The Bitwise/VettaFi 2024 Benchmark Survey of Financial Advisor Attitudes Toward Crypto Assets (Bitwise)

Summary

• Only 39% of financial advisors believe a spot bitcoin ETF will be approved in 2024, compared to Bloomberg ETF analysts who estimate a 90% chance of a January approval.p.3
• Eighty-eight percent (88%) of advisors interested in purchasing bitcoin are waiting until after a spot bitcoin ETF is approved to invest.p.3
• Only 19% of financial advisors reported being able to buy crypto directly in client accounts.p.3
• Ninety-eight percent (98%) of advisors currently allocating to crypto in client accounts plan to maintain or increase that allocation in 2024.p.4
• Fifty-nine percent (59%) of advisors reported that some or all of their clients were investing in crypto on their own outside the advisory relationship.p.4
• Regulatory uncertainty remains the top barrier to greater portfolio adoption, cited by 64% of advisors, followed by volatility at 47%.p.4

Key insights

1. Advisors favoring bitcoin over Ethereum grew to 71% in 2023, up from 53% in 2022.p.4
2. Large crypto allocations exceeding 3% of a client portfolio more than doubled, moving from 22% in 2022 to 47% in 2023.p.4
3. Crypto equity ETFs were advisors' top choice for allocation interest in 2024 at 28%.p.12
4. Sixty-four percent (64%) of advisors named exchange-traded funds as their overall preferred vehicle to invest in crypto.p.15
5. Fifty-two percent (52%) of advisors expect bitcoin's price to be higher in one year, and 64% expect it to be higher in five years.p.4
6. Fifty percent (50%) of advisors selected better regulation as the critical development that would make them more comfortable allocating to crypto.p.15
7. Concerns over custody and hacks dropped from 38% in 2022 down to 31% in 2023.p.14