Authors: Avichal Garg, Curtis Spencer, Ken Deeter, Maria Shen, Ren
Compiled by DeepTide TechFlow
Introduction:The 2026 investment blueprint released by Electric Capital marks a turning point in the transition of "user sovereignty" from concept to large-scale implementation.
The author insightfully points out that in the context of a global collapse of institutional trust and the centralization of AI power, cryptography is not merely a financial tool, but rather a core infrastructure for defending individual sovereignty. The article outlines 26 specific investment opportunities across six major areas, ranging from private AI agents (AI Agents) that can run on local desktops to stablecoin-based finance that can bring the benefits of the U.S. dollar to four billion people.
The full text is as follows:
The conditions for user-owned technology are now ripe.
A collapse of trust in institutions is occurring globally.People have lost confidence in institutions that once formed the core of economic, political, and social life, including governments, banks, media, and schools. This is not a short-term trend, nor a reaction to a single event, but rather a long-term shift in expectations. People no longer assume that institutions are neutral, reliable, or aligned with their interests.
Distributed systems and cryptography provide developers with new tools that can operate without the need for trust.These technologies are designed to operate in adversarial environments: they assume that participants may be malicious, the software must be verifiable, and the system should still function properly even if adversaries fail.
AI makes this transition toward a "trust-minimized system" more urgent and feasible than ever before.AI not only centralizes power, but also reduces the cost of development. Now, an individual can accomplish in a few hours what previously required a team several months to build. This puts pressure on intermediaries, opens up new possibilities for developers, and increases the demand for "user-controlled" infrastructure.
The system owned by the user defends freedom.User-owned systems minimize trust by returning control to the user. These systems cannot be unilaterally altered. They allow people to build without needing permission. If done well, these systems enable users to leave systems that no longer serve them without losing any functionality.
Electric Capital invests between $1 million to $20 million in user-owned technologies, empowering people with control, privacy, and access rights.
Since 2018, we have been committed to investing in systems that reduce reliance on intermediaries. We started with programmable money. Today, the same principles and technologies are being applied to more areas such as software, data, and markets.
If you're building in these areas, we want to invest in your ideas. For a deeper background on our arguments, please read our 2018 piece onRebuilding Trust IntermediariesandProgrammable MoneyThe article.
This article outlines 26 opportunities across key areas by 2026.
These opportunities include user-owned systems, globally accessible markets, entertainment built upon new financial primitives, and infrastructure prepared for a world where software is built for AI. However, they all share a common theme: they explore how power, access, and ownership should function in a world where AI is ubiquitous and deeply embedded.
These opportunities are distributed across six core areas:
Personal Software:AI makes it possible to build tools tailored specifically to your lifestyle, rather than merely adapting to SaaS (Software as a Service) designed for general users. Private agents, encrypted collaboration, and locally operated software are now not only feasible but increasingly essential.
Agent-Focused Infrastructure:As AI agents become the primary developers of software, the existing development stack will become obsolete. New primitives are needed for testing, deployment, payment, data access, and collaboration between agents.
Fintech and DeFi (Fintech & DeFi):Stablecoins have enabled over 4 billion people to access the U.S. dollar. Now, they need yield, equity exposure, insurance, and more. The demand for global, programmable, and accessible financial infrastructure is accelerating.
Finance as Entertainment:The younger generation views the market as entertainment. Trading is fast, social, and fun. This is changing the form of financial products and opening the door to new types of markets.
Metaverse Revival:World Models and generative AI significantly reduce the cost of creating immersive, personalized environments. People will step into experiences built around them, rather than passively consuming content. There is an opportunity to build platforms that simplify world creation and give users control over data sharing, storage, and monetization within these worlds.
New Cryptographic Primitives and Applications:Proof of Stake (PoS) and Proof of Work (PoW) are maturing, making room for new consensus models. Zero-knowledge (ZK) systems and fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) are becoming practical. These primitives open up new design possibilities: consensus mechanisms tied to human or physical inputs, infrastructure with privacy by default, and applications tailored for regulated entities, energy markets, or even new jurisdictions.
If you are building in one of these areas, please go throughinfo@electriccapital.comContact us.
