Banks lagging behind crypto integration risk competition from tech-focused financial institutions

In the past year, the pace of institutional crypto adoption has shifted from sporadic announcements to an ordered rollout. What was once framed as an all-or-nothing leap is now being executed step by step, following a phased framework that guides banks from passive exposure to fully integrated on-chain services.

A new Chainalysis model breaks this progression into five distinct levels of maturity, each tied to specific activities, gating factors, and revenue streams.

In 2025, this roadmap is proving increasingly useful for banks building strategy and market participants tracking which institutions are best positioned to capture wallet share in digital assets.

The crypto landscape today looks nothing like it did during the initial waves of institutional curiosity in 2020 and 2021.

Banks are no longer asking whether crypto will matter; they are deciding how deeply and how quickly to integrate it into their existing businesses.

The maturity ladder outlined by Chainalysis offers a pragmatic way to break through internal hesitation, set milestones, and build a defensible, revenue-generating crypto strategy that adapts to evolving regulations rather than being paralyzed by them.

The ladder ranges from Level 0 to Level 4, with banks lagging far behind some major TradFi financial institutions.

Next, we’ll break down each layer and identify which companies sit within each boundary.