For financial institutions still treating crypto as a ‘nice to have’ rather than a strategic imperative, the clock is ticking. Gen Z represents more than just the next customer base – they're rewriting the rules of financial engagement entirely.
The numbers don't lie. Gemini’s 2025 Global State of Crypto report found that 48% of Gen Z respondents (aged 18 to 29 years) either currently own or have owned cryptocurrency assets, compared to 35% of the general global population.1 This is reflected in Belgium: according to the FSMA Retail Investor Survey 2024, 43% of investors under the age of 29 invest in cryptocurrency.2
Gen Z approaches money differently than any cohort before them. As the first true digital natives, raised with smartphones, real-time social media, and decentralized technologies, their expectations for financial services are shaped by speed, transparency, autonomy, and innovation.
A study published in the Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research (JIER) identifies four main drivers for Gen Z's crypto investments:
- performance expectancy
- effort expectancy
- social influence
- facilitating conditions.3
These factors suggest that Gen Z values ease of use, social proof, and accessible infrastructure when evaluating financial products – qualities often lacking in legacy banking systems.
Cryptocurrency represents more than just an asset class to Gen Z. It is a symbol of financial inclusion, decentralization, and empowerment. Unlike traditional financial instruments, crypto provides 24/7 market access, low entry thresholds, and ownership models that eliminate intermediaries – an appealing combination for those disillusioned by the 2008 financial crisis or skeptical of incumbent institutions.
The 2023 paper A value-based approach to the adoption of cryptocurrencies argues that "digital currencies are becoming a lifestyle decision" for younger generations, influenced by community participation, gamification, and the decentralized ethos of Web3.4 Platforms like Reddit, Discord, TikTok and YouTube have served as informal educational arenas, building trust through peer-to-peer learning rather than institutional marketing.
What real transformation looks like
If Gen Z is embracing a new financial paradigm, where does that leave banks and investment firms? Non-traditional financial institutions like fintechs, crypto platforms, or even Big Tech firms like Robinhood, SoFi, and PayPal are increasingly popular choices for investing. These competitors are building products around Gen Z's preferences from the ground up, offering the speed, transparency, and innovation that this generation expects.
For banks and investment firms, aligning with Gen Z's investment preferences must go beyond launching a new product line or updating an app. It requires a fundamental rethinking of operating models, partnerships, and innovation cycles. This transformation demands not only internal focus and buy-in but also close collaboration with third-party partners, including technology vendors, integration specialists, and specialist advisors, who can bring the necessary domain expertise and delivery capacity to implement crypto capabilities at scale.
The key transformation areas include:
- Customer experience and CRM integration – For Gen Z in particular, the digital experience is paramount. Banks must ensure that cryptocurrency positions, orders, and portfolio performance metrics are presented in real time across both mobile and web applications, as well as within wealth and private banking portals. Achieving this requires a robust set of APIs between back-end systems and the client interface, as well as integration with CRM tools that personalize the user experience.
- Account and wallet layer integration – Digital asset balances are typically held off the bank's core ledger, often with external custody platforms. However, for reporting, accounting, and regulatory compliance, banks must maintain a mirrored representation of these balances within their core banking systems. This involves defining clear ledger mapping rules, adapting accounting schemas to support crypto-specific transactions, and establishing automated reconciliation processes between custody platforms and internal systems.
- Payments and fiat settlement infrastructure –To support crypto trading, banks must enable clients to fund and defund their digital asset wallets via traditional fiat channels, such as SEPA transfers or internal account movements. This requires deep integration with existing payment engines, including those provided by service partners like Equens or Worldline. Additionally, all fiat movements must be processed through real-time sanctions screening tools, such as Fircosoft , and fee calculation engines must be configured to apply relevant commissions or spreads. Where applicable, banks may also explore the use of tokenized fiat or stablecoins as a settlement mechanism.
- Order management and execution routing – Order management for digital assets typically relies on third-party platforms such as Wyden, which serve as BPOs, routing client trades to institutional crypto exchanges like Coinbase, Kraken, or Binance. To deliver a seamless trading experience, these external order flows must be tightly integrated into the bank’s internal systems. This includes enabling real-time updates to client order books, maintaining accurate profit-and-loss tracking, sending CRM notifications, and displaying trade confirmations in existing client dashboards. Third-party integration partners can play a vital role in translating these business workflows into actionable development stories, supporting API protocol design, and managing exception scenarios.
- Custody and wallet architecture – Digital asset custody, whether managed via platforms like Fireblocks, Copper, or similar providers, must be operationally and technically aligned with the bank's internal risk and compliance processes. This includes defining wallet allocation strategies (e.g., segregated versus omnibus wallets), setting thresholds for cold versus hot storage , and tracking real-time on-chain events that may trigger compliance or back-office processes.
- Compliance and surveillance – Regulatory expectations around cryptocurrency are taking shape with MiCA outlining rules for anti-money laundering (AML), market abuse monitoring, and trade surveillance. Banks must implement new rulebooks to detect and prevent crypto-specific risks such as insider trading, wash trading, sanctions, and spoofing. Facilitating this often requires integrating with specialized blockchain analytics platforms, such as Chainalysis or Elliptic, and bridging their outputs into the bank’s existing compliance infrastructure.
A narrowing window to seize first-mover advantage
Successfully integrating digital assets into a traditional banking environment is not a matter of isolated innovation – it is a multi-dimensional effort that requires a blend of regulatory understanding, technical depth, and product vision.
The time to act is now. If they are to remain trusted custodians of wealth in the coming decades, banks and investment firms must adapt to the digital behaviors and values of Gen Z. To secure sustainable long-term success, legacy institutions need to ask: how do we serve the next generation of investors on their terms? Crypto adoption represents not only a generational preference but a fundamental shift in how finance is perceived, accessed, and experienced.
Ready to build crypto capabilities that resonate with Gen Z? In our experience, institutions that move quickly on crypto integration can gain a significant competitive advantage, while those who wait find themselves playing catch-up in an increasingly crowded market. Our Capco digital assets team helps traditional financial institutions navigate the technical, regulatory, and strategic challenges of crypto integration.
Contact our experts to discuss how we can accelerate your digital transformation and capture the next generation of investors.
References
1 www.gemini.com/en-SG/state-of-crypto-2025
2 www.fsma.be/sites/default/files/media/files/2025-05/2024_retail-investor-enquete_en.pdf
3 www.jier.org/index.php/journal/article/view/607
4 www.elsevier.es/en-revista-journal-innovation-knowledge-376-articulo-a-value-based-approach-adoption-cryptocurrencies-S2444569X23000380