Personal Software
For the first time, individuals can now build software tailored precisely to their own needs, rather than being limited by products offered by companies. As AI agents can now handle complex workflows such as reading emails, scheduling meetings, and managing documents, new requirements have emerged regarding data privacy, data ownership, and data persistence. Systems supported by cryptographic technologies can make these tools private, persistent, and capable of multi-user collaboration.
The specific ideas we want to invest in:
Private AI agents:People need to run AI on sensitive data in a secure way.
Possible form: An AI assistant that automates your personal workflow while protecting your privacy. Connect your health and financial records and gain AI insights. AI models run within trusted execution environments (TEEs) or computational networks, and incoming queries are anonymized. When responses are returned, enterprise providers or malicious actors cannot see your data.
Encrypted Collaboration Spaces:People need to collaborate privately with others, including both humans and agents. Remember, "the cloud" is just someone else's computer.
Possible form: A shared workspace for friends, family, or small businesses. Financial records, documents, and tasks are synchronized through a peer-to-peer (P2P) storage solution. Selective disclosure authorizes agents to access specific types of data. No account creation is required, no company can read, store, or use sensitive data for training, and offline work is supported.
Desktop Agent:People need to perform automated processing on data stored on their local computers.
Possible form: A proxy running on your local desktop, responsible for reading your emails, writing responses, creating agendas, and managing your life. This concept can be expanded into a new type of desktop operating system in an AI-prioritized world.
Private Payment Services (Pay for services privately):People need a way to pay for software services without having to identify themselves.
Possible form: Purchase a VPN, games, cloud storage, or AI computing power without an account. You pay based on usage, which is metered by the service, and payments are settled in stablecoins via the x402 or similar protocols. The service provider knows that someone has paid and the amount paid, but does not know the identity of the payer.
Agent-Focused Infrastructure
Agents will write most of our code and perform most of our knowledge work. Key takeaways are: (1) Software tools need to be rebuilt from scratch, as AI-generated code introduces new failure modes. (2) Development will shift toward internalization, as custom software is now economically viable. (3) Agents will require new frameworks for transacting with one another. (4) Businesses previously constrained by human labor can suddenly scale. These ideas capture the opportunities brought by these second-order effects.
The specific ideas we want to invest in:
AI-Native Compute Infrastructure:The company needs the capability to test, isolate, and roll back AI-generated changes at the infrastructure level.
Possible form: AWS or GCP with proxy rewriting. The proxy writes code in a sandbox, safely tests against production data, and deploys with automatic rollback if something goes wrong. The entire process assumes the code comes from the proxy rather than a human.
End-to-End Product Development Tools:Non-technical staff need to bridge the gap from ideas to usable software.
Possible form: A platform where users specify their business objectives, data sources, and desired outcomes. The system generates a plan, design, code, and a runnable product. The system eliminates the need for technical translation, allowing non-technical users to go directly from "idea" to "deployed product" in hours rather than months.
Agent-enabled commerce:The agent needs to autonomously buy and sell without human identity or a bank account.
Possible form: An API marketplace where agents purchase services from other agents. Discovery, negotiation, and pay-per-call usage via protocols like x402, with instant settlement in stablecoins.
Data Networks and Marketplaces:AI requires a data infrastructure that can compensate contributors and allow them to control usage rights.
Possible form: A network where users share medical records, consumption patterns, investment behaviors, or creative works for AI training. Contributors set permissions and receive compensation as their data improves the models. AI companies obtain the financial data they need with clear traceability.
Scaling Professional Services:Service-oriented enterprises need AI-native operations to achieve expansion beyond the limitations of human labor.
Possible scenario: A law firm where each attorney has an AI assistant to handle research, drafting, and document review. A firm that once served 1,000 clients can now serve 100,000 clients. Any customer service industry—lawyers, architects, marketers, accountants, financial advisors—can be restructured with AI at its core.
Fintech and DeFi (Fintech & DeFi)
Over 4 billion people and millions of businesses exposed to currency risk are actively seeking access to the U.S. dollar through stablecoins, representing the largest expansion of the dollar's network effect in decades. As stablecoins provide global individuals with access to the dollar—growing from $3 billion in 2019 to over $300 billion today—millions of new dollar holders need more than just digital cash. They need yield, investment opportunities, and financial services. There is a growing opportunity in financial products that empower users with ownership and global access.
The specific ideas we want to invest in:
Non-crypto Correlated Yield:Stablecoin holders need a yield that does not decline as the price of Bitcoin (BTC) falls.
