Bitcoin Magazine
When the Banks Don’t Work, Bitcoin Does: Cornell University’s Adoption Index
A lot of people have heard of Bitcoin but even among those who hold it, knowledge is shallow.
Though for those holding the leading cryptocurrency, it appears to be solving a problem: getting around failing banking rails or inflation.
That’s according to new findings from the U.S. Ivy League research university Cornell, which spoke to nearly 26,000 around the globe about Bitcoin.
In its new Bitcoin Adoption Index report, the top college found that El Salvador, Venezuela and Nigeria were the countries that had the highest number of people who had ever owned bitcoin.
“Ranked by the share of all respondents who have ever owned bitcoin, the leaders are not wealthy financial centers — they are economies where the national currency has been unstable and everyday access to dollars or reliable banking is hard,” the report read.
“In each, bitcoin functions less as a speculative bet and more as a practical workaround.”
Still, Cornell found that actually being able to explain the fundamentals of the protocol was difficult for most — including how many bitcoins would ever be minted in existence. In fact, 58% of those surveyed said they didn’t know the supply was capped at 21 million coins.
But technicalities aside, the cryptocurrency has still proved helpful to people wanting to use it, the report found.
One Venezuelan — who wasn’t named — told interviewers that Bitcoin was “faster, cleaner, and much less risky” than other methods of getting dollars in the country.
While another Salvadoran was quoted saying: “When nobody controls [bitcoin], it means we all have control of it.”
And a Nigerian interviewee reportedly told Cornell researchers: “I’ve been to six African countries and whenever I go there, I don’t fear it because I know I can spend my bitcoin.”
Bitcoin adoption started growing in Venezuela ahead of other countries years ago, when hyperinflation crippled the economy and strict government currency controls meant getting dollars became difficult.
El Salvador made bitcoin legal tender — along with the dollar — in 2021. The country’s leader admitted that getting its citizens to use the cryptocurrency was difficult but the Central American nation still says it buys the asset for its government coffers.
In Nigeria, which has had some of the highest transaction volumes in the world, saving in bitcoin has been used by some to get around the collapse of the naira.
Cornell University’s research was fielded by Morning Consult in partnership with the Tech Policy Institute in Cornell University’s Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy, the Cornell Bitcoin Club, the Human Rights Foundation and the Reynolds Foundation.
Researchers interviewed 25,880 people in 25 countries between December 16, 2024 to March 10, 2025, asking 125 individual questions.
This post When the Banks Don’t Work, Bitcoin Does: Cornell University’s Adoption Index first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.
The Cardano Foundation and Brazilian technology firm Blockforce announced some big news. ADA is now live as the public proof layer inside Blockforce’s enterprise supply-chain traceability platform. The system is already running with Brazil’s largest fashion groups and has anchored more than 500,000 supply-chain records.
The structural problem this solves is straightforward. Regulated supply chains need outside parties to confirm a record is genuine without handing over the commercial data behind it. A fully private database gives brands no way to prove anything to an outsider. A fully public ledger proves everything but exposes pricing, supplier identities, and contract terms to anyone watching the chain.
Cardano is now live as the public proof layer in Blockforce’s traceability platform, with more than 500,000 supply chain records already anchored.
— Cardano Foundation (@Cardano_CF) August 31, 2026
Commercial data stays private on Hyperledger Fabric, while cryptographic proofs on Cardano allow records to be independently… pic.twitter.com/zJ6iD6Aydv
Blockforce’s answer keeps detailed records for each supply-chain step on a permissioned network, visible only to the parties directly involved. Only the cryptographic proof of those records gets anchored to Cardano, where any auditor, regulator, or customer can confirm a record’s integrity without ever touching the underlying data.
Cost is what kept this model stuck at the pilot stage. Anchoring hundreds of thousands of individual records publicly was never economically viable at enterprise transaction volume, which is precisely the scale regulated traceability requires once a program moves past a handful of pilot suppliers.
Joint engineering between the two organizations cut the cost per record by 92%, which is the figure both sides point to as the unlock that moved public verification out of proof-of-concept territory and into production at real volume. More than 500,000 records are already anchored under that model.
