Institutional interest drives digital assets into mainstream: Binance

Yasmine Raso

Senior Journalist, Financial Newswire

13 January 2026

Institutional investors’ strong appetite for digital assets in 2025 has been credited with accelerating the acceptance of cryptocurrency in the mainstream financial environment.

According to the Australian arm of global crypto exchange, Binance, the industry’s attitude has noticeably shifted from “early experimentation toward long-term participation”, as the firm now has over 300 million global registered users and saw a 14 per cent rise in institutional users year-on-year.

Binance’s 2025 User Pulse survey, polling over 95,000 users across 48 countries, found half now consider themselves as “long-term holders” with portfolio diversification, seeking higher returns and investing for future purchases (such as buying a home) their top financial goals.

Research commissioned by Binance Australia also found that 26 per cent of Australians surveyed now own cryptocurrency, with 32 per cent also considering investing in the asset class in the future. The research confirmed Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana remained the top three most traded cryptocurrencies on Binance Australia for the month of December.

“It took Binance nearly five years to amass its first 100 million users, then just over two years for the next 100 million, and only 18 months for the latest 100 million – a rate of over 180,000 new users joining each day,” Binance Australia & New Zealand General Manager, Matt Poblocki, said.

“This accelerating participation aligns with crypto moving from speculation to consolidation. We saw users become more deliberate, institutions step in at scale, and regulators move from observing the market to actively shaping it.

“That combination has fundamentally changed the trajectory of the industry and laid a strong foundation for 2026.

“Australian investors showed a clear shift toward fundamentals this year.

“Rather than chasing hype, they consolidated around credible, large-cap assets. That discipline is a strong signal of a maturing  and informed local market.”

With institutional trading volumes also growing by 13 per cent year-on-year, Poblocki also noted that regulation would play a key role in the trajectory of the digital assets industry heading into 2026, given the expected implementation of Treasury’s Digital Assets Bill and the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework.

“Global and local regulatory progress is ensuring crypto is here to stay. In Australia, clearer regulations will help the wider industry strike the right balance between innovation and user protection,” Poblocki said.

“Ultimately, 2026 will be about moving beyond hype and speculation toward delivering real, scalable value. We believe that the crypto industry’s next chapter is one of purposeful adoption, trust, and long-term impact.

“When innovation meets responsibility, that is when digital assets will become an integral part of everyday finance.”