Hashed Releases Annual Report ‘Protocol Economy: 2026’... “Next Year Marks the Beginning of Full-Scale Applications”

Hashed stated on the 8th that it views 2025 as a turning point where execution, rather than ideas, becomes the key differentiator. The company predicts that 2026 will mark the true beginning of the application phase.
Hashed reiterated this outlook in its annual report ‘Protocol Economy: Hashed 2026’ released the previous day. Simon Kim, CEO of Hashed, noted in the report, “The prevailing trend in 2025 is not volatility, but rather the start of a broad realignment across the industry in a unified direction.”
Kim explained that, as excessive narratives and inefficient liquidity have been cleared out over recent years, market attention has shifted to the question of ‘which services actually work’. Regarding Stablecoin, he described it as “the first example among digital asset infrastructures to enter the stage of large-scale real-world use.”
Major regions such as the United States, Korea, Japan, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia are now entering a phase where, despite differences in speed and regulatory frameworks, Stablecoins are being applied to real-world flows like payments, settlements, and fund management. In this process, Stablecoins are evolving beyond simple digital transaction tools to become essential financial infrastructure, supporting inter-company payments and cross-border remittances.
Hashed also highlighted the growing importance of artificial intelligence (AI) this year. The company analyzed that the basic unit of the digital economy is shifting from the traditional ‘user-based model’ to an ‘AI Agent-based model’. As a result, AI Agents are expected to emerge as new economic actors, autonomously collecting data, making decisions for specific purposes, and executing payments and transactions.
The report explains that these changes are shaping a new trend called the ‘Protocol Economy’. This refers to a structure where payments, settlements, data management, and credit systems are all operated on-chain via Blockchain, functioning as a unified operational layer. While the user experience on the surface remains similar to existing web and mobile services, the underlying operations are powered by the real-time integration of AI and virtual assets.
Looking ahead to 2026, the report forecasts that as virtual asset and AI infrastructure reach maturity, practical application services will begin to emerge in real industry and financial sectors. Early indicators of this transition include inter-company Stablecoin settlements, AI Agent-based payments, regulated Decentralized Finance (DeFi), and Real-World Asset Tokenization (RWA).
Hashed plans to continue focusing next year on structural transformations such as Stablecoin infrastructure, AI Agent-based payment and settlement systems, and the convergence of physical and digital finance. Simon Kim stated, “Rather than predicting the future, we will build the structures we are confident in,” adding, “As the virtual asset industry enters a phase of direct connection with the real economy, we will respond with tangible actions that can prove this integration.”

yimsh0214@fnnews.com Im Sang-hyuk Reporter