A recent study found that 52% of private Asian investors owned some form of cryptocurrency during Q1 2022. However, two-thirds of Asian asset management firms have been slow to offer clients cryptocurrencies as an investment vehicle.
According to a study by consulting firm Accenture, digital assets have become the fifth-largest asset class in the portfolios of private Asian investors. BTC and altcoins, stablecoins, security tokens and crypto investment funds accounted for an average of 7% of the portfolios of surveyed investors, second only to equities, fixed-income investments, cash and real estate.
More than 3,200 private investors from China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, whose investment portfolios range from $100,000 to $1 million, took part in the study.
Accenture estimates that digital assets account for 9% of Indonesian and Thai investors’ portfolios and 7% of Chinese, Indian and Malaysian investors’ portfolios. Similar figures for Singapore and Hong Kong investors are lower at 6% and 4%, respectively. And investors from Japan have the lowest figure in the region — their investment portfolios consist of only 3% of digital assets.
Accenture analysts found that 52% of surveyed investors in Asia already own digital assets, and another 21% intend to acquire them by the end of 2022. However, it should be noted that 67% of Asian asset management firms do not offer cryptocurrencies to clients as an investment vehicle and have no plans to do so anytime soon.
According to the survey, there are just two main reasons why firms do not offer digital assets as an investment vehicle:
- Relying on the high volatility of the cryptocurrency market, firms are looking to wait some more time and see how the industry will be regulated and what safeguards can be expected in the future.
- Firms see too many risks in creating digital asset offerings due to regulatory uncertainty and their operational complexity.
Unlike Asian firms, for example, U.S. insurance companies recognize the investment prospects of cryptocurrencies.
Accenture analysts emphasize that since asset management firms do not deal with cryptocurrencies, clients are forced to seek advisory information online. Experts at Accenture believe that this approach increases the illiteracy of the population with regard to digital assets, which in turn negatively affects the number of crypto investors. By the way, recent studies have shown that the number of users of digital assets is growing.
The study found that 38% of investors interested in cryptocurrency use online forums and social networks to get investment advice. Given this, recall that about half of scammers use social media to steal digital assets.
