Adrian Cachinero from Steakhouse Financial believes younger generations will depend less on traditional banking, while Binance reports that younger users are already boosting crypto adoption in developing regions.
By Olivier Acuna|Edited by Cheyenne Ligon Jul 18, 2026, 6:30 p.m. 4 min readMake preferred on ShareShare this articleCopy linkX (Twitter)LinkedInFacebookEmailMake preferred on Kids with phones (Tim Gouw/Unsplash)SummaryShow- Executives in the cryptocurrency sector and banking anticipate that younger, digitally-savvy consumers will favor wallets containing stablecoins and tokenized assets over conventional bank accounts.
- Projected growth in stablecoins and tokenized deposits will create a division of roles, with stablecoins facilitating more retail payments and remittances, while bank-issued tokens will cater to larger wholesale and institutional transactions.
- There is a rapid convergence between banks, fintechs, and crypto companies towards a super-app model, merging banking and crypto services, despite ongoing discussions about regulated frameworks and self-custody issues.
Adrian Cachinero foresees a different perspective on banking for his 18-month-old daughter compared to previous generations.
“My daughter, she’s one and a half years old, and I think she might never need to open a bank account in her life,” said the co-founder of Steakhouse Financial during an interview with CoinDesk in London. “We’re building products for that generation.”
This viewpoint is influencing the direction of Steakhouse Financial, a decentralized finance (DeFi) company managing assets exceeding $4 billion in blockchain vaults. These vaults are smart contracts that enable users to deposit stablecoins, earn interest, and maintain control of their assets, bypassing traditional banks or intermediaries.
Cachinero emphasized that he does not predict the elimination of banks. Instead, he believes that individuals raised in a digital environment will expect financial services such as payments and savings to function online.
“I might be the last generation that remembers life before the internet,” he remarked. “For the generations that followed, the internet is just a fact of life.”
Evidence indicating this transition is becoming more apparent. Visa’s stablecoin tracker recorded $6.6 billion in volume across 132.4 million retail-sized transactions (each under $250) over the last 30 days. Standard Chartered forecasts a seven-fold increase in stablecoin circulation to around $2 trillion by 2028, with agent-led purchases projected to rise from 1% of e-commerce in 2025 to 12% by 2029. Neobanks account for nearly 40% of new banking accounts globally, with over 1.4 billion users.
A step further
Naveen Mallela, the global head of payments at Standard Chartered, anticipates a shift in the conventional account-based model. He envisions individuals using a wallet associated with their identity rather than maintaining separate bank and brokerage accounts.
“Rather than having bank accounts with individual banks or having separate brokerage accounts, you would have a wallet where you’ll have cash, tokenized deposits of some sort issued by different banks, stablecoins, tokenized money market funds, crypto and funds, all of that in one app, one wallet,” he said, specifying that this is his personal view, not an official stance of Standard Chartered.
This outlook does not exclude banks from the ecosystem. The wallet he describes could accommodate deposits and tokens from multiple banks, which would still provide the financial resources, infrastructure, and controls necessary for these services.
Mallela anticipates stablecoins and bank-issued tokenized deposits will cater to different markets, suggesting that stablecoins may be more suited for retail payments and remittances, while tokenized deposits might dominate in wholesale and institutional transactions.
Currently, most cross-border payments are executed from one bank account to another. Mallela noted that stablecoins can facilitate value transfer between wallets at any time, whereas bank account transfers may encounter delays.
Binance sees it too
Binance is witnessing part of this shift among its clientele, though the exchange lacks data to confirm if its average user is becoming younger. “I think a lot of our users are younger,” stated Shunyet Jan, head of exchange and trading at Binance. “Especially in emerging markets, they definitely are younger.”
Jan mentioned that Binance aims to extend beyond cryptocurrency trading into payments and various financial services via a super app that allows users to manage different assets from a single platform.
There is a growing trend of banks, fintechs, and crypto firms encroaching on each other's domains. Many have incorporated crypto trading, while exchanges are rolling out debit cards, payment services, and tokenized assets.
“You could see how everyone is moving onto each other’s turf,” Jan noted. “All of us are recognizing the value of a super app where you could do everything together in one place.”
Jan added that numerous Binance employees, including himself, already keep most of their assets on the exchange. “I could make payments, I could use my debit card to spend whatever I need wherever I want,” he explained.
Lines are blurring
Eneko Knorr, co-founder and CEO of Dubai-based stablecoin firm Stabolut, remarked that the distinction between banks and crypto companies is becoming increasingly indistinct.
“Today, you see traditional banks offering crypto, and crypto platforms providing real bank accounts and standard banking services,” Knorr told CoinDesk. “Of course, the world still runs on regular money, so we all have to make a standard bank transfer to pay rent or the utility bills.”
Knorr suggested that younger clients may prefer an app that merges stablecoins with everyday banking services.
Rohan Misra, CEO of AMINA Bank ADGM and head of the Gulf Cooperation Council region, commented that while stablecoins are gaining traction for payments and settlements, they still require regulated banking frameworks.
“The wallet alone isn’t the bank account,” Misra stated. “The regulated infrastructure around it is.”
He also raised concerns about whether self-custody, where users manage their private keys, could become the norm.
“Self-custody means if someone accesses your private key, your assets are gone with no recourse, no recovery and no insurance,” he cautioned. “That’s cash under a mattress.”
Rather than an end
The predictions suggest a transformation in how financial services are delivered to consumers, rather than a complete phase-out of banks. Crypto firms are introducing accounts and cards, while banks are experimenting with tokenized deposits and blockchain payments.
Steakhouse largely operates with stablecoins, according to Cachinero. The company maintains a bank account but utilizes it on a limited basis.
“I think the defining moment for most people might well be something simple like a payment transfer,” he stated.
Stablecoin transactions can settle in minutes and are traceable on a blockchain. In contrast, bank transfer times can vary based on the country, payment system, and provider, with some settling within seconds while others, particularly cross-border payments, may take longer.
“I really think that stablecoins will be a similar means of exchange for people that are digitally native,” Cachinero asserted. “For them, the internet is just a fact of life.
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CEX trading volumes rose for the first time in five months in June, with spot climbing 15.3% to $1.11T and RWA perpetual volumes surging to a record $311B.
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Why it matters:
CEX trading volumes rose for the first time in five months in June, with spot climbing 15.3% to $1.11T and RWA perpetual volumes surging to a record $311B.
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