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Real-World Asset Perpetuals and DeFi Growth by Coinbase Ventures
Coinbase Ventures, the venture capital arm of crypto exchange Coinbase, has shared its strategic outlook for 2026, highlighting emerging opportunities across real-world-asset (RWA) perpetuals, specialized exchanges, next-generation DeFi, and the intersection of crypto with AI and robotics.
Real-World Asset Perpetuals
Expanding beyond traditional crypto assets is a top priority for Coinbase. In its Tuesday blog post, the firm noted that perpetual futures can offer synthetic exposure to off-chain assets, ranging from private companies to macroeconomic indicators, without requiring ownership of the underlying assets.
Kinji Steimetz, associate at Coinbase Ventures, emphasized:
“As crypto becomes increasingly intertwined with macro markets, a more sophisticated trader base is seeking to express a wider range of views than simply being long digital assets. This creates demand for macro asset exposure on-chain, allowing traders to hedge or position through instruments tied to oil, inflation breakevens, credit spreads, and volatility.”
Specialized Exchanges and Prediction Markets
Coinbase is also focusing on specialized trading platforms. The blog highlighted Prop-AMMs on Solana, which aim to shield liquidity providers from adverse market flow.
Additionally, the firm is monitoring the development of unified trading terminals for prediction markets. According to Jonathan King, Senior Manager of Investments at Coinbase Ventures:
“The fragmentation currently plaguing the prediction market sector is fueling demand for unified trading terminals.”
Crypto, AI, and Robotics
Coinbase Ventures also pointed to the rapid convergence of crypto with AI and robotics. The firm suggested that 2026 may be pivotal for smart contract development. AI-powered agents could enable non-technical founders to launch on-chain businesses efficiently, with automated code generation and security monitoring.
Strategic Investments
Coinbase’s 2026 priorities reflect its recent funding activity across multiple sectors. In September, it led a $14.6 million round for stablecoin infrastructure firm Bastion and a $5 million strategic round for the user-owned data network Vana. Earlier, in August, Coinbase participated in a fundraising round for crypto payments firm Mesh.
