The arrival of the DeFi 2.0 era in 2026: opening a new financial world amid chaotic reorganization

A Market at a Turning Point in History

In the second half of 2025, the clash between the cryptocurrency market and traditional finance was not merely a market event but signaled the beginning of a fundamental restructuring of the global economic system. A major forced liquidation event on a certain day caused the complete collapse of the leverage-dependent speculative trading model. This marked the end of the first stage of the growth model, and the market inevitably transitioned to the next stage.

Coinbase’s year-end “2026 Cryptocurrency Market Outlook Report” provides a relatively objective depiction of the industry’s state during this transitional period. The most important indicator suggested by the report is data related to stablecoins. As of Q4 2025, the total supply of stablecoins worldwide reached $305 billion, with a total transaction volume of $4.76 trillion.

Compared to the global M0 supply of $15 trillion and an annual transaction volume of $1,500 trillion, the share of stablecoin supply is 2.0%, and the transaction application ratio is 3.2%. Notably, the average activity level of stablecoins exceeds that of traditional fiat currencies by 160%. Considering a four-year consecutive compound annual growth rate of 65%, it is expected that Open Finance will fully enter the mainstream market within this one-year timeframe.

Inertia and Contradictions in the Traditional Financial System

An interesting phenomenon is that the reactions of various institutions in Q2 2025 were unusually intense. There was a prevailing anxiety that the defenses of traditional finance might collapse all at once. However, as time passed, market participants realized that these reactions were excessive. The iteration process would not proceed as rapidly as initially assumed.

By Q3, traditional financial practitioners and policymakers reached a strange short-term equilibrium again. Change is inevitable, but a scenario where everyone can smoothly transition through phased compliance adjustments is plausible. The logical basis for this is the expectation that if securities firms and policymakers upgrade together, the market will also transition stably.

However, by Q4, the emergence of new players like Hyperliquid and Robinhood made it clear that the cartel structure of traditional finance was beginning to disintegrate. Nasdaq and Coinbase faced the truth directly and took steps toward more realistic reforms, such as extending trading hours and building their own RWA tokenization systems.

This process is essentially the psychological sandbox formation process for all players on the Gartner Hype Cycle.

The “Data Medieval” Effect Caused by Rigid Data Regulations

Over the past decade, the world has fallen into a huge misconception: “Data should be utilized if available, and regulated if possible.” The rule costs and entry barriers of old systems have already far exceeded opportunity costs and risk costs.

Especially in the digital age, traditional management systems find it difficult to balance regulation and freedom. The rigidity of data management not only fails to break dependence on historical pathways but also causes even greater costs, forming a terrifying “Data Medieval” effect.

This phenomenon permeates industries worldwide from top to bottom. Excessive digital abuse and financial restrictions are currently hindering development across various sectors.

New Geopolitics Brought by Emerging Economies

One of the most surprising phenomena in 2025 is the exponential increase in the application of stablecoins and crypto finance in emerging economies and developing regions. Nigeria, India, Brazil, Indonesia, Bangladesh, as well as many countries in Africa, South America, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East, have recorded three consecutive years of exponential growth.

In many regions, the utilization of stablecoins has already surpassed the local mainstream fiat currencies. These emerging economies are rapidly expanding in the form of “off-balance sheet assets,” forming a stark contrast to the overly regulated environments of developed countries.

While regional disparities in economic power and consumption capacity still exist, mainstream economic analysis data are clearly distorted. Between the stagflation environment caused by excessive regulation and the rapidly growing emerging economies, the global economic structure is expected to be reconstructed within five years, and geopolitical relationships will also undergo significant changes.

From RWA to Onchain Asset Management

The story of RWA (Real World Assets) in 2025 experienced a remarkable revival. The reason is simple. Due to the collapse of confidence in the initial stage model, the next stage model had not yet reached a consensus on new terminology, so RWA temporarily emerged and secured the MVP position for this year.

However, there is significant confusion in current understanding. As of the second half of 2025, most regions’ understanding of RWA remains close to the recognition of crowdfunding assets tokenized from real-world assets.

Is there a fundamental difference between RWA without fair valuation and the crowdfunding stocks of that time? Is there truly a need for tokenization of illiquid RWA assets? These issues have not been sufficiently examined or agreed upon across the entire market in 2025.

According to Coinbase’s data on the distribution of RWA assets, the four mainstream categories are T-Bills, commodity trading, liquid funds, and credit loans. The RWA landscape in 2026 will change at a certain rate. While these assets will still exist, actual businesses emerging from DeFi and crypto finance in emerging economies will enter the RWA market as asset providers in parallel. Among these, stablecoin settlements and supply chain finance are showing rapid growth directions.

The Essence of DeFi2.0, DAT2.0, and Tokenomics2.0

These new concepts fundamentally depict a transition model from the initial stage to sustainable development.

DAT1.0 was a transfer of value from the early-stage market to traditional finance. In contrast, DAT2.0 represents the integration of value from sustainable development models into traditional finance. Unlike the former, the latter possesses long-term developmental sustainability. In 2025, Ondo, Ethena, Maple, Robinhood, and Figure have created excellent examples of DAT2.0. In 2026, even more emerging companies are expected to grow rapidly in this domain.

Tokenomics2.0 is a broader concept. It essentially represents a further deepening of financial engineering, continuously refining and optimizing each financial scene. Over the evolution of the entire industry, universal protocols like Pendle’s PT-YT are gradually forming.

From the perspective of residual profit models, value capture and continuous value distribution mechanisms are at the core of Tokenomics2.0. The P&L structure of protocols is an objective phenomenon determined by the market itself and is not solely constrained by regulatory environments.

Outlook for 2026: From Chaos to Rebuilding Order

The ongoing disorderly reconstruction of the macro environment will inevitably drive the explosive growth of DeFi2.0. This trend and inevitability are clear.

The speed of information interaction has increased dramatically, with a difference of over 2.5 to 5 times compared to the Kondratiev cycle of the last century. The space for the emergence of global geopolitical contradictions is also entirely different, and the inevitability of contradictions exploding is increasing. The nonlinear effects brought by AI and crypto assets far surpass industrial electrification.

On the other hand, many aspects remain unchanged from 100 years ago. The management foundation of human society, human natural lifespan, generational emotional capacity, and political-economic management cycles in various social forms are fundamentally similar.

Against this backdrop, corporate management must focus on nonlinear issues and incorporate unexpected changes into planning. 2026 will be a crucial turning point where this chaotic reconstruction is embraced, and under a new global configuration, Open Finance will advance into the true mainstream stage.