“The downstream effects of the generational shift toward asset control are beginning to affect financial markets beyond crypto trading.” | Image credit: Hameem Sarwar /CCN
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Key Takeaways
Fintech expanded access to financial services, but it did not give users direct ownership or control over their assets.
Blockchain introduces verifiable ownership, allowing users to hold assets independently and check transactions without relying on intermediaries.
Younger generations show lower trust in banks and growing confidence in crypto, reflecting a shift toward control and transparency.
Financial markets have started to respond, as seen in mortgage lenders considering crypto holdings without requiring users to sell their assets.
The boom in financial technology over the last two decades has largely obscured an important distinction: access does not equal ownership.
And there’s no better illustration of the issue than the 2024 dispute over customer balances that happened between Synapse, a fintech infrastructure provider, and the Memphis-based Evolve Bank.
When the disagreement got out of hand, Synapse blocked access to a crucial transaction processing system. Up to 100,000 people lost access to over $265 million after authorities froze accounts, unable to determine who owed what to whom.
Fintech firms have been providing millions of people with instant access to bank accounts, payments, and investment tools, but failing to change the fundamental workings of the old financial system.
That gap between usability and ownership is starting to influence public trust in financial institutions, and fortunately, blockchain technology has placed that question at the center of the debate by introducing verifiable control over assets rather than just simple access to financial tools.
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To show the importance of the distinction made above, consider a recent poll by research firm Thales, which found that many people still don’t have full faith in banks following the financial crisis of 2008.
Even more pertinent to the argument, the poll showed that young adults are even more skeptical, with only 32% of Gen Z trusting banks compared to 51% of those older than 55.
In addition, a different report from research firm Protocol Theory revealed that 22% of Gen Z and 24% of millennials trust crypto more than banks to keep their money safe, with only 5% of boomers feeling the same way.
Their stance shows people are learning from experience, and the biggest lesson is that accounts held by intermediaries put people in almost the same situation as being on probation, since the big, centralized firms have shown they can cut off access at any given time.
For those doubting the seriousness of the issue, recall how centralized platforms stopped donations to WikiLeaks, froze trucker convoy funds, or kicked political figures off social sites.
In all those instances, the government, in collaboration with a giant corporation that had allowed users access to its services, took that power away.
What Blockchain Actually Changes
Blockchain is making a case for itself to replace the iron grip of legacy finance with a verifiable trust layer.
The technology can help move people away from private, hard-to-access databases to publicly available ledgers where they can easily see their account balances and transaction histories, and where no one can manipulate data.
Of course, blockchain comes with its own issues, including the potential loss of private keys, which would mean lost assets with no recourse for getting them back.
Additionally, regulatory frameworks for on-chain finance are still uneven, and volatility in crypto markets has raised genuine concerns about its suitability as a financial foundation.
However, such issues do not undermine the ownership argument, because the question is whether users should have the choice to hold their own assets if they accept the associated responsibilities, not whether self-custody is risk-free.
The fintech model removed that choice by default, but blockchain has restored it, allowing a growing number of people who would rather hold their own assets to do so, which is about 56% of Gen Z, going by Protocol Theory’s data.
“Fintech has made real and important progress, allowing more people than ever before to send money, pay bills, and buy investment products.”| Image source; Maksym Sakharov
Ownership Is Starting to Influence Real Markets
The downstream effects of the generational shift toward asset control are beginning to affect financial markets beyond crypto trading.
One sign appeared recently in the US housing sector when mortgage lender Newrez, which services roughly $778 billion in loans, announced it would start considering Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) holdings in certain mortgage qualification assessments.
The company claims that Gen Z and Millennials, who own “a higher percentage of crypto” than older generations, are the target audience for the move.
Additionally, it says the borrowers can keep their crypto and still be eligible for a loan, meaning they no longer need to sell their assets to demonstrate reserves, therefore maintaining control over their finances, thanks to this concession.
In the US, too, the Federal Housing Finance Agency has said it will look into how cryptocurrency holdings should be accounted for when figuring out how risky a mortgage is.
Housing policy rarely responds to financial trends this quickly, and when it does, it means that the underlying behavior is already significant.
Trust in finance is no longer inherited. It’s earned through transparency and control. 🏦 📉
While older users are entering crypto in growing numbers, Gen Z is questioning banks themselves and rethinking how financial institutions should work.@okx US CEO @Roshan_OKX explains…
Fintech has made real and important progress, allowing more people than ever before to send money, pay bills, and buy investment products.
However, better access doesn’t mean better ownership, and a financial system that allows users to make transactions freely but does not let them verify their own balances, hold their own assets, or move value without permission from an institution is not fully reformed.
It is a modernized version of the same dependencies that caused the trust collapse of 2008.
Blockchain doesn’t fix all the problems affecting finance, but it fixes the ownership issue by letting users hold assets directly, check transactions independently and choose the level of custody that works best for them.
And for a generation that grew up demanding transparency and control, that distinction is not a feature but the foundation of their financial interactions.
Better apps or faster onboarding won’t decide the next stage of finance for them; whoever has the keys will.
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The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the article belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to CCN, its management, employees, or affiliates. This content is for informational purposes only and should not be considered professional advice.
About the Author
Maksym Sakharov
Maksym Sakharov is the group CEO, co-founder, and board member of WeFi, a blockchain technology infrastructure that seeks to democratize access to DeFi. With over eight years of management experience in the IT and blockchain industries, Maksym has built a global fintech enterprise delivering institutional-grade on-chain banking infrastructure to users in more than 80 countries.
