Fred Wilson Predicts Crypto’s 2026 Breakthrough Will Come From Invisible Blockchains. Source: Image by Sergei Tokmakov, Esq. from Pixabay

Fred Wilson, one of the most influential venture capitalists in the United States and a longtime crypto advocate, believes the next major breakthrough for crypto in 2026 will not come from launching new blockchains. Instead, he argues that mass adoption will happen when blockchains become invisible to everyday users.

In a recent blog post outlining his technology predictions for 2026, Wilson emphasized that blockchain technology must move beyond complexity and focus on seamless user experiences. According to him, consumers should be able to use, spend, trade, and send digital assets without needing to understand which blockchain they are interacting with. In his view, the underlying infrastructure should fade into the background, much like how most people use the internet today without understanding how TCP/IP works.

Wilson, a founding partner of Union Square Ventures, has a long history of identifying transformative technologies early. His firm backed major companies such as Twitter, Etsy, and Tumblr, and in the crypto space, Wilson was an early supporter of Bitcoin, Coinbase, Ethereum, and Filecoin. He famously described bitcoin as an “interesting investment opportunity” as early as 2011, long before mainstream adoption.

Despite his optimism, Wilson has also been one of crypto’s most vocal critics. He has repeatedly warned that excessive hype, speculation, and short-term greed threaten the industry’s long-term credibility. He believes the true value of blockchain lies in practical applications such as decentralized identity, peer-to-peer finance, and open protocols that empower developers and users alike.

Wilson often compares the current state of crypto to the early days of the internet, when basic tasks like sending an email required technical expertise. Just as better design and user-friendly interfaces helped the internet reach billions of users, he believes crypto needs intuitive applications that abstract away complexity.

For Wilson, improving blockchain usability is not just a design challenge but a defining moment for the industry. If crypto applications can deliver simplicity, trust, and real-world utility, blockchain technology could finally move from a niche innovation to a foundational layer of the global digital economy.