment" as its core strategy, and is committed to becoming a trustworthy trading and asset service infrastructure for long-term capital under the dual-wheel drive of technology and institutions, anchoring the direction of the new era of on-chain finance.

The new macro landscape: from the solidification of the positioning of "digital gold" to a new high in the scale of stablecoins

The white paper predicts that global monetary policy will enter a "rebalancing" stage in 2026, and interest rate fluctuations between the Federal Reserve and emerging markets will no longer be in lockstep. In this complex macro environment, BTC will complete its positioning as "digital gold". Core assets such as Bitcoin are no longer fringe "innovative experiments", but structural assets deeply embedded in the global asset allocation model, forming a hedging combination with U.S. bonds and gold, and their pricing power is further shifting to medium- and long-term capital. At the same time, ETH is expected to become the core carrier of income-generating assets. With its mature staking and DeFi infrastructure, Ethereum has established its status as an "on-chain treasury bond" and has become a cash flow-driven growth asset.

In terms of liquidity, the scale of stablecoins will reach new highs. The function of stablecoins has expanded from a simple medium of exchange to a global cross-border payment and settlement infrastructure. Huobi HTX pointed out: "In 2026, the market will no longer ask 'whether digital assets are valuable', but will ask 'what is the allocation ratio'." As the scale of stablecoins exceeds 300 billion US dollars, an "on-chain settlement system" with the US dollar as the bottom layer has taken shape. Huobi HTX has become a frontier for global macro funds to sense market temperature by cultivating the depth of liquidity.

Institutionalization wave and asset on-chain: RWA acceleration and derivatives explosion

In 2026, there will be a qualitative change in the way institutions enter the market. The proportion of institutions will continue to increase, while retail investor volatility will slow down. The white paper summarizes three major paths for institutional participation: direct asset allocation, income enhancement (obtaining stable cash flow through staking and RWA), and infrastructure participation (in-depth layout of exchange and custodian equity). The addition of long-term funds has made market behavior more rational and volatility has gradually converged. At the same time, the scale of RWA (real world assets) will grow rapidly. The tokenization of U.S. debt and fixed income assets has introduced a stable source of income to the chain. Data from the white paper shows that the scale of global RWA has exceeded US$340 billion, and commodities such as U.S. debt, gold, and even electricity and soybeans are all being digitally mapped through blockchain.

With the increase in institutional participants, on-chain derivatives trading is expected to explode. Perpetual contracts and options products are gradually being moved on-chain, and the pricing mechanism is becoming more mature. In response to this trend, Huobi HTX has comprehensively upgraded its institutional service capabilities. Through complete API interfaces, customized risk control support, and deep integration with the world's top custody institutions, Huobi HTX has built a "compliance bridge" for professional capital to the on-chain world, helping users lock in structural premiums amid macro fluctuations.

Infrastructure upgrade and the rise of the intelligent economy: the two-wheel drive of zkEVM and AI Agent

In 2026, digital asset infrastructure is undergoing dual-track changes, pushing the industry to a new stage of "10G L1" and "automated execution":
At the infrastructure level, Ethereum has solved 80% of the proof bottlenecks through zkEVM protocol-level integration, entering the "10 Gigabit L1" era, integrating full-ecological liquidity with ultimate performance and security, and completely ending the "Ethereum killer" narrative. In this context, modular blockchain will become a mainstream architecture. As the underlying protocols are commoditized, value is being transferred from the protocol layer to "fat applications" on a large scale, and the customized L2 and AI Agent economy driven by super dApps will become the core of the ecosystem.
At the same time, AI Agent (intelligent agent) will become the execution subject on the chain. AI agents are replacing humans as the execution core of transactions, revenue management and risk control. As of March 2026, the economic output (aGDP) generated by AI Agent has reached hundreds of millions of dollars. The transaction model is shifting from "manual operation" to "intention-driven", and the intelligent economy is rising.

Huobi HTX keeps up with the cutting edge of technology and launches HTX AI Skills. Users only need to input natural language, and AI can complete market interpretation, strategy generation and assisted execution. This new "intent-driven" trading paradigm has greatly lowered the threshold, allowing ordinary investors to enjoy professional-grade, intelligent on-chain financial services.

Embracing 2026, Huobi HTX’s strategic background is transparent competition and regulatory certainty

In an era of structural differentiation, competition between platforms has shifted from traffic competition to "trust competition." Transparent competition will become the core difference of exchanges. Huobi HTX emphasized in the white paper that transparency is no longer an additional point, but the bottom line for survival. Huobi HTX is the first in the industry to implement the "normalization of proof of reserve (PoR)" and achieve a clear and verifiable asset structure through technical means. At the same time, as supervision gradually becomes clearer, the gray space will further shrink. In 2026, when global regulations are becoming clearer, Huobi HTX, which operates in compliance with regulations, is showing strong resilience against risks.
Huobi HTX promises to global users: security and transparency are the foundation of platform development. In the future, Huobi HTX will launch a strategic layout focusing on three main lines: continuously upgrading institutional service capabilities, integrating on-chain assets and income products, and promoting global compliance layout.

As stated at the end of the white paper: The digital asset market is shifting from "general growth" to "survival of the fittest". This is an era for professionals and long-termists. Huobi HTX proposed the four strategic keywords of "stability, transparency, institutionalization, and AI empowerment" in 2026. It should not only be a matchmaker of transactions, but also a builder of on-chain financial infrastructure. In the grand narrative of liquidity reconstruction, Huobi HTX is willing to work with global participants to open the next golden decade of digital assets.

About Huobi HTX

Huobi HTX was established in 2013. After 12 years of development, it has evolved from a cryptocurrency exchange into a comprehensive blockchain business ecosystem, covering digital asset trading, financial derivatives, research, investment, incubation and other businesses.

As the world's leading Web3 portal, Huobi HTX adheres to the development strategy of global expansion, ecological prosperity, wealth effect, and security compliance, and provides comprehensive, safe, and reliable value and services to virtual currency enthusiasts around the world.

For more information about Huobi HTX, please visit https://www.htx.com/ or HTX Square, and follow X, Telegram and Discord. If you have further questions, please contact glo-media@htx-inc.com.