
New infrastructure primitives are creating entirely new rails for building.
In this episode of Big Ideas 2026, we explore three foundational shifts that unlock new markets and workflows, not through incremental upgrades, but through primitives that compound over time.
First, programmable money evolves beyond stablecoins into on-chain credit origination and synthetic financial products, offering lower operational costs and greater composability than traditional finance.
Second, autonomy begins entering scientific research through collaborative labs, where AI reasoning models work alongside automation and robotics, and interpretability becomes essential for progress.
Third, distribution itself becomes a primitive, as AI-native startups win early by selling to other startups at formation, then scale alongside the next generation of companies.
You will hear from Guy Willette on the next phase of on-chain finance, Oliver Shu on autonomous labs and AI-assisted discovery, and James da Costa on the greenfield go-to-market strategy.
Together, these ideas define what new infrastructure primitives really mean: the rails that enable entirely new systems to emerge, compound, and scale.
本期a16z播客探讨了2026年三大前瞻性基础设施构想:可编程货币的演进、自主科学实验室的兴起以及面向初创公司的“绿地分销战略”。这些构想并非对现有系统的渐进式改进,而是可能催生全新市场和工作流程的基础性变革。核心观点在于:采用加密原生思维、降低运营摩擦、抢占早期生态位将成为未来创新的关键。
主讲人:Guy Wiliet (a16z加密团队普通合伙人)
关键引言:
“从长远来看,我认为我们不太可能完全通过狭义银行来扩展链上金融……我一直在更多地思考如何促进链上的信贷和资本形成。”
“在链上创建传统资产的合成表示,比今天在链上创建这些资产的字面副本更容易扩展。”
主讲人:Oliver Shou (a16z美国活力团队合伙人)
关键引言:
“对于研究来说,真正重要的是你希望真正理解系统为什么在做它正在做的事情……为科学研究专门构建的系统可能会非常注重可解释性。”
“自主实验室和自主科学首先被采纳的地方,可能更多取决于其所在市场的特性。”
主讲人:James da Costa (a16z应用投资团队合伙人)
关键引言:
“现有企业很难向初创公司销售产品,因为他们受制于利润表的规则……作为一个新的初创公司,你还在摸索阶段,你只需要让你的初始产品进入客户手中。”
“如果你能在公司创立阶段吸引所有新公司,然后与它们共同成长,那么当你的客户成长为大型企业时,你也会随之壮大。”
总结:本期播客描绘了一个由更高效的金融基础设施、AI增强的科学发现流程和聚焦新生态的分销策略共同构成的未来图景。成功的关键在于拥抱原生思维、降低系统摩擦,并敏锐地抓住新兴生态系统的早期增长机会。
New infrastructure primitives are creating entirely new rails for building.
In this episode of Big Ideas 2026, we explore three foundational shifts that unlock new markets and workflows, not through incremental upgrades, but through primitives that compound over time.
First, programmable money evolves beyond stablecoins into on-chain credit origination and synthetic financial products, offering lower operational costs and greater composability than traditional finance.
Second, autonomy begins entering scientific research through collaborative labs, where AI reasoning models work alongside automation and robotics, and interpretability becomes essential for progress.
Third, distribution itself becomes a primitive, as AI-native startups win early by selling to other startups at formation, then scale alongside the next generation of companies.
You will hear from Guy Willette on the next phase of on-chain finance, Oliver Shu on autonomous labs and AI-assisted discovery, and James da Costa on the greenfield go-to-market strategy.
Together, these ideas define what new infrastructure primitives really mean: the rails that enable entirely new systems to emerge, compound, and scale.