Pantera Capital: How has Crypto as a Service affected us?
Original Title: 2026: The Invisible Revolution
Original Author: Paul Veradittakit, Pantera Capital
Original Translation: AididiaoJP, Foresight News
2026 will be a pivotal year. We will see "crypto as an industry" evolve into "crypto as a service".
Over the past decade, the crypto world has been full of various gimmicks. The approval of the Bitcoin ETF in 2024 gave it mainstream financial recognition. In 2025, everyone was busy building the underlying infrastructure. By 2026, real value will belong to companies that use blockchain to solve entrenched problems in traditional industries while making users completely unaware of the presence of blockchain.
The future crypto unicorns will no longer rely on hype. They will be the kind of companies that use blockchain technology to significantly increase product efficiency, tap into multi-billion-dollar markets, and completely hide the complex technology.
Crypto Tech Beats "Weekend"
During the Iran conflict outbreak, the US stock market was closed for the weekend and unable to respond to sudden global risks. However, the crypto market did not stop, with Bitcoin briefly rising to $74,000. Commodities were the first to complete price discovery on the decentralized prediction market Hyperliquid, even before the traditional markets opened. This is not an isolated case—similar situations occurred last month when China announced policies.
Traditional hedge funds are increasingly pouring into this field. The crypto market's "24/7 non-stop" is no longer just a slogan but a structural advantage that traditional finance cannot match.
Nevertheless, the current valuation of the crypto market is still far below the level its fundamentals should reach. Without a doubt, we are once again in a bear market (the fourth one I've experienced), but this time is entirely different: regulations are becoming clearer, institutional funds have entered, and the infrastructure is improving.
This sentiment was particularly strong at the recent Hong Kong Consensus conference. The vibrancy of the Asian market contrasts sharply with the West. There, the support of both the incumbent and opposition parties, new institutional funds, and a strong focus on consumer applications are driving bullish sentiments.
Key Highlights for Asia in 2026:
· Cross-Border Payments through Stablecoins, especially in the B2B sector. For the more fragmented Asian economy, crypto payments are a natural choice.
· Tokenization of Gold, Stocks, and Real Estate. Asian banks and fintech companies are catching up to the U.S.
· Perpetual Contract Trading on DeFi. Fueled by retail investors, the development speed may surpass that of the West.
· Prediction Markets are expected to become a key track, although the form may differ from the West.
Core Trend: "Crypto as a Service"
The core theme of 2026 is transitioning from "Crypto as an industry" to "Crypto as a service." The goal is no longer to show users the blockchain but to make them completely forget about the existence of blockchain.
Over the past decade, we have been eager to create the "Crypto Wonder" — Gas Fee Wars, TPS Races, Modular Stacks, ZK Proofs. The ETF in 2024 was mainstream institutional acknowledgment. In 2025, we laid down all the underlying infrastructure. In 2026, it's time to turn the page.
Saying Goodbye to the "Casino" Era
The new generation of unicorns will not be the kind of "L3 network built for AI-NFT." They will be the ones leveraging blockchain to improve product efficiency tenfold, while completely hiding the technology and thus unlocking billion-dollar markets.
This perfectly explains our recent investment logic:

Novig: Farewell to the "Rake" Era ($75 Million Series B)
Traditional sports betting is a monopolistic distorted market. The house edge extracts high commissions from each bet, resulting in a user profitability rate of only 2%. Our $75 million lead investment in Novig is because they treat sports betting as a high-frequency financial product. Through a peer-to-peer trading model, Novig users have an average profitability rate of 23%. Most users don't care if there's a decentralized order book in the background; they only know they can get the best odds in the U.S. here. This is a vivid example of "Crypto as a Service."

Based: Consumer-Grade Super App ($11.5 Million Series A)
We recently led Based's Series A funding round. This is a composable Web3 consumer-grade super app built on the Hyperliquid ecosystem. In the past, "consumer-grade crypto" was often equated with "clumsy user experience." Based is changing that by making on-chain interactions feel as smooth as top-tier fintech apps. Cross-chain bridging, gas fees, and other complex operations have been abstracted away, making users unaware of the underlying complexities. They can simply focus on the social and financial value their assets bring.

