The majority of institutional investors plan to increase the share of digital assets in their portfolios in 2025, despite regulatory uncertainty.
According to a survey conducted by EY-Parthenon and Coinbase in January 2025 among 352 institutional investors, 86% of respondents are already investing in digital assets or plan to do so in the current year. More than 59% of those surveyed are ready to allocate over 5% of their AUM to crypto and related products.
Key reasons for increasing investments in digital assets include the potential for higher returns compared to traditional asset classes (59%), the innovative nature of the technology (49%), and hedging against inflation risks (41%).
Additional insights from the survey:
- 73% of investors, in addition to BTC and ETH, already own altcoins, with XRP and SOL being the most popular;
- 57% are considering investing in tokenized assets (alternative funds, real estate, bonds) for portfolio diversification;
- 84% expressed interest in using stablecoins, primarily for yield generation, transaction convenience, and forex operations.
Despite the growing interest in digital assets, regulatory uncertainty remains a key concern. 57% of investors believe that regulatory clarity will be the main catalyst for industry growth.
The most anticipated regulatory initiatives include:
- rules for cryptocurrency asset custody — 50%;
- digital asset classification — 49%;
- taxation — 46%.
According to the survey, 79% of investors expect crypto prices to rise in the next 12 months. Furthermore, interest in DeFi is rapidly growing, with the number of investors involved in this sector expected to triple over the next two years, reaching 75%. This trend is highlighted by the growing number of initiatives focused on tokenizing real-world assets with an emphasis on institutional investors.
