Remember when crypto was this exciting, new currency that was fun to dabble in? Credit unions must understand that those days are officially over.
sFOX just dropped their 2026 predictions, and spoiler alert: Credit unions must find a way to deal with this whole digital asset thing. Get in the game or watch your deposits walk out the door. And they won’t be coming back.
Here’s what sFOX Founder/CEO Akbar Thobhani sees coming for credit unions in the next 12-24 months and why ignoring it might be the most expensive decision you make this year:
By the end of 2026, credit unions without crypto services will have lost up to 20% of deposits to platforms that make it easy to invest.
The pattern is already emerging: when members want to acquire Bitcoin or earn yield on stablecoins, credit unions that can’t help them watch the funds leave for Coinbase or sFOX. Every withdrawal shrinks the deposit base, compresses net interest income and forfeits fee revenue from that relationship.
In 2026, sFOX expects to see 100 credit unions, or more, offering crypto investment services and stablecoin wire service under their own brand to convert deposit leakage into non-interest income. One credit union already reported a $1,000 increase in lifetime value per crypto-active member. Another saw a retiree transfer $200,000 back from crypto platforms, then bring their children in to open new accounts.
Credit unions that don’t offer crypto and stablecoin services by 2027 won’t just miss a product trend, they’ll lose an entire generation.
Younger investors already allocate a large share of their portfolios to crypto and other alternatives: investors aged 21–43 hold about 31% of their portfolios in alternatives and crypto, compared with just 6% for investors over 44. Younger members aren’t going to choose a financial institution that can’t support the assets and experiences they see as core to their financial future. For credit unions already contending with aging membership and pressure on deposits, offering crypto and stablecoin services is no longer a product decision, it’s a survival strategy.