Doppler: Default Asset Issuance Infrastructure ($9 Million Seed Round)
If Based and Novig are cool new cars, then Doppler is the high-performance fuel system. We led Doppler's $9 million seed round, aiming to become the default infrastructure for on-chain asset issuance. It allows developers to issue assets with institutional-grade security and compliance standards without having to build everything from scratch. Doppler is like the Stripe of on-chain assets—pure utility packaged behind a clean API.
Why "Invisibility" Is More Important Than "Viral Spread"
This trend of "invisibility" is also prevalent throughout our entire investment portfolio:
· Real-World Assets: Tokenized government bonds are no longer an experiment in the crypto world; they are becoming the backend liquidity cornerstone of global trade.
· AI Agents: Blockchain provides AI agents with a trusted "truth layer" through predictive markets and verifiable data, enabling them to autonomously and credibly interact with digital assets.
· Agent-Based Payments will accelerate all of this. Payment standards like x402 enable AI agents to transact directly using crypto assets. The gradual clarity in stablecoin regulation further smoothes this payment track.
Advice for Entrepreneurs
If you are planning to start a business in 2026, my advice is simple: Stop focusing solely on technology and talk more about the practical problems you can solve. If the page in your pitch deck explaining the consensus mechanism comes before discussing customer ROI, it means your mindset is still stuck in 2022.
What we are looking for are teams that are building the next Novig, Based, or Doppler — those who truly understand what “mass adoption” means: It is only when a technology becomes so seamless that people completely forget it exists that it truly enters the mainstream.
You may also like

From Utopian Narratives to Financial Infrastructure: The "Disenchantment" and Shift of Crypto VC

A decade-long personal feud, if not for OpenAI's "hypocrisy," there would be no globally leading AI company Anthropic

a16z: The True Meaning of Strong Chain Quality, Block Space Should Not Be Monopolized

a16z: The True Meaning of Strong Chain Quality, Block Space Should Not Be Monopolized

2% user contribution, 90% trading volume: The real picture of Polymarket

Trump Can't Take It Anymore, 5 Signals of the US-Iran Ceasefire

Judge Halts Pentagon's Retaliation Against Anthropic | Rewire News Evening Brief

Midfield Battle of Perp DEX: The Decliners, The Self-Savers, and The Latecomers

Iran War Stalemate: What Signal Should the Market Follow?

Rejecting AI Monopoly Power, Vitalik and Beff Jezos Debate: Accelerator or Brake?

Insider Trading Alert! Will Trump Call a Truce by End of April?

After establishing itself as the top tokenized stock, does Ondo have any new highlights?

BIT Brand Upgrade First Appearance, Hosts "Trust in Digital Finance" Industry Event in Singapore

