Since fiscal year 2022, the SBI Financial and Economic Research Institute has been conducting annual surveys on consumer interest in and usage of various financial instruments, with a particular focus on new digital financial products (next-generation financial products) such as crypto-assets. The results of the fourth annual study, the "Next Generation Finance Survey 2025," conducted from late September to October 2025, have now been released.

Survey Overview

• This study aims to examine individuals’ asset selection behavior and the factors influencing their choices, focusing on new digital financial products such as crypto assets (CA), stablecoins (SC), security tokens (ST), and non-fungible tokens (NFT), in comparison with traditional risk-based products such as stocks and bonds.
• Surveys using identical questionnaires targeting individuals aged 20 and older in Japan, the U.S., Germany, and China were conducted from late September to October 2025.
• The total sample size used for the results is 22,000, comprising participants from Japan (n=10,000) and the other three countries (n=4,000 each).
• The survey consists of four categories: (1) Attributes of the participants; (2) Traditional risk-based products: awareness, investment experience, and perceptions; (3) New digital financial products: awareness, investment experience, perceptions, amount held, recent investment trends, and investment purpose; and (4) Financial literacy, risk aversion, and other factors that may influence financial asset selection decisions.　

Key Findings

• Awareness: Awareness of risk-based products (Q8) in Japan is slightly lower than that in other countries, while awareness of new digital financial products (Q14) is significantly lower. However, compared to the previous year, awareness of stablecoins and security tokens has improved in Japan.
• Investment Experience: Among those aware of each product, Japan has fewer individuals with investment experience in both risk-based products (Q9) and new digital financial products (Q15) than other countries.
• Perceptions: Regarding perceptions of stocks and other assets (Q12), Japan has a notably high number of responses citing "Anxiety about losses," whereas "Expecting profit" is the top response in other countries. For new digital financial products (Q20), "Anxiety about losses" is the dominant sentiment in all countries except China. Overall, negative responses (e.g., "Anxiety about losses," "Unable to understand the products or the investment methods") tend to be more common than positive ones (e.g., "Expecting profit," "Diversification effect"), a trend particularly pronounced in Japan.
• Current Holdings and Trends: Current asset allocations (Q17) show that Japan has a high proportion of cash and deposits, while the share of risk-based products is low, and new digital financial products have a significantly smaller share. Nevertheless, owners of new digital financial products across all countries, including Japan, are increasing their holdings (Q18).
• Future Portfolios: Analysis of ideal future portfolios (Q34) suggests a shift "from savings to investment," with many respondents wanting to reduce cash and deposits in favor of risk-based products and new digital financial products, and this tendency has strengthened compared with the previous year. In Japan, providing information on past returns for stocks (Q30_1 and Q34) and crypto-assets (Q30_4 and Q34) leads to increased investment in those respective categories, highlighting the significant influence of information provision on financial product choices. Furthermore, providing historical information on returns and uncertainty (Q30 to Q33) tends to change respondents' subjective return expectations.
• Payment Methods: In Japan, individuals who use cashless payments more frequently in their daily lives (Q22) tend to invest more in domestic stocks and crypto-assets (Cross-analysis with Q9 and Q15).
• Gender and Norms: Investment experience in risk-based products and new digital financial products (Q9 and Q15) is higher among men than women (Cross-analysis with Q1). Furthermore, those with male-dominated gender norms tend to have more investment experience (Cross-analysis with Q24).
• Financial Literacy: Germany ranks highest in financial literacy (Q25 to Q27), while Japan is at a similar level as the U.S. and China. In Japan, respondents with higher financial literacy tend to have more investment experience in risk-based products and crypto-assets (Cross-analysis with Q9 and Q15). While financial literacy is generally higher among those who have received financial education across all countries (Cross-analysis with Q11), the percentage of respondents receiving such education is low in Japan (Q11).
• Risk Preference: Respondents with a higher risk preference (Q29) tend to have more investment experience in both traditional and digital products (Cross-analysis with Q9 and Q15). Regarding the reasons for not purchasing "no-loss" investment products (Q30’), "Avoiding uncertainty" is the most common in Japan and the U.S., whereas "Lack of surplus funds" is most common in Germany and "Disinclination to answer hypothetical questions" is most common in China. When asked follow-up questions after being provided with information such as "no-loss" (Q31’), a certain percentage of respondents shifted from "would not buy" to "would buy."

Published Documents

For more details, please refer to the following official publications (released December 26, 2025):

"Next Generation Finance Survey 2025," December 26, 2025
"Next Generation Finance Survey 2025 (Overview)," December 26, 2025
"Next Generation Finance Survey 2025 (Questionnaire and Answer Choices)," December 26, 2025

For details of past survey results, please refer to the following:

Results of the Survey 2023
Results of the Survey 2024

Contact:

SBI Financial and Economic Research Institute
Address: Izumi Garden Tower 19F, 1-6-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-6019
Phone: +81-3-6229-1001
Attn: MASUJIMA, NAMBA