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Your payment card should be giving you more back. Yet 77% of Australians say they’d switch for better rewards, and 67% feel all cards are the same. With demand for better value growing fast, new options are stepping in to fill the gap.

Mastercard’s Global Crypto Partner Program — connecting more than 85 industry players including Ripple, Circle, and Binance — signals a major step toward solving the accessibility gap in global remittances. New research from Protocol Theory’s Digital Asset Adoption 2025 report shows that while 61% of adults find traditional remittance services easy to use, only 15% say the same about stablecoins, highlighting a critical usability barrier. By integrating digital assets into its Multi-Token Network and introducing human-readable crypto credentials, Mastercard is working to make stablecoin-powered cross-border payments accessible within the financial systems people already trust.

Kraken’s Federal Reserve Master Account marks a structural shift in how digital assets integrate with the financial system, connecting crypto directly to central bank payment rails and removing one of the industry’s longest-standing access barriers. The move addresses a critical adoption gap identified in Protocol Theory research—where awareness is near universal but usage lags—by embedding digital assets into familiar financial infrastructure and making participation simpler, faster, and more intuitive.

Protocol Theory is proud to announce a renewed partnership with CoinDesk to deliver the 2025 APAC State of Crypto Report, following the success of last year’s groundbreaking study, Driven by Demand: The People-Powered Crypto Movement in Asia Pacific.

Most studies of crypto adoption treat users and non-users as simple categories, overlooking the nuance and complexity in how people decide whether to participate. Real understanding comes from examining what happens in the messy middle between these segments.

Protocol Theory, in partnership with Mercuryo, has released 'Beyond Early Adopters'—a landmark report exploring why crypto wallets remain niche today and outlining a roadmap for making them trusted, inclusive, and part of everyday financial life.