Emerging-market users are treating crypto exchanges like banking apps, Binance says
Key takeaways
- Users treat exchanges as "shadow banks" for savings, payments, and investments.Crypto platforms fill a financial access gap.
- Binance Research’s latest report frames crypto adoption as a financial-access story rather than a trading story.
- The data points to growing use of crypto platforms as substitute financial infrastructure in markets where banking access remains limited.
Users treat exchanges as "shadow banks" for savings, payments, and investments.Crypto platforms fill a financial access gap. One point three billion adults lack financial services, 4.7 billion lack credit, and 1.4 billion savers in low-income nations earn no deposit interest, Binance said.Stablecoins are central, enabling low-cost ($0.0001) and instant remittances/savings, but institutions like Moody's warn of financial-resilience and monetary-sovereignty risks.Emerging markets accounted for 77% of Binance users in 2026, up from 49% in 2020, as users in those countries increasingly used the exchange for savings, payments and investment access, the exchange said.
Binance Research’s latest report frames crypto adoption as a financial-access story rather than a trading story. Binance said 83% of users engaging with two or more products on the platform are based in emerging markets, while users in those markets show savings rates more than twice as high as users in developed markets.
About 36% of emerging-market Binance users with balances of at least $10 hold at least half of their portfolio in stablecoins, according to the report, which points to the pattern as “consistent with savings-oriented usage.” Globally, 28% of users meet that threshold, up from 4% in 2020.