Your members buy, hold, and sell cryptocurrencies. In fact, your members are more than twice as likely to engage with crypto than other consumers.
And, with few exceptions, those member assets are being transferred to loosely regulated, unreliable online exchanges, and those assets might be gone for good from your ecosystem. What can you do to help your members to invest in crypto in a safe, secure, and insured manner?
Read on to learn more about member assets, credit union crypto options, and what CryptoFi is doing to turn things around.
Consumer Cryptocurrency Trends
CUNA recently released a study that revealed some interesting crypto trends. In this section, we’ll discuss two of those trends and analyze their implications.
- Credit union members are more engaged with crypto than non-members (39% to 16%).
One must wonder if there’s some sampling bias in this statistic. Yet, even if that is the case, the numbers paint a clear picture: credit union members “engage” with cryptocurrencies. As for what “engagement” means, CUNA suggests it means buying, selling, holding, and trading crypto.
More importantly, this contradicts the “not our members” mantra. Often, we hear credit unions tell us that their members don’t do X, Y, or Z. Usually, those members do—the credit union just hasn’t noticed. In the case of crypto, these numbers confirm that yes, your members are dabbling in crypto.
- 59% of credit union members between 18–35 engage with crypto.
You can bet that if this demographic is into crypto, then the younger generations will be, too. Possibly more so, if you can believe that.
Credit unions must connect with younger members and support their financial habits. If credit unions won’t do it, other organizations will. (In fact, other organizations currently do support crypto, which is how 59% of members under 36 engage with it. Because, let’s face it, they probably didn’t with you.)
All this “engagement” means that capital is leaving credit unions and going to fintechs, exchanges, and competitors. So, how can credit unions meaningfully—and safely—offer crypto?
Introducing CryptoFi for Credit Union Members’ Crypto Needs
CryptoFi lets members buy, sell, and hold crypto safely and securely from within their credit union’s web and mobile apps. This is a big one. It ensures that credit union members stay relevant with younger and tech-friendly members. Very soon, it will mean your credit union can recapture capital from apps like Robinhood and exchanges like Coinbase.
Yes, you read that right: CryptoFi will enable members to transfer their crypto to your credit union without triggering a sale or taxable event.
The basic idea is that CryptoFi is fully integrated into your credit union’s digital banking platform. From there, members can “engage with crypto,” as CUNA put it. But there’s an added element of safety to CryptoFi:
- Your credit union > an exchange. Members shouldn’t be at the mercy of exchanges, many of which are scams. At this point, hundreds of crypto exchanges have failed—some in rather spectacular and newsworthy fashion. Credit unions may be merging, but they’re not dying.
- CryptoFi includes crypto education. They don’t just make sure members understand crypto and how it works… they have a whole ops center for program management and data driven insights.
- Ops Center with Proof of reserves. CryptoFi checks balances 8 times a day at random intervals to ensure that everything they say is in custody actually is in custody.
Crypto makes a lot of people wary—especially traditional FI types. CryptoFi gives people less reason to worry. Their unofficial motto is “de-risking crypto for credit unions and their members.” That should say something about their approach and level-headed commitment to safety.
The bottom line is that fintechs like CryptoFi offer credit unions the opportunity to (re)capture a younger demographic. Considering that credit unions can’t rely solely on their aging member bases for growth, that’s a pretty big deal… especially in the next 10–20 years.
Plus, they offer rewards. Everybody likes rewards.
And hey, on the off chance that crypto deposes traditional currency, a partner like CryptoFi can probably help you transition to that strange new world… but I’m just editorializing, here.
Additional Resources
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