Supplementary technical material from Blockforce describes the permissioned side of the architecture as running on Hyperledger Fabric, with additional storage components referenced alongside it.
The full architecture, including the uVerify component and the specific batching parameters used to group certificates into Cardano transactions, is laid out in the Cardano Foundation’s Blockforce case study.
Guilherme Pereira, Ecosystem Growth Specialist LATAM at the Cardano Foundation, framed the milestone in infrastructure terms rather than novelty terms:
Trade ADA on Bybit and Get a Chance to Win Our $1,000 USDT Airdrop“The milestone for me is seeing blockchain fit naturally into enterprise infrastructure, delivering the verifiability, traceability, and scale that companies need. Supply chain records are written today and questioned years later, and a public network is what keeps that proof intact for the full product life cycle.”
The announcement itself does not certify compliance with any specific regulatory regime by name. It frames the model around giving auditors and regulators independent verification capability, not a compliance stamp.
Broader references to EU sourcing rules circulating in trade coverage should be treated as market context rather than claims made by the Cardano Foundation or Blockforce directly.
Suelen Joner, head of sustainability at Azzas 2154, described the practical goal driving adoption:
“Our goal is to trace 100% of the leather across our brands by 2030. To get there, we built a solution with Blockforce that works with the reality of the chain and uses the data suppliers already produce. Rather than asking them to adopt new systems, we start from that information and turn it into a single auditable record.”
Beyond fashion, the two organizations say expansion is planned into automotive, agribusiness, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics, using the same dual-ledger structure.
Discover: The Best Token Presales
The post Cardano News: ADA Anchors 500,000 Supply-Chain Records for Public Proof appeared first on Cryptonews.
The Cardano Foundation and Brazilian technology firm Blockforce announced some big news. ADA is now live as the public proof layer inside Blockforce’s enterprise supply-chain traceability platform. The system is already running with Brazil’s largest fashion groups and has anchored more than 500,000 supply-chain records.
The structural problem this solves is straightforward. Regulated supply chains need outside parties to confirm a record is genuine without handing over the commercial data behind it. A fully private database gives brands no way to prove anything to an outsider. A fully public ledger proves everything but exposes pricing, supplier identities, and contract terms to anyone watching the chain.
Cardano is now live as the public proof layer in Blockforce’s traceability platform, with more than 500,000 supply chain records already anchored.
— Cardano Foundation (@Cardano_CF) August 31, 2026
Commercial data stays private on Hyperledger Fabric, while cryptographic proofs on Cardano allow records to be independently… pic.twitter.com/zJ6iD6Aydv
Blockforce’s answer keeps detailed records for each supply-chain step on a permissioned network, visible only to the parties directly involved. Only the cryptographic proof of those records gets anchored to Cardano, where any auditor, regulator, or customer can confirm a record’s integrity without ever touching the underlying data.
Cost is what kept this model stuck at the pilot stage. Anchoring hundreds of thousands of individual records publicly was never economically viable at enterprise transaction volume, which is precisely the scale regulated traceability requires once a program moves past a handful of pilot suppliers.
Joint engineering between the two organizations cut the cost per record by 92%, which is the figure both sides point to as the unlock that moved public verification out of proof-of-concept territory and into production at real volume. More than 500,000 records are already anchored under that model.
Supplementary technical material from Blockforce describes the permissioned side of the architecture as running on Hyperledger Fabric, with additional storage components referenced alongside it.
The full architecture, including the uVerify component and the specific batching parameters used to group certificates into Cardano transactions, is laid out in the Cardano Foundation’s Blockforce case study.
Guilherme Pereira, Ecosystem Growth Specialist LATAM at the Cardano Foundation, framed the milestone in infrastructure terms rather than novelty terms:
Trade ADA on Bybit and Get a Chance to Win Our $1,000 USDT Airdrop“The milestone for me is seeing blockchain fit naturally into enterprise infrastructure, delivering the verifiability, traceability, and scale that companies need. Supply chain records are written today and questioned years later, and a public network is what keeps that proof intact for the full product life cycle.”
