Investment bank B. Riley said in a report on Thursday that as regulations mature and traditional financial institutions adopt blockchain technology at scale, digital assets will cross a critical threshold in 2026, moving from a primarily speculative vehicle to a practical financial infrastructure.
Analysts Fedor Shabalin and Nick Giles said: “We expect digital asset markets to move from speculation to utility in 2026 as regulatory frameworks mature and blockchain is integrated into global financial infrastructure.”
Analysts argued that a combination of clearer rules around stablecoins, greater institutional tokenization of real-world assets, stronger governance frameworks, and improved interoperability between bank ledgers and public blockchains are changing not only how digital assets are traded but also how they are used.
This evolution is prompting digital asset treasury companies (DATCOs) to pivot from simply accumulating tokens to operating them to generate recurring revenue, analysts said.
A group of 25 digital asset treasury stocks tracked by the bank continue to have an enterprise value of about 0.8 times the market value of the cryptocurrencies they hold. The metric, known as mNAV, has remained unchanged since mid-December, even though the underlying business model is starting to look more like a commercial company than a passive investment vehicle. Enterprise value (EV) is a company's market capitalization plus debt minus cash.
Analysts also noted the recent decision by MSCI to withdraw a proposal that would have removed DATCO from the world's major stock indexes.
Strategy (MSTR), the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin BTC$89,825.32has been under selling pressure in recent months due to concerns that it would be removed from MSCI's benchmark, a move that may have forced some institutional investors to sell and weighed on the stock price.
MSCI said more work is needed to differentiate investment firms and businesses that hold digital assets as part of their core strategy. B. Riley said the moratorium will be supportive for the sector as index inclusion will help maintain passive capital flows and reduce the risk of forced selling.
The report features Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) as a key example of an operational shift expected to accelerate over the next year. Finance companies continue building Ether Ethereum$3,092.49 It will solidify its position while expanding its staking operations ahead of the planned infrastructure launch in early 2026.
Analysts reiterated their buy rating and $47 price target on Bitmine, saying that Bitmine's stock valuation looks attractive relative to its staking revenue potential, even as shareholders prepare to vote on a significant increase in outstanding shares to support future growth and acquisitions.
Shares were down 1.75% at $29.83 in early trading.
Read more: Tokenization 'supercycle' aims for further leap forward for cryptocurrencies in 2026: Bernstein
