A national study by the DeFi Education Fund found that the share of Americans who have ever owned or used cryptocurrencies increased to 22% from 18% over the past year. The increase came as only 19% of respondents considered the U.S. financial system safe and 63% supported upgrading it to address new threats, including those related to artificial intelligence, according to the study’s results.

Cryptocurrency use during the past 12 months was unchanged at 13%, indicating that the rise in lifetime use came mainly from people who had previous experience with cryptoassets but did not use them in the latest one-year period.

Concerns about the financial system

The survey found that 54% of respondents feared financial institutions were not sufficiently prepared to protect personal data from threats related to artificial intelligence. Eighty percent said the financial system should change to give people more control over their information.

Respondents also expressed demand for greater financial autonomy. Sixty-six percent wanted access to their money at any time, while 49% felt they personally controlled their financial assets. Financial privacy was important to 74%, and 62% preferred to keep personal information confidential during financial transactions.

Only 7% said they fully trusted regional and local banks. However, dissatisfaction with the traditional financial system did not translate into broad trust in crypto services: 4% reported a high level of trust in cryptocurrency exchanges and 5% in decentralized platforms. By comparison, 42% trusted large national banks and 48% trusted credit unions, although trust in credit unions declined by five percentage points over the year.

Cryptocurrency use and awareness

Among people who had not used cryptocurrencies during the past 12 months, the share who had previously owned or used them rose to 11% from 5%. Intent to use cryptocurrencies in the future changed little, with 17% saying they were likely to own or use them, compared with 16% a year earlier.

Men were more likely than women to report using cryptocurrencies during the past year, at 18% versus 8%. Curiosity was the most common reason for first trying cryptoassets, cited by 34%, followed by long-term investment at 25%.

Knowledge of decentralized finance, or DeFi, remained limited. Only 2% of respondents were very familiar with the technology, while 6% correctly identified all four cryptocurrency characteristics listed in the survey. Another 35% were unsure how to describe cryptocurrencies.

Despite that limited awareness, 40% said they were at least somewhat willing to try DeFi if given the opportunity. Among potential users, 85% would use DeFi services to save money, up from 77% in 2025. Another 82% would use them to send money to friends or relatives in the United States, up from 73%.

Interest in obtaining more information about specific areas of the crypto industry declined. The share wanting to learn more about stablecoins fell to 7% from 11%, while interest in learning about DeFi dropped to 8% from 11%.

Survey methodology and political views

The survey covered 1,545 U.S. adults. Researchers weighted the results by demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and political identification. The margin of error was about 2.8 percentage points.

The previous survey wave was conducted from Aug. 18 to Aug. 21, 2025, among 1,321 respondents. The latest study was published ahead of the U.S. midterm elections.

Interest in cryptocurrencies was similar among supporters of the two major parties. Seventeen percent of Republicans and 16% of Democrats wanted to learn more about cryptocurrencies, while 24% of Republicans and 21% of Democrats had experience owning or using them.

Separate surveys cited in the source found that only 1% to 4% of Americans considered cryptocurrencies a top political priority or were willing to take candidates’ cryptocurrency positions into account when voting. Voters were substantially more concerned about the cost of living and the state of the economy.

Source: Incrypted