The announcement itself does not certify compliance with any specific regulatory regime by name. It frames the model around giving auditors and regulators independent verification capability, not a compliance stamp.
Broader references to EU sourcing rules circulating in trade coverage should be treated as market context rather than claims made by the Cardano Foundation or Blockforce directly.
Suelen Joner, head of sustainability at Azzas 2154, described the practical goal driving adoption:
“Our goal is to trace 100% of the leather across our brands by 2030. To get there, we built a solution with Blockforce that works with the reality of the chain and uses the data suppliers already produce. Rather than asking them to adopt new systems, we start from that information and turn it into a single auditable record.”
Beyond fashion, the two organizations say expansion is planned into automotive, agribusiness, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics, using the same dual-ledger structure.
Discover: The Best Token Presales
The post Cardano News: ADA Anchors 500,000 Supply-Chain Records for Public Proof appeared first on Cryptonews.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has pointed to a new ownership estimate showing 67 million Americans hold cryptocurrency, arguing that the industry is no longer fringe.
The figure comes from the National Cryptocurrency Association and The Harris Poll’s 2026 State of Crypto Holders Report. The survey estimates that roughly 25% of US adults own crypto, based on a sample of 10,000 respondents.
That is a major claim, but the scope matters.
The 67 million figure is an estimate, not a registry count. There is no nationwide wallet database proving exactly how many Americans own crypto. Still, a large survey showing one in four adults holding crypto is a strong sign that digital assets have moved beyond early adopters.
Crypto adoption has always been difficult to measure.
Wallets are pseudonymous. One user can have many wallets. Exchange accounts do not always equal active ownership. Some people hold tiny balances. Others hold through ETFs or custodians.
That is why survey data is imperfect but still useful.
A large consumer survey can show whether crypto has entered mainstream financial behavior. If roughly a quarter of US adults say they own crypto, then the industry is no longer limited to traders, developers, and early believers.
That is Garlinghouse’s point.
Garlinghouse has long argued that crypto needs to move from speculation into real utility.
A large ownership figure supports the political and commercial case that digital assets are now part of everyday financial life. That matters for policy because lawmakers may treat crypto differently if they believe tens of millions of voters hold it.
It also matters for companies.
Banks, fintechs, payment providers, exchanges, and asset managers pay attention when user adoption crosses mainstream thresholds.
For Ripple, the argument supports a broader message: crypto is not a niche sector waiting for permission to exist. It already has a large user base.
The caution is that survey estimates are not exact counts.
A 10,000-person sample can be robust, but it still depends on methodology, wording, demographics, and respondent honesty. Crypto ownership can also mean different things to different people. Someone with $20 of Bitcoin on an app may answer the same way as someone with a large self-custodied portfolio.
That does not invalidate the result.
It simply means the number should be described as an estimate.
The phrase “67 million Americans own crypto” is powerful, but readers should understand how the estimate was produced.
The bigger implication is political.
If crypto ownership is anywhere near 25% of US adults, digital asset policy is no longer a fringe regulatory topic. It affects a large potential voter group, a growing investor base, and a meaningful part of financial-market participation.
That may explain why market-structure bills, ETF approvals, custody rules, and enforcement policy now receive more attention in Washington.
Politicians may not agree on crypto, but they can no longer ignore it.
The early crypto adoption debate was about whether anyone outside a small technical community would care.
That debate is over.
The new debate is about what people actually use crypto for: saving, speculation, payments, remittances, stablecoins, DeFi, NFTs, tokenized assets, ETFs, or simply portfolio exposure.
Ownership alone does not prove deep usage. But it does show familiarity and access.
Garlinghouse’s point is that crypto has entered the mainstream conversation. The 67 million figure gives that argument a headline number.
The next test is whether ownership turns into durable utility.
This article is based on the National Cryptocurrency Association and Harris Poll 2026 State of Crypto Holders Report.
This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.
This report is based on information released in disclosures at primary source documentation.
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