Who do cryptocurrency users actually trust? Wharton’s latest research has clear answers and changes the way we think about conservation.
What will consumer trust in cryptocurrencies actually look like in 2025?
According to 2025 Consumer Crypto Confidence Report A report published by the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich found that consumers are much more discerning about cryptocurrency guidance than the industry gives them credit for. And who they trust most reveals important things about what the market really needs.
The trust hierarchy is not what you expect
The Wharton Consumer Cryptocurrency Trust Index (c3i), now in its third year of longitudinal data collection from approximately 42,000 U.S. respondents, asked participants directly: Who do you trust when it comes to cryptocurrency guidance?
The results were clear. Researchers and academics scored the highest at 4.83 out of 7, followed by financial industry leaders (4.51) and friends (4.15). Technology leaders and private bankers also scored above the midpoint.
At the bottom were celebrities, politicians, professional sports figures and more, all scoring less than 2.50.
This is important. The cryptocurrency industry has spent years leveraging influential partnerships, celebrity endorsements, and political proximity as growth strategies. Data shows that consumers don’t buy from a trust perspective.
The people consumers really want guidance from are people with credentials, a track record, and real expertise in finance and technology. They want professional and accountable power equivalent to what traditional finance has always provided.
A paradox every cryptocurrency company must think about
This is where Wharton’s findings get really interesting.
While politicians rise through the ranks least trustworthy Source of Cryptocurrency Guidance, Consumers Dismiss Politicians as Advisors: US President important Affects cryptocurrency prices. Cryptocurrency owners consistently rated the president’s influence higher than non-holders, a pattern that held steady across 14 months of data.
Simply put, consumers know that cryptocurrency markets are shaped by centralized powers, even though the technology is built on decentralized principles.
This is not a contradiction to dismiss. It’s a signal.
If you own a cryptocurrency and understand that its price can fluctuate due to tweets, executive orders, or regulatory signals, you are holding an asset with structural vulnerabilities. Protocol-level decentralization does not protect you from centralized market forces. And currently, less than 2% of all cryptocurrency assets are insured against the consequences of this vulnerability.
Implications for Cryptocurrency Deposit Insurance
Blockchain Deposit Insurance Corporation (BDIC) was founded around this gap. The question is not whether the cryptocurrency market is unstable or whether political forces can move the price, but that they certainly can. The question is what happens to the individual holder if something goes wrong?
In traditional finance, FDIC insurance, established in 1933, answered this question for bank depositors. You don’t have to trust your bank implicitly. There is no need to predict what the Fed will do. Your deposits are protected up to the coverage limit, and this protection is not dependent on market conditions.
BDIC provides the same structural protection for encryption. Standard coverage protects $0 to $10,000 worth of digital assets. First, coverage extends from $10,000 to $20,000. Claims are processed via smart contracts, so there is no reliance on manual processes or institutional discretion.
According to the Chainalytic 2026 Cryptocurrency Crime Report, $17 billion will be stolen through cryptocurrency scams and scams in 2025. Those numbers are not unusual for the market. This is the ongoing cost of a $3.3 trillion asset class without any meaningful protection infrastructure for those who actually use it.
The reliability gap and how to close it
The Wharton report also found something that speaks directly to how BDIC approaches its own positioning. That said, trust in central regulators like the SEC and Federal Reserve is not uniformly low among cryptocurrency holders. In fact, at several points in the data series, cryptocurrency owners actually higher Trust in the SEC and the Federal Reserve more than non-owners – a pattern the researchers suggest may reflect growing comfort with regulatory involvement as the industry matures.
This is the direction the market moves. Cryptocurrency users, especially those who have been in the space long enough to tolerate volatility and security failures, are not anti-establishment. They support accountability. They want the protection provided by a serious financial infrastructure that applies to the assets they choose to hold.
Deposit insurance is exactly that. I am not against decentralization. This is not a concession to TradFi. It’s a structural layer of safety that exists because users of the $562 million cryptocurrency deserve the same basic protections that bank depositors have enjoyed for nearly a century.
Why researchers and financial experts are the right messengers
Another finding from the Wharton report is worth mentioning directly. This means that informal networks of colleagues, such as friends and family, rank just as high as professional financial professionals in terms of trust. With a score of 4.15 out of 7, friends scored higher than technology industry leaders and private bankers.
This tells us how cryptocurrency knowledge spreads in practice. This is communicated person-to-person through a network of shared experiences rather than a top-down broadcast. Clear, specific, and hype-free education travels further on these networks than campaigns built around celebrities or attractions.
The BDIC Bulletin exists for this very reason. Every edition is written with the kind of explanation you can share with anyone in your network who holds cryptocurrency and wants to understand what protection is like without the noise.
conclusion
Wharton’s 2025 Consumer Confidence Survey confirms what market structure already shows. Cryptocurrency users want guidance from experts, not noise from celebrities. They understand that centralized forces create decentralized markets. And they are increasingly open to trustworthy and responsible infrastructure that makes holding cryptocurrency a serious, protected financial decision rather than a gamble.
Deposit insurance is that infrastructure.
BDIC offers dual-tier cryptocurrency deposit insurance ($0-$10,000 (standard) and $10,000-$20,000 (preferred)) and claims are settled through smart contracts. Learn more at bdicinsurance.com.
Source: Fritze, M. P., Lamberton, C., Reibstein, D., & Zhang, J. (2026). 2025 Consumer Crypto Confidence Report: Cryptocurrency Volatility. Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
$17 billion worth: Chainalytic 2026 Cryptocurrency Crime Report.
Non-Investment Disclaimer: BDIC does not sell BDIC Coins as an investment or financial instrument. BDIC does not promise or guarantee token price increases, dividends or profit distribution. Buyers should not expect to profit from the valuation of BDIC Coins and should only consider the tokens for their described utility.
Who do cryptocurrency users actually trust? Originally published on Coinmonks on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.