Consumers may not be trusting of cryptocurrency, but they want a piece of it anyway, according to a Morning Consult report.

The company surveyed 4,400 consumers on their cryptocurrency opinions and habits and found that since the beginning of the year, trust in cryptocurrency among the general U.S. public has dropped from minus 30 percentage points in January to minus 38 percentage points in April.

But that has not dampened the hunger for the digital currency, as roughly a quarter of adults indicate that they plan to purchase crypto in the next month, down only 2 percentage points from January. The survey also found that among those likely to purchase crypto, only 21% said they trust it a lot and 57% trust it some. Another 21% said they do not trust cryptocurrency but plan to buy it anyway.
  
“I am constantly surprised by the strong purchase intent amongst the general population of cryptocurrency,” said Morning Consult financial services analyst Charlotte Principato, noting that almost one in four consumers month over month are considering purchasing cryptocurrency and one in five own it.

“So, I think it's worth financial services leaders reminding themselves that crypto is mainstream and we can’t forget that. While you could look at these numbers of trust and say, ‘Oh well, it’s not a big deal that people are purchasing crypto even though they don’t trust it,’ I don’t think you can ignore that anymore because it’s going to have an impact on how consumers view all their financial services providers,” she said.

Principato pointed out that the survey also looked at how consumers view their trust in traditional financial services providers such as banks, credit unions and investment management companies, and found that cryptocurrency owners’ trust in most of these institutions is higher than that of the general population. “This should be seen as proof that consumers can trust in both traditional and trustless financial services,” she said.

And while that may seem counterintuitive, Principato said it’s important for financial services leaders to know as they begin to embrace crypto—“as traditional providers are adopting it or thinking of advising consumers on purchasing crypto to know how crypto owners think, not just about crypto but about financial services in general,” she said.