Possible form: A platform that brings real-world infrastructure returns to stablecoin holders. Returns could come from data center project bonds, solar installations, and electric vehicle (EV) charging networks, which are projects with predictable cash flows and uncorrelated with the crypto market.
Globally Accessible Equities:Global investors need to directly access overseas opportunities with low friction and low costs.
Possible form: A financial product that replicates equity ownership, with price exposure, no funding rate, and no expiration. Traders in the Philippines can build portfolios of U.S. tech stocks, while Canadians can gain exposure to South Korean semiconductors.
New Forms of Insurance:Enterprises need fast and transparent coverage for operational risks that traditional insurance cannot provide.
Possible form: A platform that creates new types of insurance products using prediction markets. Hotel chains can purchase hurricane protection for their properties in Florida; ski resorts can hedge against the risk of warm winters. Capital providers supply liquidity in exchange for uncorrelated returns.
On-chain Commodities Markets:Commodities require markets that offer 24/7 trading, instant settlement, and global access.
Possible form: A market for trading energy storage capacity. Battery storage capacity is a potential entry point because data centers require reliable power and are investing in storage to reduce their reliance on the grid and integrate renewable energy. Data centers with excess storage capacity can sell it to nearby facilities during peak demand periods. Grid operators can trade capacity based on seasonal demand.
Protected DeFi Assets:Institutions need to deploy assets into DeFi that can ensure security even in the event of a hack.
Possible form: A wrapped version of ETH that can be revoked if the protocol is hacked (e.g., GuardedETH). A trusted committee reviews exploit incidents and can revoke GuardedETH transactions without moving the underlying ETH. Legitimate transactions proceed normally.
Finance as Entertainment
The younger generation views financial markets as a meritocratic alternative to traditional pathways. When they engage with the market, they reshape its landscape, transforming it into entertainment. They trade as if playing a game: seeking high-adrenaline, fast feedback transactions in easy-to-learn and accessible markets. Fast-turnaround products like zero-days-to-expiration (0DTE) options, which settle within hours, now account for over 55% of S&P 500 index options trading volume. Low-barrier prediction markets, where anyone can bet on news headlines, reached $44 billion in trading volume in 2025, a fivefold increase from the previous year. They also turn their trading into content: positions are discussed in real time on Discord, profits and losses are shared on TikTok, and portfolios are reviewed on Twitch. When markets become entertainment, platforms that treat financial data as engaging, participatory content—just like users—find themselves full of opportunities.
The specific ideas we want to invest in:
Spectator Capital:Live stream viewers need economical ways to participate in the production of outcomes.
Possible form: A platform that allows viewers to stake on live stream content. This participation can make watching more engaging, but currently, viewers are limited to tipping and subscriptions. The platform could allow reality show viewers to place bets on who will be eliminated, or enable viewers to copy trade (copy the trades) when the streamer shares their trading process.
Opinion Markets:Prediction market platforms need markets that settle based on collective beliefs rather than solely on events.
Possible form: A platform that generates market rankings. Users stake positions on how they believe others will rank these items. The platform can create lists such as "Best Pizza in New York City," "Top Wines Under $20," "Most Influential Movies of the Past Decade," or "Best AI Development Tools," all determined by market rankings. The rankings are settled weekly based on the weight of the stakes.
Short Drama Launch Platforms (Drama launchpads):Since individual storytellers can produce episodes more cheaply than studios, they need funding and distribution platforms.
Possible form: A user-generated content (UGC) platform for short-form dramas. Creators use AI video tools to produce episodes such as "The Legend of the Gangster Boyfriend," "Secret Billionaire Exposed," and "Thriller of Revenge." Fans use tokens to unlock episodes and directly tip creators. Creators are compensated based on viewership numbers. In the first quarter of 2025, ReelShort generated over $700 million in revenue from low-budget productions. The platform combines YouTube's UGC model with ReelShort's video format.
