Welcome to our institutional newsletter, Crypto Long & Short. This week:
- OKX’s Haider Rafique Shares Firm Study on Generational Outlook for Crypto Investing
- Top headlines that institutions should pay attention to by Francisco Rodrigues
- Sky defies 2026 recession on the week’s chart
-Alexandra Levis
Expert Perspectives
Generation Z trusts code over banking promises
By Haider Rafique, Global Managing Partner at OKX
It’s no secret that the banking industry is worried about cryptocurrency disruption.
After months of intense lobbying, the Senate Banking Committee postponed its market structure markup legislation, due in part to banks’ stance on stablecoin performance.
But it may not matter, because banks have a much bigger crisis on their hands: They are completely losing younger consumers based on the basic principle of trust.
Given the behaviors we have observed on the OKX app around the world, we decided to conduct a study to understand generational perspectives in our evolving industry.
Key insights paint a clear picture: Gen Z and millennial consumers trust cryptocurrencies nearly five times more compared to their boomer counterparts. Additionally, one in five Gen Z and millennial consumers say they have little trust in traditional financial institutions, while nearly three-quarters (74%) of baby boomers maintain high levels of trust in the old system.
The “why” behind all of this is much deeper than viral trends and memecoins. This is a generation raised on open source code and real-time dashboards that now expects the same transparency from TradFi.
And now, as the world goes on-chain and everything becomes tokenized, it’s clear that young people see the digital economy as his stock market.
TradFi is not yours. It belongs to his parents and grandparents.
A generation marked by institutional failure
A recent report from FINRA and CFA Institute suggests that a sizable portion of Gen Z investors now lean heavily toward cryptocurrencies relative to other assets, a behavioral sign that younger Americans are willing to look outside traditional channels when they don’t believe they’re getting transparency or competitive returns. According to the study, almost 20% of Generation Z investors only maintain cryptography.
For banks, this should be a wake-up call that trust is no longer something institutions can declare but something they must demonstrate.
Boomers built their financial lives in an era when institutions were the safest option available. Regulation meant protection, and trust was something that was spread first and questioned later.
Generation Z has experienced the complete opposite. They came of age after the 2008 financial crisis, entered adulthood with high student debt, and now face a housing market that is millions of units short along with constant inflation.
They have also lived through years of violent student loan policies, changing repayment rules, and weakened protections for borrowers. These setbacks reinforced a simple lesson that institutional promises can change overnight. When trust is repeatedly tested, skepticism becomes rational.
Banks aren’t losing Gen Z to cryptocurrencies; They are losing confidence.
Control over promises
That skepticism is changing what influences the confidence of younger generations. For boomers, security means regulatory oversight and the perceived stability of legacy institutions.
In contrast, Gen Z consistently ranks platform security above regulation as the top driver of trust. For Generation Z, security is more personal and technical with direct ownership of assets, the ability to verify how systems work, and the freedom to move value without intermediaries.
That is why both Generation Z and millennials are 4x more optimistic about cryptocurrencies in 2026 compared to boomers. They can view on-chain transactions, self-custody, audit protocols, and understand the rules without waiting for a quarterly statement or update from the regulator.
Transparency is essential for this change. Boomers tend to equate trust with regulatory approval, but Generation Z equates trust with visibility. They want to understand how decisions are made, how risks are managed, and how incentives are aligned. They want clarity on fees, returns and conflicts of interest, and open systems by default.
Traditional banks have historically had problems in this regard. Its value proposition was built in an era where limited transparency was often treated as a feature. And now, when a generation is accustomed to real-time dashboards and proof of reservations, the idea of waiting for a monthly statement seems absurd. Transparency has become a basic requirement for credibility.
The future of finance
Banks should ask themselves: why do younger customers trust transparency more than tradition? Younger Americans want the stability of regulated finance along with the transparency and control of digital assets, and they want products that reflect how they already interact with technology and money. The institutions that understand this change and build for it will define the future of finance. Those who don’t will continue to watch younger Americans look elsewhere.
Headlines of the week
francisco rodrigues
Markets stumbled last week and miners’ capitulation intensified. That led to the steepest drop in Bitcoin mining difficulty since 2021, as corporate accumulation of cryptocurrencies and other assets continued and Russia moved closer to formalizing cryptocurrency-backed loans.
Chart of the week
Sky defies 2026 recession
Sky has decoupled from the 2026 market slowdown, outperforming BTC, CD5, and the CD20 index by 45%, 50%, and 57% respectively year to date. This resilience is anchored in a consistent business model: January revenue rose 1.5x year-over-year to $19 million, driving $10.4 million in buybacks to date ($8.5 million in January; $1.9 million last week) and fueling a flight to quality that boosted the market capitalization of USDS (Sky’s stablecoin) from $5.8 billion to $6.5 billion.
Hear. Read. Look. Engage.
Note: The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinDesk, Inc., CoinDesk Indices or their owners and affiliates.
