Semiconductors to Stablecoins: Jan van Eck on 2026 Markets
Jan van Eck shares his perspectives on 2026 investing opportunities and pitfalls, including how yesterday’s real assets are fueling today’s growth, why investors shouldn’t write off real gold but should be leery of digital gold, and the bright promise that India offers looking ahead.
VanEck’s CEO Jan van Eck kicked off his discussion with ETF.com’s Dave Nadig at the 2026 ICI ETF conference with a surprising revelation: his own firm, long known for gold and resources, is now more of a tech company. It’s a perspective built on the reality that commodities like nuclear, uranium, and rare earths are getting a second life because AI's power-hungry infrastructure can't run without them. It's a stark reminder that today's hottest tech trades are quietly propped up by yesterday's dead industries. And looming over everything, he warned, are the ongoing spending problems out of Washington.
What’s more, markets have got even spicier, with van Eck warning that a 10-year yield spike toward 6.5–8.5% would be the real party-ender for financial assets, flipping the old script where Washington rescues Wall Street. He's still a gold bull for the next decade despite a near-term technical stumble, but he's stayed bearish on Bitcoin all year, partially due to mechanisms specific to bitcoin and partially because of its rising correlation to the Nasdaq. Where he does see life in crypto is stablecoins and corporate chains, as banks race to wall off their own blockchain turf.
The conversation closed with a tour of where van Eck sees the real opportunity right now. VanEck is doubling down on India as a long-term bet, comparing it to the early, overlooked days of China's rise despite recent pain from oil prices and AI disrupting outsourcing giants like Infosys. And within his own company, he flagged a strange new AI dynamic where employees are quietly building tools to solve other departments' problems, raising real questions about who owns those systems later. Don’t miss the full conversation, including what VanEck funds have been surprising performers this year.
