Majority of Institutions to Hold Digital Assets in Near Future, Survey Suggests

Most institutional investors look forward to adding digital assets to their portfolios, in spite of concerns over crypto market volatility. More than half of the respondents in a new survey conducted by Fidelity’s crypto subsidiary have revealed they already have digital asset investments.

Poll Confirms Strong Institutional Interest in Digital Assets

Despite the uncertain regulatory environment in the crypto space, 70% of institutional investors are likely to acquire digital assets in the near future, a study carried out for Fidelity Digital Assets has indicated. Price volatility remains a major obstacle to capital inflow, yet 90% of these respondents expect their firms and clients to buy cryptocurrency or make other crypto-related investments within the next five years.

The survey has been conducted by Coalition Greenwich among 1,100 institutional investors between December last year and April 2021. High net worth investors, family offices, digital and traditional hedge funds, financial advisors, and endowments were polled, Reuters detailed in a report. Over half of them said they had already invested in digital assets, either via direct purchase of cryptocurrency and related investment products or through acquisition of stocks of crypto companies.

This and other recent studies have confirmed a stable mainstream interest in crypto asset investments. A global poll released in June indicated that hedge funds are also planning to significantly increase their exposure to digital assets during the same five-year period.

In a vote of confidence, 100 CFOs said their funds would hold an average of 7.2% of their assets in cryptocurrency by 2026, or over an estimated $300 billion. That’s despite the decline in crypto prices and trading activity in past months, with the leading cryptocurrency, bitcoin (BTC), losing 50% of its market cap since April.

The participants in the poll ordered by Fidelity pointed to price volatility as the main barrier to potential investors that want to enter the crypto market. Another obstacle cited in the report is the lack of fundamentals necessary to assess the value of these assets, followed by concerns over possible market manipulation.

A JPMorgan survey of around 3,000 investors showed last month that an overwhelming majority of them (95%) believe fraud is prevalent in the crypto world, with only 10% of these professionals trading cryptocurrencies at the moment. As private investors, however, 40% of the respondents admitted to being active in the crypto market.