Metaverse Revival
The construction of immersive digital worlds is now economically feasible. In the past two years, AI models for images, videos, and simulations have made rapid progress, significantly reducing the cost of creating assets and environments. Individual creators can now produce content that previously required an entire game studio. At the same time, demand for personalized, interactive content is accelerating: Dispatch (a "choose-your-own-path" hybrid of TV and gaming) sold 3.3 million copies in three months, generating $85 million in revenue with a 98% positive review rate. Roblox's daily active users (DAU) grew by 70% year-over-year, and in the third quarter of 2025 alone, it paid creators $428 million. Personalized, AI-driven character chat applications like Character AI also demonstrate strong early demand for individualized entertainment. These new environments will not only entertain users but also generate rich, structured interaction data for world models and robotics.
The specific ideas we want to invest in:
World Compiler:Individual creators without professional skills need tools that can transform natural language into fully interactive 3D environments.
Possible form: A platform that transforms natural language into fully interactive 3D worlds. While building 3D environments still requires expertise in modeling, physics, and NPC behavior, AI can break through these barriers. Creators describe a world, and the system builds it. Assets, physics, NPC logic, and memory are all automatically handled by the system. Individual creators can deliver a rich virtual environment in just days, rather than spending years.
Procedural Narrative Engine:Players need to be able to adapt to a story that never ends.
Possible form: A platform that generates personalized stories in real time for players. Linear stories always have an ending, but players seek an experience that adapts to them and continues indefinitely. Users enter a detective universe where each case is unique to them. Characters remember past interactions, plot twists respond to their choices, and the story will never run dry.
"World-as-a-Dataset" platform:World models and robotic systems require diverse interaction data. Consumer-level immersive environments continuously generate this data, but it is currently not being captured.
Possible form: A virtual reality (VR) game in which every player's interaction is instrumented. How users move through rooms, pick up objects, and interact with characters all become training data for robots. Users can choose to opt in and set permissions for which data to share, and they receive compensation. AI companies thereby obtain real human behavioral data that they cannot generate through synthetic means.
New Cryptographic Primitives and Applications
Cryptographic primitives are no longer just theoretical concepts. Proof of Stake (PoS) and Proof of Work (PoW) have both demonstrated their robustness in large-scale applications. Zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs are transitioning from the research phase into production systems. Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) is becoming faster and more user-friendly. As these foundational technologies mature, they are creating new opportunities for developers to build systems that prioritize privacy, incorporate real-world inputs into consensus, and support collaboration with traditional systems such as energy markets or governments.
The specific ideas we want to invest in:
Human Time as Consensus:Blockchain networks need to anchor their consensus mechanisms in human effort, not just capital.
Possible form: "Proof of Useful Work," where consensus requires completing tasks with external value, such as labeling data or verifying real-world events. Participation rights derive from demonstrated capability, rather than merely staking assets.
Physical Resource Networks (PRNs):Small infrastructure operators need a collaborative system to make their contributions economically viable.
Possible forms: An energy network where production or storage capacity serves as the consensus weight, aligning grid stability with network security. A sensor network anchored to physical measurement data such as weather, water quality, or infrastructure monitoring.
Privacy-native L1s:Healthcare, enterprise, regulated finance, and many other industries require blockchains with default privacy.
Possible form: Confidential State Machines (CSMs), which by default perform computations on encrypted data. Current blockchains are transparent by default, but many entities (such as medical institutions, enterprises, and regulated financial institutions) are legally unable to operate on a transparent chain. Validators verify transactions through ZK-native architectures or FHE-based execution environments without seeing the contents of the transactions.
Use-case Specific FHE:Institutions often need to collaborate on data without disclosing their data to each other.
Possible scenario: Banks detect suspicious patterns across institutions without sharing customer data. Each bank runs FHE queries on encrypted data from other banks. They can identify accounts that have interacted with the same suspicious entity without revealing their customer lists to each other.
Energy Contract Settlement:Traditional markets require encrypted rails to enable 24/7 settlement among different participants. Deregulated energy markets offer a great entry point, as they have become outdated and increasingly strained due to rising energy demands from AI.
Possible form: A shared settlement layer for energy contracts in a deregulated market. Delivery data triggers automatic payments, suppliers see cash flow in real time, and brokers immediately receive their commissions. No single centralized party can control the ledger.
Crypto-native Jurisdictions:Special economic zones and frontier jurisdictions require new approaches to governance and financial infrastructure.
Possible form: A completely new jurisdiction that adopts encrypted infrastructure from day one. It features on-chain identities, programmable courts, tokenized capital markets, and regulatory logic based on smart contracts.