Majority of institutional investors ready to buy digital assets, study says

A new study has found that institutional investors’ appetite for digital assets, including cryptocurrencies, is growing.

New data shows that institutional investors’ interest in cryptocurrencies and crypto-related businesses is continuing to grow. 

Fidelity Digital Assets, the crypto arm of the global asset management giant Fidelity Investments Inc, tasked Coalition Greenwich to survey 1,100 institutional investors to understand their expectations regarding digital asset investments.

The majority of surveyed investors expect to invest in digital assets in the future.

The survey was conducted between December 2020 and April 2021 with the participation of high-net-worth investors, family offices, digital and traditional hedge funds, financial advisors and endowments, Reuters reported.

The definition of digital asset investment defined by the survey team included investing in cryptocurrencies directly, buying crypto-related company stocks, or exposure through other investment products.

Some 70% of participants expect to invest in digital assets within the next five years. Nine out of 10 who are interested in investing foresee their company’s or their clients’ portfolios adding digital assets within the same time window.

Related: Fidelity to hire more crypto hands amid growing institutional interest

Fidelity Digital is working to keep up with the institutional interest in digital assets. Recently, the company was said to have increased its staff size by about 70% to handle the growing crypto appetite from institutional investors.

Grayscale is another player in the institutional investment game. Aside from cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) or Ether (ETH), the digital asset management firm also plans to enter the decentralized finance (DeFi) world.

On Monday, Grayscale announced a new investment vehicle targeted at DeFi assets.