Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

30 April 2026

Estimated Read time

5Mins

CoinCover’s Chief Commercial Officer Anthony Yeung on why trust and confidence remain the key barrier to adoption with digital assets

Stablecoins, tokenisation and decentralised finance (DeFi) have woken traditional financial institutions to the potential of digital assets. This is no longer a fringe idea; there are clear signs that digital assets are rapidly becoming a fixture of the financial system – as 86% of institutional investors already have exposure to digital assets and nine major banks announced plans to launch a euro-dominated stablecoin in September 2025. Consumer demand is also growing, with 820 million crypto wallets live in 2025.

The scale of demand is undeniable, and the opportunity is clear. However, the question now becomes: can financial institutions offer digital assets with the same standards of security, continuity and recoverability that customers and regulators expect?

The Institutional Opportunity

Consumer demand for digital assets is growing, and financial institutions are alert to the commercial opportunities. But the real engine of adoption is broader than retail investment alone. Stablecoins, in particular, are shifting digital assets from a speculative use case into payments infrastructure, with clear relevance for cross-border transfers, settlement and treasury operations. The total value of issued stablecoins is forecast to reach more than $2 trillion by 2028, a surefire sign of their growing role in mainstream financial infrastructure.

The opportunity for banks and financial institutions is enormous, but it’s also the responsibility of these institutions and regulatory bodies to ensure that digital assets can be accessed in a secure and resilient way. There is clear cause for concern, with an estimated one in five bitcoin – $350 billion worth – now permanently inaccessible due to loss of access. Consumer trust and confidence, therefore, remains one of the main barriers to the widespread adoption of digital assets, and for the sector to mature and scale, and for traditional financial institutions to take full advantage of this opportunity, customers will need assurance that innovation will not come at the expense of their financial security.

Balancing Regulation and Innovation

The UK’s digital asset ecosystem is growing rapidly, and regulatory requirements and expectations are developing alongside it. This represents a significant shift in how the UK manages digital assets, and it puts pressure on institutions around compliance, accountability and transparency.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has made it clear that the UK is moving towards a comprehensive set of digital asset regulations. The Cryptoasset Regulations 2026, which fully come into force in October 2027, signals a point of maturation for the market, but it also leads to increased pressures for institutions to demonstrate compliance and accountability. Equally, the Bank of England is also pushing forward with plans for stablecoin regulation in association with the FCA under the UK European Market Infrastructure Regulation. This clearly demonstrates that for the UK Government and regulators, consumer protections and preventing loss of access to assets are high on the agenda.

Institutions are also more likely to scale activity where rules and responsibilities are clear. Done right, regulation doesn’t slow innovation, it gives institutions the structure they need, and as demand is moving in the right direction, there is only one more missing piece.

Embedding the Right Infrastructure

Regulation creates the right foundations, but customer trust is earned in the “what if?” moments: what if a customer loses access? What if a key-holder leaves the firm? What if a critical wallet becomes inaccessible during a market stress event?

Scaling adoption isn’t just about building the right products, it’s about whether customers, counterparties and regulators believe the system will protect them when something goes wrong. That’s where the trust gap appears.

The expectation across traditional financial assets is that access can be fully recovered if a mistake is made – the ‘forgotten password’ principle – and customers demand the same for digital assets. If you lose your login, misplace your device or make an operational mistake, there is a governed process to restore access and keep critical assets safe. Crypto’s design often flips that expectation; when private keys or seed phrases are lost, access is permanently lost, even if the assets remain visible on-chain. This creates an institutional issue – key loss and process failure are predictable failure modes of any human system, and you cannot build institutional trust on that fragility.

Self-Custody

The problem isn’t self-custody itself, it is that self-custody at scale becomes an operational risk transfer. Self-backup remains the number one method by which self-custodied consumers protect their digital assets, but it is not sustainable at institutional scale, and it is unlikely to satisfy regulatory expectations as oversight tightens.

Institutions need robust recovery technologies and the infrastructure to build confidence and scale effectively – for their own assets and that of their customers. This needs to be incorporated from the start, not added on when something goes wrong, at which point it is already too late. This is particularly relevant as digital assets move towards mainstream adoption, where consumers cannot be expected to be cognisant of the risks of self-custody – principally, the risk of digital assets in a wallet being permanently lost due to a lost seed phrase. Having a viable recovery method as part of an institution’s core infrastructure helps to offset these concerns and puts institutional and consumer security first. Without it, institutions face risk of high-profile losses, inconsistent outcomes and a persistent perception that digital asset innovation comes at the cost of safety.

