a16z – Big Ideas 2026, Part 3

Privacy will be the most important competitive advantage in crypto, critical for enabling finance to move onchain.

Most existing blockchains lack privacy; privacy creates strong network effects and chain lock-in because bridging private chains is difficult. Public blockchains allow easy movement between chains, but private chains create loyalty due to privacy risks when switching. Privacy chains could dominate the crypto ecosystem due to these dynamics. Prediction markets are becoming mainstream and are expected to grow bigger, broader, and smarter in the coming year.