As the UK continues to consider how best to approach digital assets, yesterday’s Treasury Committee session highlighted a fundamental question at the heart of the public debate: should 18-year-olds have access to crypto investments — especially given the volatility, illiquidity and complexity seen across parts of the market? CryptoUK’s Ian Taylor joined Matt Gravelle (UKCBC), @DbrobyDaniel (@aim_edu), and @jbutterfill (@CoinSharesCo) to provide evidence and context from across the industry. The discussion reinforced that crypto is no longer a fringe experiment, but a technology-driven asset ecosystem used by both retail participants and large enterprises — each with distinct needs, behaviours and risks. Ian emphasised that crypto adoption has been bottom-up. Retail participants were the early drivers of the market, and this accessibility has opened new pathways into investing for younger adults who historically would not have had access to private equity, private credit or other restricted financial products. Barriers to entry are significantly lower than in traditional markets, helping explain why uptake among 18–49 year-olds is far higher than headline averages suggest. This accessibility is cultural as well as financial. For many younger participants, the underlying technology is part of the motivation. Blockchain networks run 24/7, enabling fast, low-cost movement of value for payments, remittances or trading. And while the retail market spans everything from Bitcoin to meme coins, Ian was clear that these do not share equal foundations. Bitcoin — often viewed as an emergent “gold standard” — sits at one end of the spectrum, while highly speculative meme tokens, with little or no underlying economic rationale, sit at the other. This wide variability underscores the need for strong consumer protections and clear guardrails. Younger investors are already active in the market, as the FCA’s data shows, and the priority now must be ensuring they understand what they are investing in — while retaining proportionate access to an asset class that is open to all rather than restricted to high-net-worth individuals. On the wholesale and corporate side, Ian also highlighted the growing number of enterprise-led use cases: faster settlement, lower post-trade costs, improvements in cross-border payments, and new ways of hedging translation risk. These developments run in parallel to the retail market but operate with different incentives and infrastructure needs. As the Committee continues its inquiry, the focus must remain on balance. The UK has a real opportunity to support innovation, strengthen competitiveness, and improve financial inclusion while ensuring that consumers — especially younger adults — are protected from avoidable harm. Achieving this requires thoughtful, evidence-based policymaking that reflects the diversity of the crypto ecosystem. We’ll be sharing a series of clips from yesterday’s session over the coming days, each with additional context and commentary. If you'd like to be notified as soon as each clip is released, please follow and hit that notification bell!