In its October 2026 "Request for Startups in Crypto," Y Combinator (YC) outlined its crypto startup priorities for the next six months. Key areas include blockchain-powered AI fundraising, new USD and non-USD stablecoins, stablecoin-powered digital banks, real-world asset tokenization, new trading platforms, and AI agent trading and API infrastructure. YC noted that institutional adoption has driven crypto growth over the past year, with demand shifting from speculation to financial use cases such as hedging and cross-border payments. YC expects more assets to be tokenized in the future, new on-chain financial instruments to emerge, and AI agents to become major participants in financial markets.