Binance highlighted areas where cryptocurrencies promote financial inclusion, namely access to capital markets and democratization of private markets through tokenization.
Binance has released a report outlining how cryptocurrencies and digital asset infrastructure are improving financial access in underserved regions and emerging markets. The paper, titled “Finance without Frontiers,” explains how the unbanked and underbanked are turning to cryptocurrencies for cross-border payments and overall financial inclusion.
According to the report, the adoption of cryptocurrencies has grown from speculation to real-world utility thanks to the financial inclusion that cryptocurrencies offer. In addition to trading on digital asset platforms, users can now access global systems through tokenization, artificial intelligence (AI) agents, and mobile-native services.
Big gap in financial inclusion
Researchers at the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange found that the scale of unmet financial need is structural and concentrated in certain regions. Significant gaps exist in financial inclusion globally.
World Bank data reveals that approximately 21% of the world’s adult population (1.3 billion adults) remains unbanked. Approximately 73% of these adults reside in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), with more than 50% concentrated in eight countries.
For the purpose of the report, researchers tagged as underbanked adults who have access to a savings account but have limited access to credit, digital payments, high-yield savings, and cross-border services. Approximately 4.7 billion adults lack access to credit or loans, and 3.6 billion people in LMICs do not use digital payments or cards. Approximately 40% of adults in LMICs save formally, and at least 77% receive no interest on their savings.
Interestingly, five of the eight countries with the highest concentration of unbanked people are in the top 20 of Chainaracy’s Global Cryptocurrency Adoption Index. This pattern shows that digital networks offer an alternative entry point for financial inclusion.
How Cryptocurrency Can Help
Digging deeper, Binance researchers focused on areas where cryptocurrencies are driving financial inclusion. These include payments and remittances, access to capital markets, democratization of private markets through tokenization, and programmable finance for non-human participants (AI agents). There’s also the area of device penetration of people who have cell phones and people who have smartphones.
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Amid the rise of financial inclusion, the growth in the share of crypto users in emerging markets has outpaced that of developed markets. Emerging market users grew from 49% in 2020 to 77% in 2026 as demand for a wider range of financial services increases.
Moreover, user engagement goes far beyond transactions. Internal research on Binance shows that 14% of all active users are involved in multiple products such as savings, payments, and investments. The majority of these users are concentrated in emerging markets.
The observed adoption trends highlight that on-chain networks have become a key element of the global financial inclusion debate.