OpenClaw Founder Interview: Why the US Should Learn from China on AI Implementation
WEEX AI Wars II: Enlist as an AI Agent Arsenal and Lead the Battle
Where the thunder of legions falls into a hallowed hush, the true kings of arena are crowned in gold and etched into eternity. Season 1 of WEEX AI Wars has ended, leaving a battlefield of glory. Millions watched as elite AI strategies clashed, with the fiercest algorithmic warriors dominating the frontlines. The echoes of victory still reverberate. Now, the call to arms sounds once more!
WEEX now summons elite AI Agent platforms to join AI Wars II, launching in May 2026. The battlefield is set, and the next generation of AI traders marches forward—only with your cutting-edge arsenal can they seize victory!
Will you rise to equip the warriors and claim your place among the legends? Can your AI Agent technology dominate the battlefield? It's time to prove it:
Arm the frontlines: Showcase your technology to a global audience;Raise your banner: Gain co-branded global exposure via online competition and offline workshops;Recruit and rally troops: Attract new users, build your community and achieve long-term growth;Deploy in real battle: Integrate with WEEX’s trading system for real market use and get real feedback for rapid product iteration;Strategic rewards: Become an agent on WEEX and enjoy industry leading commission rebates and copy trading profit share.Join WEEX AI Wars II now to sound the charge!
Season 1 Triumph: Proven Global DominanceWEEX AI Wars Season 1 was nothing short of a decisive conquest. Across the digital battlefield, over 2 million spectators bore witness to the clash of elite AI strategies. Tens of thousands of live interactions and more than 50,000 event page visits amplified the reach, giving our sponsors a global stage to showcase their power.
Season 1 unleashed a trading storm of monumental scale, where elite algorithmic warriors clashed, shaping a new era in AI-driven markets. $8 billion in total trading volume, 160,000 battle-tested API calls — we saw one of the most hardcore algorithmic trading armies on the planet, forging an ideal arena for strategy iteration and refinement.
On the ground, workshop campaigns in Dubai, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Munich, and Turkey brought AI trading directly to the frontlines. Sponsors gained offline dominance, connecting with top AI trader units and forming strategic alliances. Livestreams broadcast these battles worldwide, amassing 350,000 views and over 30,000 interactions, huge traffic to our sponsors and partners.
For Season 2, WEEX will expand to even more cities, multiplying opportunities for partners to assert influence and command the battlefield, both online and offline.
Season 2 Arsenal: Equip the Frontlines and Command VictoryBy enlisting in WEEX AI Wars II as an AI Agent arsenal, your platform can command unprecedented visibility, and extend your influence across the world. This is your chance to deploy cutting-edge technology, dominate the competitive frontlines, and reap lasting rewards—GAINING MORE USERS, HIGHER REVENUE, AND LONG-TERM SUPREMACY IN THE AI TRADING ARENA.
Reach WEEX’s 8 million userbase and global crypto community. Unleash your potential on a global stage! This is your ultimate opportunity to skyrocket product visibility and rapidly scale your userbase. Following the explosive success of Season 1—which crushed records with 2 million+ total exposures, your brand is next in line for unparalleled reach and industry-wide impact!Test and showcase your AI Agent in real markets. Throw your AI Agents into the ultimate arena! Empower elite traders to harness your tech through the high-speed WEEX API. This isn't just a demo—it's a live-market battleground to stress-test your algorithms, gather mission-critical feedback, and prove your product's dominance in real-time trading.Gain extensive co-branded exposure and traffic support. Command the spotlight! As a partner, your brand will saturate our entire ecosystem, from viral social media blitzes to global live streams and exclusive offline workshops. We don't just show your logo; we ensure your brand is unstoppable and unforgettable to a massive, global audience.Enjoy industry leading rebates. Becoming our partner is not a one-time collaboration, but the start of a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship with tangible revenue opportunities.Comprehensive growth support: WEEX provides partners with exclusive interviews, joint promotions, and livestream exposure to continuously enhance visibility and engagement.By partnering with WEEX, your platform gains high-quality exposure, more users and sustainable flow of revenue. The Hackathon is more than a competition. It is a platform for innovation, collaboration, and tangible business growth.
Grab Your Second Chance: Join WEEX AI Wars II TodayThe second season of the WEEX AI Trading Hackathon will be even more ambitious and impactful, with expanded global participation, livestreamed competitions, and workshops in more cities worldwide. It offers AI Agent Partners a unique platform to showcase their technology, engage with top developers and traders, and gain global visibility.
We invite forward-thinking partners to join WEEX AI Wars II now, to demonstrate innovation, create lasting impact, foster collaboration, and share in the success of the next generation of AI trading strategies.
About WEEXFounded in 2018, WEEX has developed into a global crypto exchange with over 6.2 million users across more than 150 countries. The platform emphasizes security, liquidity, and usability, providing over 1,200 spot trading pairs and offering up to 400x leverage in crypto futures trading. In addition to the traditional spot and derivatives markets, WEEX is expanding rapidly in the AI era — delivering real-time AI news, empowering users with AI trading tools, and exploring innovative trade-to-earn models that make intelligent trading more accessible to everyone. Its 1,000 BTC Protection Fund further strengthens asset safety and transparency, while features such as copy trading and advanced trading tools allow users to follow professional traders and experience a more efficient, intelligent trading journey.
Follow WEEX on social mediaX: @WEEX_Official
Instagram: @WEEX Exchange
Tiktok: @weex_global
Youtube: @WEEX_Official
Discord: WEEX Community
Telegram: WeexGlobal Group

Nasdaq Enters Correction Territory | Rewire News Morning Brief

OpenAI loses to Thousnad-Question, unable to grow a checkout counter in the chatbox