In practice, this means layered protection against lost access, matched to the risk profile of each use case, and for consumers, it means a governed path back to access when a seed phrase or device is lost without opening the door to fraud. Institutions need wallet disaster recovery that quickly restores operations and has clear controls over who can trigger recovery is vital. This is a business continuity issue, not a ‘nice-to-have’. A firm that cannot access its own wallets is operationally frozen.

The Path Ahead

The institutional opportunity in digital assets is real and growing. But adoption will ultimately be defined by whether traditional finance can deliver trust at scale. Regulation is heading in the right direction, and the UK is establishing a clear framework, but regulation needs to be accompanied by progress in infrastructure. Firms need recovery capabilities that protect assets and maintain access when errors, failures or disruptions occur – the ‘forgotten password’ feature that we are used to in in traditional finance. 

Pair comprehensive regulation with resilient recovery frameworks, and institutions can finally offer digital assets with the assurance customers expect – that innovation won’t come at the cost of security.

Learn more at coincover.com

  • Blockchain & Crypto
  • Cybersecurity in FinTech

Author

Anthony Yeung

Published

5 January 2026

Estimated Read time

4Mins

Anthony Yeung, CCO at CoinCover, believes Crypto in 2026 will be defined by consolidation, institutional behaviour and long-overdue usability fixes

CoinCover Crypto Predictions for 2026

Prediction 1:

Crypto is rapidly maturing, driven to a great extent by institutional adoption and regulatory oversight. For that reason, I do not expect the next 12 months to produce the sort of hype cycle we’ve seen in previous years.

The real story will be consolidation. 2026 will be defined by the industry finally addressing long-standing usability problems. The biggest change will come from how people interact with their wallets. Seed phrases, which have caused years of confusion and unnecessary risk for everyday users, may begin to disappear as MPC wallet architecture moves into the mainstream. This change lowers the likelihood of irreversible mistakes, reduces friction during the user journey and creates a level of reassurance that the industry has struggled to provide until now.

Retail-facing products will also evolve towards a neobanking style of experience. Kraken’s recent product direction is an early sign of this transition, with cleaner onboarding, more structured recovery paths and interfaces that feel much more like modern banking apps. These improvements support a rise in consumer confidence. However, 2026 is unlikely to deliver a major retail surge. Instead it presents a valuable window for firms to build behind the scenes, improving security, compliance, infrastructure and user experience in preparation for the next growth phase.

Alongside this, institutions will increase their adoption of privacy networks. These networks allow regulated entities to transact on the blockchain without exposing commercially sensitive information. For banks, asset managers and corporates, this becomes an essential step in using blockchain technology while maintaining confidentiality.

Overall, 2026 is shaped by practical progress rather than new hype, and by improving the safety and usability of the tools that already exist.

Prediction 2:

Retail activity may not surge in 2026, but two areas are set for meaningful growth. The first is stablecoins. The landscape is changing quickly as major consumer technology companies start issuing their own stable-value assets. Klarna is already signalling this shift. This trend marks the beginning of a future where stablecoins sit inside the ecosystems of brands that consumers already trust. Stablecoins begin to operate less like crypto-native assets and more like everyday payment infrastructure.

The second area of growth is yield. Simplified and regulated yield products are gearing up to become a powerful on-ramp for first-time retail users. With traditional savings accounts offering returns that remain below the rate of inflation, yield products stand out as an attractive alternative. These products are becoming easier to understand and easier to access. For many new users, they may serve as the first practical interaction with digital assets.

Taken together, these developments shift the behaviour of everyday users. Retail adoption no longer depends on speculative cycles. Instead it is driven by stablecoins embedded in familiar platforms and by yield products that offer a clear financial benefit. Even without a headline retail boom, these trends quietly expand participation and increase confidence in the broader ecosystem.

Prediction 3 (Market Orientated):

The market outlook for 2026 will be shaped primarily by institutional behaviour and macroeconomic conditions. As long as the current Trump’s US administration remains broadly supportive of the sector, sentiment across the industry will remain constructive. However, this does not translate into a calm market environment. With institutions now driving the majority of market activity, reactions to geopolitical events, economic data and regulatory signals will be rapid and pronounced. This creates a jittery atmosphere even in periods where the underlying fundamentals remain stable.

Institutional investors move quickly and often algorithmically. Their responses no longer wait for retail cycles to form. As a result, price movements can feel sharp and frequent even when the long-term outlook remains positive. For crypto companies this creates an unusual opportunity. The year may feel noisy at the surface, but it offers stable political conditions, increasing institutional engagement, growing use of privacy networks and a market that is steadily moving from experimentation towards operational scale.

