Just as the tide eventually comes back to the shore, so has the hype cycle around cryptocurrency and other digital assets. The passing of the GENIUS Act last year has pushed the waterline right up to the doorsteps of credit unions, slowly rising to the neckline of anyone deemed a “laggard” – or so the hype merchants would like you to believe.

So what’s the truth? Is your credit union a laggard? Do you need to pivot investments? Are digital assets finally real? Should you focus on stablecoins, crypto, tokenization — all of the above?

The amount of breathless headlines and the endless flurry of sales decks are enough to make anyone break out in a fear-induced sweat that they are being left behind. Rest assured, your credit union is not behind. In fact, now is the perfect time to simply start paying attention.

A Quick History of Watching from the Shore

Digital assets are items created and stored digitally — and they must offer some kind of identifiable value. The first digital assets were photos, documents, books, music, emails, logos, gaming accounts, etc. Then came digital assets that utilize blockchain technology for secure management — like cryptocurrencies and tokens.

For the last 15 years, most of the financial industry has been watching currency-related digital assets from a cautious distance. Financial institutions, including credit unions, hesitated to take action, being too risk-averse to become custodians, lacking sufficient consumer demand for active trading, and certainly not eager to dabble in stablecoins as replacements for existing payment rails. And the most critical roadblock — nearly zero regulatory clarity.

However, thanks to recent legislation, there is a heightened awareness. The GENIUS Act, which became law in July 2025, changed pieces of that by outlining some regulatory guidelines for stablecoins and stablecoin providers. But the real guidance won’t come until actual rulemaking begins and when the National Credit Union Association (NCUA) weighs in. The Digital Market Clarity Act, which seeks to establish comprehensive regulatory guidelines for crypto, including how crypto exchanges are allowed to operate, as well as providing reporting and compliance rules for digital assets in general, should also provide more guidance and — wait for it — clarity. The Digital Market Clarity Act passed the House in July 2025 and is currently in the Senate.

Despite a lack of clarity about guidelines and regulations for digital assets, as well as a world in which the practical application of various digital assets — for everyday use by the average consumer — is still years away, many in the financial services industry are getting increasingly uneasy, feeling unprepared and behind.

Demand: The Part Everyone Likes to Skip

Let’s talk about the current state — and actual demand — of digital assets. It’s minimal. That’s the real headline.

Crypto usage remains volatile, stagnant and demographically narrow. Let’s look at some of the latest stats*:

About 17% of U.S. adults have invested in, traded or used cryptocurrency, a share that has remained statistically unchanged since 2021.
Roughly 60% of Americans say they have little to no confidence in the reliability or safety of current cryptocurrency markets. Only 5% say they are very confident.
Roughly half of crypto holders are under 35. Only about one-fifth of holders are age 45 and older.
Roughly two-thirds of cryptocurrency holders are male.
The top 100 wallets control 15% of the Bitcoin supply.
Over the past year, Bitcoin’s realized volatility has been roughly 2-3 times that of the S&P 500.

Stablecoins are growing fast, but will not replace current payment rails anytime soon. Here are the current stats*:

14-18% of U.S. adults have used a stablecoin in the past year.
Globally, less than 1% use them regularly.
Stablecoins are 70-80% of crypto on-chain volume, but still only <0.1% of global payment volume.
They only represent roughly 1-2% of global cross-border movement.
Market cap ballooned from $5B in 2019 to ~$180B today.
Monthly stablecoin settlement volume now exceeds $1T.

What Do These Numbers Actually Mean?

Crypto’s user growth is flat, notwithstanding its very active core user base, which is predominantly young males who enthusiastically embrace risk (wisely or unwisely). When they decide to suddenly sell or buy large amounts on a whim, this ultimately causes the yo-yo effect of prices.

The behavior of the core crypto user base may sustain, or it might fade as users age into different stages of life with other financial priorities — such as worrying about mortgages, paying for kids’ schools or taking care of aging parents. In that case, crypto will likely become an asset-diversification play, not the new checking account. Time will tell.

