Over the past four years, the amount of digital assets in Australian self-managed superannuation funds has increased by 400%, surpassing the growth rate of stocks and bonds.
According to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), nearly 612,000 self-managed superannuation funds hold cryptocurrencies totaling approximately 992 million Australian dollars (~$658.6 million) as of Q3 2023. This compares to around 198 million Australian dollars (~$131.5 million) at the end of Q3 2019.
In Australia, self-managed superannuation funds, also known as self-managed super funds (SMSF), allow savers to take control of how their superannuation assets are invested. It’s worth noting that SMSF assets are used solely as retirement savings. Retirement is controlled by the Australian Taxation Office, so SMSFs are bound by superannuation laws. But the structures of crypto portfolios and data on their effectiveness aren’t available, as the ATO representatives don’t provide such information.
The amount of funds invested by SMSF managers in cryptocurrencies decreased by 0.8% compared to Q2 2023 and by 2.4% compared to Q3 2022. Moreover, the amount of crypto held in self-managed funds is currently still 39% lower compared to the all-time high of 1.6 billion Australian dollars ($1.06 billion) recorded in Q2 2021. At the end of 2022, cryptocurrencies accounted for only 0.1% of total net assets held in Australian SMSFs.
According to last year’s Schwab study, about half of Gen Z and Millennials in the U.S. consider investing in the cryptocurrency market as retirement savings. The public demand has led financial holding company Fidelity Investments to add the ability to invest up to 20% of 401(k) retirement savings accounts directly in Bitcoin.
