CoinDesk IndicesBy Jennifer Rosenthal, DJ Windle|Edited by Sarah MortonUpdated Oct 29, 2026, 11:02 a.m. EDTPublished Oct 29, 2026, 10:39 a.m. EDTSummaryYou’re reading Crypto for Advisors, CoinDesk’s weekly newsletter that unpacks digital assets for financial advisors. Subscribe here to get it every Thursday.Happy Thursday, advisors!In today’s newsletter, Jennifer Rosenthal of the DeFi Education Fund shares new survey data pointing to an opportunity for advisors as clients look beyond traditional finance.Then, in “Ask an Expert,” DJ Windle of Windle Wealth explains why younger investors are more open to alternative financial systems.Happy reading.- Sarah MortonFading trust in banks is an opening for financial advisorsMost Americans rely on large financial institutions to keep their money safe, but fewer than half of Americans actually have high levels of trust in these legacy institutions. In a few days, Americans will vote in the midterm elections, which will help decide how the next generation of financial products gets built and regulated.In a new national, longitudinal study, we at the DeFi Education Foundation surveyed Americans to hear their perspective on the state of the current financial institutions and their openness to frontier technologies. We used Ipsos on KnowledgePanel, the same gold-standard methodology used for the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Household Economics and Decision Making. The data shows how wide the gap has grown between the financial system and the people it serves.Some relevant findings for financial advisors:Trust is a problem. Only about 1 in 5 Americans (19%) say the current financial system in the United States is secure. Nearly 2 in 3 (63%) say it needs to be upgraded to combat new threats like cybercrime and AI. Only 1 in 10 Americans (10%) completely trust large national banks. Credit unions, the most trusted institution in the survey, fell 5 percentage points in a year, to 48% reporting complete or a lot of trust. Only about 3 in 10 Americans (31%) strongly agree that the financial system works well for people like them, and only about 1 in 7 Americans (14%) believe banks and other financial institutions charge reasonable fees for their services. This diminishing trust means that American investors are going to be more and more open to exploring alternatives.Americans want to feel like they have greater control over their money and assets. Two in three Americans (66%) want access to their money at all times, and 8 in 10 Americans (80%) feel that changes are needed to give people more control over their personal data. Three in four (74%) now say financial privacy is important to them. For advisors, this is an argument for radical transparency. Advisors have an opportunity to help clients better understand how and why their assets are allocated, and to create options that enable clients to have greater control over, and insight into, how their portfolios actually work.Americans are interested in experimenting with financial alternatives. More than 1 in 5 Americans (22%) have now owned or used crypto, up from 18% in 2025. Fewer than 1 in 10 (9%) say they are extremely or very familiar with it, but the top reason people tried it was curiosity. Two in five Americans (40%) say they would be at least somewhat likely to try decentralized finance (DeFi) if it were available to them. Among those likely to try DeFi, more than 8 in 10 would use it to save money (85%, up from 77% in 2025), send money to family or friends in the U.S. (82%, up from 73%) or earn interest (82%). Americans are also expressing interest in learning more about things like perpetual futures, tokenized assets and stablecoins, so advisors should be familiarizing themselves with these financial innovations.Younger Americans are more likely to be less happy with the financial system. Only 42% of Gen Z are extremely or very satisfied with the current financial system, compared with 63% of boomers. And when asked about openness to financial innovations, Gen Z Americans are more than four times as likely as boomers to be interested in learning about DeFi (13% versus 3%). This generation is the future client base for many financial advisors, and it is are more likely to be open to financial alternatives.Clients today have more financial tools within reach than any generation before them, and that creates a real opportunity for financial advisors. The research shows that interest in newer financial tools runs well ahead of familiarity with those tools. Advisors who keep up with these trends, explain new financial innovations clearly and guide clients through the next generation of financial technological change will be well positioned to win the next decade of clients.You can explore the full report and topline data at research.defieducationfund.org.— Jennifer Rosenthal, chief communications officer, DeFi Education FundAsk an ExpertQ. Why might younger generations be more open to alternative financial systems?Younger investors came of age in a world where almost everything became digital and available on demand. Banking and investing are increasingly being viewed through that same lens. Crypto and DeFi take that a step further by allowing people to interact with financial assets in ways that aren’t necessarily dependent on the traditional institutions their parents relied on.Q. What does it actually mean to have more control over your money?Control can mean several different things: being able to access assets when you want, having greater visibility into where they are held, controlling who has access to your financial information or even holding assets without depending entirely on an intermediary. Digital assets have expanded that concept because, in some cases, individuals can directly hold and transfer assets themselves. That freedom also comes with additional responsibility and risk.Q. Why would someone use DeFi instead of a bank?DeFi uses blockchain technology and software to provide financial services without relying on a traditional financial intermediary. People can potentially borrow, lend, exchange assets or earn a return directly through decentralized protocols. That doesn’t necessarily make DeFi better or safer than a bank, but it helps explain the appeal: It offers a fundamentally different way to access financial services.— DJ Windle, the captain, Windle WealthKeep ReadingStablecoins settled roughly $35 trillion onchain in 2025, more than Visa and Mastercard combined, but only about $390 billion of it was real payments. Canada opened a consultation on draft stablecoin rules that keep a ban on yields and require nonbank issuers to back tokens 1:1 with reserves held at qualified Canadian institutions and to settle redemptions within three business days.Google to showcase a new security system designed to help banks and other financial institutions safeguard and move cryptocurrencies and tokenized assets.Looking for more? 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Issuer-sponsored models make the token the share itself, preserving control and full rights.By CoinDesk ResearchSep 29, 2026Commissioned byBullishTokenized equities are coming with or without issuers. Issuer-sponsored models make the token the share itself, preserving control and full rights.Why it matters:Tokenized equities are coming with or without issuers. Issuer-sponsored models make the token the share itself, preserving control and full rights.View Full ReportMore From CoinDesk Indices Crypto Long & Short: What happens when an AI agent pays for the wrong thingCrypto for Advisors: Stablecoins are ready for prime timeCrypto Long & Short: Why real-world assets need fixed-rate loans onchain