What will Web3 look like in 2026?

After reviewing more than 20 annual research reports worldwide, a consensus among major investment research institutions is gradually emerging. The Web3 sector that these institutions heavily invest in may reflect the true market expectations—which areas are genuinely favored by institutions and which are just market hype.

The most interesting thing is that although research institutions in different regions focus on slightly different aspects, their judgments on several core tracks are surprisingly consistent: deepening of the DeFi ecosystem, application of Layer 2 scaling solutions, cross-chain interoperability, and the shift of NFT utility... These are the keywords that frequently appear in research reports.

In simple terms, Web3 in 2026 will not be a year of concept hype, but a year of practical applications and ecosystem development. Projects that only boast without real implementation should have already been phased out. The real opportunities are precisely in those tracks that quietly build infrastructure and solve real problems.