A DeFi Education Fund poll shows a wide gap between what the industry is building and what the public understands
Tokenization is one of the buzziest ideas in finance right now. According to a new Ipsos survey, almost nobody in America knows what it is.
Only 3% of US adults described themselves as extremely or very familiar with tokenized assets. Between 89% and 90% said they were not very familiar or not at all familiar.
What the Ipsos numbers show
The DeFi Education Fund (DEF), a crypto policy and advocacy group, commissioned the poll. Ipsos fielded it from September 8 to 16, 2026, and surveyed 1,545 US adults.
General crypto awareness did not fare much better. Just 9% of respondents said they were extremely or very familiar with crypto, down slightly from 10% in 2025.
Ownership data tells a more interesting story. The share of adults who have ever owned or used crypto rose to 22%, up from 18%.
Recent activity, though, stayed put. Only 13% said they used crypto in the past year, the same as before.
Distrust in banks, curiosity about DeFi
The survey also asked about the traditional financial system. Only 19% of respondents said they view the current US financial system as secure.
Meanwhile, 74% said they want more individual control over their money and assets.
Decentralized finance, or DeFi, refers to financial services like lending and trading that run on blockchain software rather than through banks. Familiarity there was even lower than with tokenization: just 2% of respondents said they knew it well.
Yet 40% said they would be at least somewhat likely to try DeFi if it were available to them.
How question framing changes the picture
The Ipsos results look quite different from an earlier poll. A HarrisX/CTM survey conducted in May 2026 found that 31% of respondents were familiar with tokenization before being given a definition.
That is a big spread from 3%. Part of the difference likely comes down to how each poll asked the question. Ipsos measured people who called themselves extremely or very familiar, a high bar. A looser definition of familiarity naturally pulls in more people, including those who have merely heard the word.
What this means for policy and the industry
The sponsor of the survey is worth noting. DEF focuses on policy advocacy for decentralized finance, and the results give it useful talking points in Washington.
The combination of low trust in the existing system and high appetite for personal control is a framing advocates will likely lean on. A finding that 74% want more control over their assets fits neatly into arguments for clearer DeFi rules.
Regulators may read the same data differently. The fact that 40% would try DeFi while only 2% understand it could be cited as evidence that consumers need stronger guardrails before diving in.
