$700,000,000,000 Sitting Idle on S&P 1500 Balance Sheets Will Drive Next Wave of Crypto Adoption, Says Ripple’s Monica Long

Ripple President Monica Long says large pools of idle corporate cash will drive increased adoption of crypto-based financial tools, particularly stablecoins.

In an insights post on the year ahead, Long says companies are holding unprecedented levels of trapped working capital.

“The opportunity here goes far beyond faster settlement… over $700 billion sitting idle on S&P 1500 balance sheets alone, and more than €1.3 trillion across Europe. Stablecoins unlock a path to real-time liquidity, reduced carrying costs and meaningful cash-flow efficiency. That combination is why corporates will drive the next wave of crypto adoption.”

Long says banks and clearing houses are also getting in.

“As crypto exposure becomes normalized, capital markets will follow. In 2026, collateral mobility will emerge as a top institutional use case, with custodian banks and clearing houses adopting tokenization to modernize settlement. Expect 5–10% of capital markets settlement to move onchain, driven by regulatory momentum and the adoption of stablecoins by systemically important institutions.”

Long says she’s also watching the link between digital assets and AI.

“In 2026, blockchain and AI will increasingly converge, automating financial operations in ways that were previously impossible. Stablecoins and smart contracts will enable treasuries to manage liquidity, execute margin calls and optimize yield across onchain repo agreements, all in real-time without manual intervention.

Asset managers will use AI models alongside blockchain infrastructure to dynamically rebalance exposure to tokenized assets and stablecoin yield protocols, fully leveraging the 24/7 nature of onchain markets.”