Ripple’s 2026 Digital Asset Survey: 72% of Finance Leaders Say Ignoring Digital Assets Means Falling Behind

A survey of more than 1,000 global finance executives has found that digital assets are no longer a speculative interest for the financial industry but an operational imperative, with nearly three quarters of respondents saying institutions that fail to offer digital asset solutions risk losing their competitive position entirely.

The survey, conducted by Ripple at the start of 2026, covered banks, asset managers, fintechs, and corporate finance departments across multiple geographies. The results paint a picture of an industry that has moved past the question of whether to adopt digital assets and is now focused on how to do so safely and at scale.

Stablecoins Lead the Demand

Among all digital asset applications, stablecoins generated the strongest consensus. Seventy-four percent of respondents said stablecoins can improve cash-flow efficiency and unlock working capital that would otherwise sit trapped in slow-moving settlement systems.

The significance of that figure lies in its context. Treasury management is one of the most conservative functions in any financial institution. Stablecoins gaining traction there signals a shift from speculative interest to practical utility, a distinction that matters considerably to regulators and institutional risk committees.

Fintechs Are Setting the Pace

Across every adoption metric in the survey, fintechs outpace both traditional financial institutions and corporates. Thirty-one percent of fintech respondents are already using stablecoins to collect payments on behalf of customers. Twenty-nine percent accept stablecoin payments directly. Nearly half are building proprietary digital asset solutions in-house.

Corporates, by contrast, are taking a more cautious approach. Seventy-four percent plan to work with external partners rather than build internally, and 71% prefer a single provider capable of handling their full digital asset infrastructure stack.

Custody Is the Critical Requirement

For institutions evaluating tokenisation of financial assets, custody ranked as the single most important partner capability, cited by 89% of respondents. Banks placed additional weight on token lifecycle management at 82% and pre-issuance structuring advisory at 85%, suggesting many institutions want experienced guidance throughout implementation rather than technology deployment alone.

Security certifications including ISO and SOC II compliance were considered important or very important by 97% of respondents across all segments, the highest-ranked consideration in the entire survey.