According to a research survey by Morgan Stanley, only 12% of banking major EU interns own Bitcoin.
For comparison, 63% held the largest cryptocurrency in 2022.
Cryptocurrency ownership has fallen significantly, with 82% of total respondents claiming they have no holding any digital currency (compared to 69% in 2024).
Ethereum (ETH) has seen even more surprising collapses (from 60% in 2022 to just 7% in 2025).
Cardano witnessed a similar trend. Tokens have been infinitely 3% this year, from 27% in 2022.
XRP destroys trends
Still, XRP, now the third largest token by market capitalization, is defiing the broader trends of young Morgan Stanley experts who are sour from the code.
Ripples-related tokens went from 0% to 5% in 2025, almost catching up to Ethereum (ETH). This is currently a more popular option compared to Cardano (ADA).
This growth could most likely be attributed to XRP enjoying greater regulatory clarity and the large gathering that grabbed the massive headlines in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Talent issues?
Austin Campbell, managing partner and founder of Zero Knowledge Consulting; Make a claim The banking sector has talent issues.
Campbell, who previously worked at JPMorgan and Citibank,
Interns who care about crypto and technology say, “Don’t go to the bank at all now.”
“But what’s going on is young people hate banks, and banks are increasingly not in touch with what’s going on with their understanding of technology moving from one to two to three generations,” Campbell said.