In simple terms, 2026 is a year where the strongest companies can make significant progress even if the headlines feel unsettled.

Find out more at coincover.com

  • Blockchain & Crypto
  • Neobanking

Author

Anthony Yeung

Published

20 November 2025

Estimated Read time

4Mins

After a turbulent few years, the crypto sector looks on the cusp of another period of boom. Yet, according to Anthony Yeung, Chief Commercial Officer at CoinCover, the success of this next phase will hinge on embedding responsibility and accountability at its core.

A few years ago, the crypto sector found itself grappling with a profound image crisis. A series of high-profile scandals, widespread misconceptions about its place within the broader financial system, and a glaring absence of regulatory oversight led many to dismiss the space as a haven for tech-savvy opportunists peddling dubious tokens in a never-ending cycle of ‘get-rich-quick’ schemes.

Fast forward to 2025, and while some of that baggage lingers, public understanding of crypto and its underlying value has matured considerably. Endorsements from major governments, coupled with rising levels of institutional investment, have helped to temper concerns about crypto’s legitimacy and long-term role in the financial ecosystem. Nevertheless, questions around trust and transparency continue to cast a shadow over its progress.

A Collective Effort

It’s clear that crypto remains a hotbed of innovation, much of it focused on attracting more individuals and businesses into the ecosystem. However, alongside the development of cutting-edge solutions, the sector must also dedicate time and effort to rebuilding and strengthening its public image. As we enter this next phase of growth, reinforcing trust and public confidence is just as vital as technological progress.

At CoinCover, we believe that tackling this trust deficit could be the key to unlocking the next billion users of cryptocurrency. Driving such a shift will require more than just our efforts. As an industry, crypto must urgently find more effective ways to tell its story showcasing not only its value but also its security. A collective, coordinated effort from stakeholders across the ecosystem is essential to reshape public perception and build lasting confidence.

The Path to the Next Billion Crypto Users

That sentiment is unlikely to raise eyebrows. From my experience, there’s broad agreement that crypto must do more to manage how it’s perceived by those outside the space. Yet, when it comes to charting a path forward, consensus becomes far more elusive. Chief among the contentious issues is the role of external regulation; a topic that continues to divide opinion across the sector and spark lively debate.

Unlike just a few years ago, when regulation in the crypto space was minimal, businesses today face a growing list of compliance demands. Moreover, expectations are mounting that regulatory oversight will only become more stringent in the months and years ahead. For many within the sector, this external scrutiny sits uneasily alongside the original ethos and mission of cryptocurrencies.

Evolution, Not Revolution

Many crypto OGs acknowledge that the space was born out of a desire for decentralisation, autonomy, and freedom from traditional financial systems. Yet, as with many movements, that founding mission has evolved over time. Today, crypto no longer exists as a siloed alternative but is increasingly integrated into the broader financial ecosystem that supports the modern global economy.

While for some the merits of this evolution remain up for debate, its reality is undeniable. For those of us committed to broadening access to the benefits of cryptocurrency, this moment presents more opportunity than challenge. In terms of user access, the crypto space has reached heights few could have expected. The ideology that shaped the sector’s early days need not be discarded, but elements of it must evolve to reflect the times we live in.

Responsible Regulation

At present, regulation represents the key tension point between these two opposing worldviews. For some, external oversight undermines the very essence of crypto. For others, the wave of incoming compliance offers much-needed validation, a chance for the sector to shed its chequered reputation and re-emerge as a more trusted, credible, and accessible solution for the next billion global users.

As a long-time crypto enthusiast, I appreciate the merits of both sides of the debate. At the same time, I’m realistic enough to acknowledge that the genie is well and truly out of the bottle. There’s no turning back the clock on regulation – and perhaps nor should there be. While few within the sector would advocate for overly stringent measures, there is a clear and pressing need for measures to be introduced and upheld that incentivise good behaviour across the board.

Unlocking the Next Wave of Users

Embracing responsible compliance, and viewing its introduction as an opportunity rather than a threat would mark a positive step forward for the sector. Additionally, it would help initiate the much-needed process of reshaping crypto’s public image: one that reflects a commitment to accountability, long-term growth, and sustainable progress. It could prove crucial as the sector looks to unlock the next billion global users.

At CoinCover, we’re committed to helping shape the conversation around this issue. In the months ahead, we aim to engage openly with all sides of the debate; from regulators to crypto companies. By fostering dialogue across the ecosystem, we believe we can play a constructive role in helping the sector reach a more balanced, sustainable equilibrium — one that serves the interests of all stakeholders, and most importantly, its users.

Find out more at coincover.com

  • Blockchain & Crypto