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a16z (Andreessen Horowitz) · Oct 16, 2026 · 49 min

What Comes After Stablecoins? (ft. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire and Chris Dixon)

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire and a16z crypto's Chris Dixon discuss why Circle built its own stablecoin-centric, publicly permissionless but known-operator blockchain, Arc, and how it differs from open anonymous chains. They argue stablecoins and blockchains are early in a mobile-style multi-year adoption curve, that no one has a moat yet, and that AI will become the main creator and user of on-chain economic activity. Both are bullish on crypto adoption and on AI compounding, while Dixon flags AI's centralizing tendency and says blockchains and open source can counter it.

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Where they stand

Crypto

Very bullish

Stablecoins and blockchain networks are in an early, wide-open phase headed from a few hundred million users to billions, with institutional and regulatory adoption accelerating.

High conviction · years

AI

Very bullish

AI capabilities are compounding fast, will become the primary creator and user of software and economic activity, and are still early in adoption, though with a centralizing risk.

High conviction · years

Markets

Bullish

Tokenization of real-world assets, on-chain credit and machine-driven economic activity are expected to expand market structure and volume substantially.

Low conviction · years

Key takeaways

  1. Circle launched Arc, a public, permissionless L1 whose validators are known, vetted operators, built to meet standards that central banks and regulators would accept for real money. 8:44
  2. Allaire says USDC has utility and liquidity network effects plus regulatory and interoperability moats, including CCTP, which he says has carried as much as 70% of cross-chain value in recent quarters. 16:24
  3. Stablecoins are described as a winner-take-most market that could grow from several hundred billion to several trillion dollars, with multiple networks surviving. 19:09
  4. Allaire compares blockchains to the long mobile-OS era: still a 15-year journey, no one has won developer mindshare, and mainstream apps are only starting to emerge, so no one has a moat. 21:54
  5. Dixon says AI is early (about 2% enterprise adoption) and that a 10-20 year reconfiguration of the digital economy lines up with the rise of performant blockchains. 27:24
  6. AI coding makes deterministic blockchain infrastructure easy to build on, so Allaire expects a proliferation of non-skeuomorphic apps by 2027, with examples like Flybrain and AI arbitration on Arc. 31:14
  7. Dixon sees blockchains and open source as a decentralizing counterweight to the centralizing tendency of AI, and hopes policymakers let them flourish. 39:31
  8. Allaire expects machines to perform most cognitive and economic work within five years, with the velocity of economic activity rising by orders of magnitude. 44:59

Calls and positions

  • Stablecoins are a winner-take-most market, with several networks coexisting as the market grows from hundreds of billions to trillions.
    “the stablecoin market is sort of a winner-take-most market structure, not a winner-take-all market structure”
    Very bullishPrediction: several trillion dollars in stablecoinsJeremy Allaire, Oct 16, 2026Watch at 19:09
  • The next three to five years will redefine blockchain networks as economic operating systems.
    “I believe it's early and I believe the the next, you know, three to five years will be will will will really redefine this.”
    Very bullishPrediction: redefinition of blockchain networks (three to five years)Jeremy Allaire, Oct 16, 2026Watch at 24:40
  • A big proliferation of new apps on blockchains that break from existing use cases is expected by 2027, aided by AI software engineering.
    “I actually expect to see a big proliferation in new apps on these computers”
    Very bullishPrediction: big proliferation of new apps (2027)Jeremy Allaire, Oct 16, 2026Watch at 32:20
  • AI capabilities will compound so much that machines will do most cognitive and creative work within years.
    “an extraordinary amount of the work that happens, the creative work and the cognitive work”
    Very bullishPrediction: most cognitive and creative work done by AI machines (coming years)Jeremy Allaire, Oct 16, 2026Watch at 44:59
  • Velocity of economic activity and value exchange will grow by multiple orders of magnitude in a machine economy, as internet communications did.
    “the velocity of economic activity, the velocity of value exchange, the velocity of the use of of financial machines”
    Very bullishPrediction: multiple orders of magnitude more economic activity (5 years)Jeremy Allaire, Oct 16, 2026Watch at 46:06
  • Credit markets combining blockchains, digital dollars and AI could create new instruments and marketplaces resembling AdWords more than bond packaging.
    “credit marketplaces that probably look more like AdWords than like someone who packages up a bunch of credit and sells it as a bond”
    BullishPrediction: new credit marketplacesJeremy Allaire, Oct 16, 2026Watch at 30:10#Tokenization
  • The vast majority of the internet will plausibly be machines with economic components to what they do.
    “it's very plausible that you'll have the the vast majority of internet just means will be machines”
    Very bullishPrediction: majority of internet activity by machinesChris Dixon, Oct 16, 2026Watch at 47:12

Views expressed

  • No one currently has a moat in blockchain networks because developer mindshare is small and the space is wide open.
    “No one has won significant developer mind share.”
    BullishJeremy Allaire, Oct 16, 2026Watch at 23:02
  • Stablecoin regulation passing instantly normalized stablecoins in the technology world and drove financial institution adoption.
    “just sort of instantly normalized stable coins in the technology world”
    Very bullishChris Dixon, Oct 16, 2026Watch at 26:51
  • Enterprise adoption of AI is only around 2% and agent consumer adoption is low, so AI is still early.
    “there's like 2% enterprise adoption, you know, things like agents have very low consumer adoption so far”
    BullishChris Dixon, Oct 16, 2026Watch at 27:24#AI agents
  • AI is a centralizing force favoring well-capitalized companies, which blockchains and open source can counterbalance.
    “blockchains in some ways can be an antidote to the what I believe is a centralizing tendency of AI”
    NeutralChris Dixon, Oct 16, 2026Watch at 39:31
  • Arc is public and permissionless to build on, but its validators are known, vetted operators, which he argues is needed for mainstream financial adoption.
    “Arc is a public and permissionless network. Anyone in the world can connect to it and build software on it”
    BullishJeremy Allaire, Oct 16, 2026Watch at 41:09

Topics covered

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