Stablecoins, however, are different. They’re backed by short-term treasuries or cash, which gives them the stability their name suggests. Learn more about them in our Stablecoins 101 blog. More importantly, stablecoins serve real use cases. International money movement is slow, costly and clunky. Stablecoins are poised to revolutionize the international movement of money— but is the world ready?

Demand for stablecoins (and other digital assets) is also driven by people seeking to hedge against inflation or access global financial tools that local systems fail to provide.

Despite being a more realistic option for the everyday consumer compared to crypto, stablecoin usage raises questions, some of which do not yet have answers.

Can my credit union issue stablecoins? Yes, it is possible via a fintech or credit union service organization (CUSO).
Should my credit union issue them? That’s where things get murky.
Can credit unions earn yield from issuing stablecoins? Potentially, but only on the low yield reserve assets that back the stablecoin — which may be operationally constrained.
How do stablecoins sit on a credit union’s balance sheet? They don’t — stablecoins are held off-balance-sheet at a 1:1 reserve ratio.
Does that impact lending capacity? Potentially, yes.
Are stablecoins insured? No. FDIC/NCUSIF coverage does not apply.

Deposit Tokens: The Underrated Cousin

Stablecoins and cryptocurrency aren’t the only digital-asset tools worth noting. Deposit tokens are a type of digital currency — actual dollars in digital form, not pegged to fiat currencies (e.g. the U.S. dollar) like a stablecoin. Deposit tokens sit on a financial institution’s balance sheet and are integrated into the bank’s infrastructure and existing tech, allowing seamless use with current banking systems — and are minted and backed by regulated banks. JPM Coin, Partior and SWIFT’s CBDC sandbox all leverage deposit token frameworks.

Larger financial instituations are exploring deposit tokens because they modernize money movement, in a way similar to stablecoins, without changing the underlying deposit relationship. They preserve existing regulatory treatment and balance sheet economics, while enabling programmability, faster settlement and interoperability with networks. For a large swath of financial institutions, including those focused on wholesale payments, interbank settlement and/or future proofing their infrastructure, deposit tokenization may represent a more natural evolutionary step than issuing a new form of money altogether.

So, are deposit tokens a fit for credit unions? Maybe. Maybe not. It depends on what problem you’re trying to solve.

What Should Credit Unions Be Doing Now?

So, what should your credit union be doing now? It’s important for credit unions to understand what’s real, what’s a risk, what’s an opportunity and what’s just industry hype when it comes to digital assets. For example, we need to explore:

What does the GENIUS Act actually require us to understand?
Are stablecoins or tokens more impactful in practice?
Should we worry about deposit displacement from fintechs?
Can tokenized settlement reduce operating costs?
If remittance shifts to stablecoins, what role can CUs play?
What would it take to safely accept tokenized or stablecoin payments?
What use cases deserve priority?

It’s critical to approach this not on an individual credit union-by-credit union basis, but on the scale of the entire cooperative system. This is a moment to ask how digital asset infrastructure might strengthen the credit union movement as a whole. How do we leverage $2 trillion in combined assets to compete with any major bank in the country?

Could digital asset rails help us acquire new members, rethink lending, lower settlement costs, expand global money movement options or solve problems we haven’t fully defined yet? If so, then the smartest path forward is to explore leveraging them deliberately — and collectively.

Before you panic — we are here to help. Velera created the Digital Asset Lab (DAL), in which our team of experts explores the burning questions about digital assets — and shares what we discover.

The goal of understanding and leveraging digital assets is not to sprint into the water to win some sort of “race,” it’s to read the tide correctly. And if we do that together, we will be better positioned to chart a course of strategic, thoughtful and collective action through the ever-changing digital asset seas. Keep a watchful eye on the horizon and stay tuned for more to come out of the Digital Asset Lab.

*Sources include the Federal Reserve, Pew Research IMF, ECB, BIS, Visa Onchain Analytics, and public blockchain data providers.