A new survey conducted by Ipsos for the DeFi Education Fund reveals that only 3% of US adults are familiar with tokenized assets. The poll, which surveyed 1,545 American adults between September 8 and 16, 2026, indicates that 89% to 90% of the population has little to no knowledge of the technology.
General awareness of cryptocurrency remains low, with 9% of respondents claiming familiarity, compared to 10% in 2025. Despite this, the percentage of adults who have owned or used crypto increased from 18% to 22%. However, the number of users who engaged with crypto in the past year remained stagnant at 13%.
Public perception of the traditional financial system is also limited, as only 19% of participants consider the current US financial system secure. Conversely, 74% of respondents expressed a desire for greater individual control over their financial assets.
Knowledge regarding decentralized finance is even lower, with only 2% of respondents reporting they understand the concept well. Nevertheless, 40% of those surveyed indicated they would be somewhat likely to use DeFi services if they were made available to them.
The findings contrast with a May 2026 HarrisX/CTM survey, which reported that 31% of respondents were familiar with tokenization. The discrepancy is attributed to differences in survey methodology and how familiarity was defined by the respective research groups.
