Drivers vs. Enablers: Getting Crypto Adoption Right

In late 2024, when we partnered with CoinDesk to publish the APAC State of Crypto report (Protocol Theory & CoinDesk, 2024), we highlighted a distinction the industry has long overlooked: the difference between drivers of adoption and enablers of adoption.

That insight shaped debate at the time. Yet ten months on, influential institutions are still missing its significance. The distinction matters more than ever as adoption enters its next chapter.

Drivers create demand. Enablers unlock it.

In our framework, drivers are the forces that generate desire. They include the promise of financial independence, cultural appetite for innovation, or the practical utility of faster and cheaper cross-border payments. Drivers answer the question: why would people want this?

Enablers are the conditions that make action possible. They include internet access, available funds, trusted custody solutions, education, and critically, regulation. Enablers answer a different question: what makes adoption feasible at scale?

Both are essential, but they play distinct roles. Without enablers, demand remains blocked. Without drivers, enablers lack purpose.

Why Goldman Sachs got it wrong

In its recent Stablecoin Summer report, Goldman Sachs (2025) described new U.S. legislation as the catalyst that will “drive mass adoption” of stablecoins.

This framing confuses enablers with drivers. Regulation cannot make consumers care about faster payments or inspire them to see digital money as part of their financial future. Only drivers—utility, culture, necessity—can do that.

What regulation can do is build trust, standardize protections, and clear the path for institutions once interest already exists. It enables adoption, but it does not drive it.

What our research shows

Our data reinforces this distinction:

• India: High adoption despite policy uncertainty and taxation, driven by strong utility in remittances and payments.
• Japan: Mature regulatory regime but low adoption, reflecting weak consumer drivers.
• China: Significant ownership levels despite restrictions, enabled through workarounds—evidence that demand persists even when enablers are limited.

ProtocolPanel data confirms the same pattern. Across APAC markets, only 18% of considerers say regulation is a decisive factor in whether they move forward. Among rejectors in low-adoption markets such as Japan, China, and Australia, just 20% cite regulatory or legal issues as a primary reason for opting out. Far more influential are lack of trust (54%), perceptions of volatility and risk (35%), and limited understanding (31%).

Shapley regression provides further evidence of what matters most. The strongest predictors of rejection are financial and trust-related barriers: lack of money to invest (46% of explained variance) and lack of trust (27%). Regulatory concerns, by contrast, account for just 4%.

The implication is clear: adoption depends far more on solving human and financial barriers than on rewriting rules. Demand is people-powered. Regulation follows.

Hear Alistair Rennie break down why adoption depends on human drivers before regulatory enablers, and what the data reveals about the real barriers to crypto’s next wave of growth:

Why this distinction matters

Confusing drivers and enablers leads to misplaced strategies. Policymakers assume that writing rules will automatically generate uptake. Companies believe that compliance alone will deliver customers. Both approaches overlook the human foundations of adoption.

For the next billion users, success depends on aligning with genuine drivers of demand, and only then ensuring the right enablers—regulation, education, access—are in place to unlock scale.

The path forward

At Protocol Theory, we will continue to make this distinction clear. Adoption begins with people: their needs, motivations, and constraints. Enablers matter, but as infrastructure—not ignition.

For builders, the mandate is straightforward:

1. Design for demand. Build products that solve real problems and resonate with cultural motivations.
2. Enable scale. Support those products with the right rails—regulation, education, access, and trust.

The industry needs to stop treating enablers like drivers. When we do, we will direct energy where it belongs: creating value that people want, and letting regulation and infrastructure make it possible to scale.◼️

About the data:

Findings are drawn from multiple surveys conducted between October 2024 and August 2025 with a combined sample of 5,876 adults across Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Germany, France, and Brazil.

References:

1. Protocol Theory & CoinDesk. (2024). Driven by Demand: The People-Powered Crypto Movement in Asia Pacific.CoinDesk. https://consensus-hongkong.coindesk.com/report/
2. Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research. (2025, August 19). Stablecoin summer. Top of Mind, Issue 141. Goldman Sachs. https://www.gs.com/research/hedge.html