Coinbase Ventures to Double Down on AI and RWA Perpetuals in 2026

In preparation for next year, Coinbase Ventures has released its roadmap, which includes plans for increased investment in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Real World Asset (RWA) perpetuals. The firm is also keeping a close watch on trading terminals for prediction markets. This move suggests that Coinbase will be expanding its business beyond crypto by 2026.

Coinbase Explores Demand for Macro Asset Exposure Onchain

According to a new disclosure, Coinbase Ventures, the venture capital arm of American crypto exchange Coinbase, will focus on AI, robotics, and perpetual futures for real-world assets in 2026. In this case, the company plans to establish the intersection of digital assets, AI, and robotics. Then there is the expansion of RWA perpetuals beyond traditional crypto assets.

The digital asset service provider’s intent for this project comes from recognizing how perpetual futures can create synthetic exposure to offchain assets. This could be from private companies to macroeconomic data prints, without requiring the underlying asset to be secured.

Kinji Steimetz, associate of Coinbase Ventures, claimed that there is demand for macro asset exposure onchain.

“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,” stated Steimetz. The Coinbase insider added that this has triggered the growing demand that would now allow traders to hedge or position through instruments associated with oil, inflation breakevens, credit spreads, and volatility.

Coinbase’s other priority investment for the coming year are specialized trading platforms and next-generation Decentralized Finance (DeFi) innovations.

Coinbase Hastens Plan for Prediction Markets

The Coinbase team is already eyeing trading terminals for prediction markets as a key opportunity to explore by next year. Only a few days back, tech researcher Jane Manchun Wong revealed that Coinbase is working on a prediction markets website. She even shared multiple screenshots on X to support her claim.

Though no official announcement was made to confirm or deny this claim, it is worth noting that it aligns with the exchange’s push to become an “everything exchange.”

In addition, Coinbase plans to integrate Vector’s Solana-native technology to improve execution speed and asset availability on its platform. This led to an agreement to purchase Vector, a Solana-based social and on-chain trading platform.

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