Unlike most emerging financial technologies, cryptocurrencies experienced relatively swift adoption by the public — about 28% of Americans owned crypto in 2025. But until recently, professional investors, banks and asset managers have mostly stayed on the sidelines. Without the buy-in of these financial sector heavyweights, crypto’s potential to solve real-world problems has been stunted. Instead, many early crypto investors used their holdings for speculation or savings, which contributed to market volatility and led institutions and regulators to proceed with caution.

But the global financial system made an about-face in its attitude toward crypto over the last year, sparking excitement, innovation and investment. The EU, the U.S. and several Asian nations rolled out comprehensive rules for crypto, while more traditional financial institutions including banks and brokerages debuted their own crypto products and capabilities. And behind the scenes, an array of startups worked with global companies to forge links between crypto and the cash and cards in our wallets, paving the way for crypto to become an integral part of everyday spending.

As crypto and traditional finance players continue to join forces, here’s how innovations cross-pollinated across both ecosystems in 2025 to create new capabilities. 

As a financial market regulator in Singapore and Abu Dhabi, Richard Teng saw firsthand the problems that traditional finance was largely failing to solve. In parts of the world, just 10% to 20% of households have access to banking and payment services, leaving 1.4 billion people worldwide excluded from the financial system. In addition, workers abroad can rack up more than 10% in fees whenever they send money to family back home.

That frustration spurred Teng to learn more about crypto, and he quickly recognized its potential to expand monetary freedom around the world. Today Teng heads Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, and he has seen a surge in interest from the kinds of large, sophisticated institutions that can help crypto go mainstream.

Inside MoonPay’s New York offices, ideas are always flying. The startup world’s brightest minds convene to discuss new ideas while they share space with a purple disco ball and Mylar balloon astronaut. MoonPay, which links the worlds of crypto and fiat currency, let the Mastercard Newsroom sit in as employees and partners gathered for a brainstorming session. The aim, as at all successful startups, was to picture the future and be the first to build it.

The discussion took place just a week after MoonPay and Mastercard announced a crypto wallet-linked card that enables people and businesses to transact using stablecoins. It turns out that even crypto natives like MoonPay’s team think crypto needs to be simpler and easier to use. That’s because users of any technology ultimately only care about one thing: solving their problem. The work coming out of MoonPay's conference room could help bring essential capabilities to the ecosystem, making crypto safer, more useful and more accessible for everyone.

No aspect of crypto got a bigger boost this year than stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies whose values are typically linked to stable assets like the U.S. dollar. The U.S. and EU produced legislation that signaled a new era of regulatory clarity and confidence in digital assets, galvanizing previously hesitant financial markets. The value of dollar-backed stablecoins in circulation has grown by 50% this year.

Stablecoins have attracted attention because they can act as stand-ins for other assets while taking advantage of the blockchain’s best attributes, such as smart contracts that execute automatically. Stablecoins are already making cross-border business payments cheaper and faster, and they’re inspiring new methods for paying gig workers and content creators. But to achieve widespread adoption, stablecoins must be embedded in systems that people trust — systems that protect users, resolve disputes and work seamlessly across borders and platforms. After years of work across the crypto and traditional finance ecosystems, the ecosystem appears poised to take stablecoins to the next level.