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Advisers Increasingly Considering Crypto in Financial Plans
Among advisers who recommend investing in cryptocurrencies, the most common allocation remains 2% of assets, according to a Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals survey.
As of 2024’s fourth quarter, an average of one in five advisers reports that they recommend crypto to clients, with more than one-third (35%) recommending it to at least half of their clients, according to a recent survey. This is nearly double the percentage reported in Q3 2024.
However, advisers surveyed by the Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals still recommend it as a very minor allocation in the overall portfolio. Half of advisers who recommend crypto keep the allocation recommendation to 5% or less. The most common allocation recommendation remains 2% of assets, recommended by 30% of advisers, while another 20% recommend a 5% allocation.
The Advisor Pulse Survey, conducted by DACFP and sponsored by Franklin Templeton Digital Assets, showed a “significant acceleration in crypto adoption among both advisers and their clients,” said DACFP Founder Ric Edelman.
One-quarter of the 266 advisers surveyed also reported that more than half of their clients now own digital assets. Most respondents (63%) to the survey primarily serve clients with assets ranging from $500,000 to $3.5 million, and 34% manage more than $100 million in assets.
Nearly half (46%) of advisers surveyed who do not yet recommend crypto reported they intend to do so in the future; of those, 90% intend to recommend allocations of 1% to 5%.
Cryptocurrency still has not made significant inroads in retirement plans, though Aliya Robinson, managing legal counsel of the legislative and regulatory affairs division at T. Rowe Price, noted there is significant excitement and buzz for the use of private investments and cryptocurrency in retirement plans, as both the administration of President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress have expressed support for expanding these investments (see “2025 Retirement Outlook: Tax Changes, Cryptocurrency Trends and Litigation Reforms”). However, she said there is still much education to be done, both in Congress and in federal agencies, so she expects small changes rather than large, immediate shifts of the asset classes into retirement plan investment offerings.
In 2022, a DOL official reported “grave concerns” about an investment offering from Fidelity that included bitcoin as an investment for inclusion in 401(k) plans.
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