The Irreversible Evolution of Digital Assets: Fidelity's Indication of a Fundamental Shift in Financial Infrastructure

Digital assets are now irreversibly integrating into the deeper layers of the financial system, going beyond superficial market price fluctuations. As Chris Kypreos, Vice President of Research at Fidelity Digital Assets, pointed out in recent reports, this shift has already entered an irreversible stage. Kypreos’s statements in an interview with CoinDesk reveal that the entire industry is quietly but steadily reconstructing its structure.

Quiet Integration into Financial Infrastructure Leading to Irreversibility

Digital assets were once merely peripheral experiments in the financial world. However, they are now transforming into fundamental components of the financial system. While the 2025 market drew attention to declining price charts, behind the scenes, the industry was actually working on building a solid foundational infrastructure.

As Fidelity’s research report indicates, digital assets are entering a “structural era.” Just as standardized steel containers revolutionized global trade, digital assets are now beginning to function as standardized infrastructure within the financial system. This change is not just a technological evolution but signifies a fundamental evolution of financial infrastructure itself.

Environment Where Infrastructure and Regulation Evolve Simultaneously

Supporting this irreversible industry evolution is a gradual groundwork being laid beneath the surface. Development of regulated products, enhancement of custody solutions, and optimization of workflows for institutional investors—these are all progressing steadily in less visible areas of the market.

Between 2025 and 2026, this quiet evolution is accelerating. Many market participants still react emotionally to price fluctuations, but in reality, an irreversible transformation in the world of financial infrastructure is already underway. Regulatory frameworks are also gradually being established to accommodate digital assets, and this process is progressing steadily.

Accelerating Full Integration with Wall Street

Kypreos further emphasized the entry of major banks. Last year, all leading financial institutions in the industry expressed their intention to develop capabilities in the digital asset space. This is not merely experimental but a strategic business decision.

The movement of Wall Street as a whole to enter this new financial layer is decisively changing the status of digital assets. Statements like “Bitcoin will die” have decreased, and instead, discussions are centered on how to integrate. Kypreos sees 2026 as a historic turning point where the market will sincerely accept this change and shift toward broader adoption.

What is happening now is not price volatility but an irreversible structural change in finance itself. Its impact will undoubtedly spread through the global financial system at an unstoppable speed.