89% of banks are funding digital asset initiatives, but only 16% have actually shipped anything

Nearly nine out of ten financial institutions say they’re putting money behind digital asset infrastructure in 2026. The number that actually has something live and running? About one in six.

That’s the central tension in a new report from Fireblocks titled “Financial Grid: Banking, Digital Assets, And The Infrastructure Decisions Defining 2026,” based on a survey of 638 C-suite executives and decision-makers at financial institutions and corporations worldwide. The survey, conducted by The Value Exchange in January 2026 across North America, Europe, Latin America, APAC, and the Middle East and Africa, paints a picture of an industry that has collectively decided digital assets matter, but is still figuring out how to make them work.

The budget is there, the product isn’t

Roughly 88-89% of institutions surveyed have either committed or plan to commit budget to digital asset infrastructure this year. Only 11% are pushing their spend to 2027. By most standards, that’s an overwhelming consensus that this technology is worth investing in.

But production deployments tell a very different story. Just 16% of those institutions have reached production status, meaning the vast majority are still somewhere in the planning, piloting, or proof-of-concept phase.

The spending itself isn’t trivial. Some 53% of institutions report allocating $1 million or more in 2026 specifically toward production-scale digital asset initiatives. C-suite executives are directly leading blockchain and digital asset efforts at 55% of the institutions surveyed, and financial infrastructure transformation was cited as the top driver in 50% of cases.

Fintechs are the real competition

One of the more revealing data points involves where banks see the competitive pressure coming from. It’s not other banks. Some 43% of respondents identified fintech companies and payment service providers as the primary competitive threat driving their blockchain and digital asset strategies.

The key use cases institutions are prioritizing reflect this competitive dynamic. Payment solutions ranked among the top applications, alongside tokenized securities. On the asset side, the priorities center on stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and tokenized securities.

Regulation flips from obstacle to roadmap

Perhaps the most striking shift the survey captures is in how institutions view regulation. An overwhelming 96% of respondents expect that upcoming regulatory frameworks, including MiCA in Europe and evolving US guidance, will be favorable or very favorable for digital asset adoption.

MiCA, which went into full effect in the European Union, provides a comprehensive framework for crypto-asset markets, stablecoin issuance, and service provider licensing. In the US, the regulatory picture has been evolving under more crypto-receptive political conditions, with clearer guidelines emerging for how banks can custody, trade, and offer digital asset products.