Three big names continue to appear in the headlines of "railway royalty". Nisun rumors memecoin. It's not a one-week pump story. Rather, "this is where manufacturers and institutions place chips for 2026."
Here are 3 to watch.
Ethereum and ETH
Ethereum's next major upgrade is scheduled for 2026. It is called Glamsterdam and the two main proposals that attract the most attention are: Separation of producers from candidates provided for in EIP-7732, often called ePBS
EIP-7928 Block level access lists
Quick reminder for ePBS.
Currently, Ethereum block production has a middle layer. Specialized "builders" assemble blocks. Validators select a block to publish. Much of this coordination occurs through third-party relay infrastructure. ePBS is an incentive to move more of this process to Ethereum itself.
Why people care.
Less use of external intermediaries. More consistent rules for how blocks are built and selected. A cleaner path to reduce EVM-related disparities over time. Block-level access lists are another useful addition. They allow a block to "pre-declare" what it plans to hit so the network can process it more easily.
Why is it important for 2026.
Ethereum's "Victory" remains the safest default place to build serious applications and establishments. This improvement is intended to make the base layer cleaner and straighter, not flashier.
Solana is SOL
Two aggregate concrete signals. Firedancer is now available on Solana's main network, after years of development. Solana noted that he had already used a handful of authenticators during an extended trial period. Then came the title of "payment railway".
Visa announced a USDC solution in the United States for issuing and acquiring partners, naming Cross River Bank and Lead Bank as initial participants, moving to USDC in Solana. Visa also said its monthly stablecoin settlement volume exceeded an annual rate of $3.5 billion as of November 30, and that wider availability in the United States is expected by 2026.
Why is it important for 2026.
Firedancer reinforces the network's "customer diversity" story. Visa reinforces Solana's history as the plumber of the colonies. This combination is difficult to ignore.
Chain link and LINK
Chainlink continues to appear in tokenized financial workflows. Corporate actions are a great initiative. Chainlink and 24 financial market participants are working to solve what they call the $58 billion securities trading problem, a cost estimate linked to difficulties in post-trading operations.
Company actions are events such as dividends, stock splits, and mergers. Today, data still flows through multiple systems and spreadsheets, leading to inconsistencies, delays and additional costs. Then there is the tokenized funds track with Swift.
Swift, UBS Asset Management and Chainlink have announced a pilot project that shows how institutions can use existing Swift infrastructure to help settle tokenized fund activities using off-chain cash settlement.
UBS said it has an in-production, end-to-end tokenized fund workflow using Chainlink’s Digital Transfer Agent standard.
Why is it important for 2026.
If the values of the tokenized asset are scaled, the boring sticker wins.
Messaging standards, data standards and workflow standards.
This is the path that Chainlink is trying to master.
So should you care?
If you're trading for the short term, treat it like a narrative watch list instead of a "buy now" list. These stories come in bursts, then fall silent.
If you invest for the long term, this is the clear signal.
Ethereum has planned design changes at the protocol level.
Solana adds new major verifier customer and Visa extends Solana Rail USDC solution through 2026.
Chainlink appears where institutions test tokenized funds and post-trading plumbing.
DYOR. This is not a call to buy or sell. Trade small, keep a stop and protect your capital.
Bitcoin remained steady near $89,000 on Monday, even as liquidity thinned ahead of the holiday week. Based on signals from options markets, ETF flows and futures positioning, crypto traders are reducing risks as the year comes to an end. Among altcoins, SOL,
Weekly price movement:
BTC $89,609 0.27% (1W)
ETH $3,039 3.38% (1W)
SOL $126 4.35% (1 W)
XRP $1.92 3.72%
NIGHT $0.1054 62.24% (1W)
DC $0.09007 23.34% (1W)
(All data here as of 14:00, 22 December 2025) #WriteToEarnUpgrade
