Invest2 publishers2 min readPublished
Platform access at 42% caps the 60% of wealth managers who say they will allocate to crypto
A Bitwise poll of about 400 wealth managers put stated intent to allocate at 60% within a year. The Bitwise/VettaFi benchmark shows 32% of advisors allocated in 2025, and 42% could buy crypto at all.
The Investor · Invest desk
What happened
- Bitwise's head of research polled a room of roughly 400 wealth managers in September 2026, and 67% said they hold no crypto exposure at all in client portfolios.
- Some 60% of the same respondents said they plan to add a crypto allocation for clients within the next 12 months.
- The 2026 Bitwise/VettaFi Benchmark Survey found 32% of financial advisors had allocated to crypto for clients during 2025, up from 22% the year before.
- That same benchmark put the share of advisors able to buy crypto for clients at 42% in 2025, against 35% in 2024.
- Crypto Briefing describes the exercise as an informal audience poll at a Bitwise event, not a randomized sample of the wealth management industry.
Compiled by The InvestorSomething wrong?How this is made
Why it matters
- constraint An advisor cannot allocate on a platform that will not hold the asset, and the 18-point gap between 60% intent and 42% access means the selling is done to compliance committees, not to advisors.
- decision Anyone modelling the AUM ramp of a distribution-dependent crypto product has to choose a base rate, and only the 32% has been measured after the fact.
- contradiction Bitwise flags self-selection in its own audience, yet that audience's non-allocation rate lands within a point of the industry benchmark, so the caveat bites on the intent figure and not on the holdings figure.
- capability Because existing crypto-holding portfolios are increasingly sized above 2%, inflows can grow without a single additional advisor signing on.
Divide the 32% of advisors who allocated in 2025 by the 42% who could buy crypto for clients at all, and about three-quarters of advisors with access used it [14]. The 2024 pair was 22 over 35, or 63% [14]. Access widened by 7 points in that year [19], while the rate at which access turned into an allocation rose 13 [14].
Hold that conversion rate at 76% and the 60% allocation the room described needs access of about 79%, against 42% in 2025 [15]. At last year's pace of 7 points, the 37-point gap takes roughly five years to close [20]. The room said twelve months [2]. Crowdfund Insider's account attributes the majority still sitting out to operational, compliance and firm-level restrictions [12].
The same problem stated as headcount: if every one of the 60% who intend to allocate comes from the 67% who have not, that room ends the year 93% allocated, with 7% holding out [18].
Bitwise's own write-up flags self-selection, noting the poll was informal and taken at a company event [7], and Rasmussen shared the results after he and chief investment officer Matt Hougan spoke to the room [3]. The caveat lands on intent more than on holdings. Subtract the benchmark's 32% from 100 and 68% of advisors had not allocated in 2025, a point above the 67% in the room [13].
The case for a faster ramp does not need the 60% at all. Among portfolios that already hold digital assets, a larger share now carry allocations above 2% [11]. Sizing up inside existing accounts moves dollars while the advisor count grinds along at ten points a year [4].
I would underwrite a distribution-dependent crypto product on 32%, with 42% as the near-term ceiling. Another 45% year would put allocation at about 46% in 2026 [17], and a 2027 benchmark above that would show the intent number was worth more than I am giving it. Access clearing 60% would settle it sooner [6]. In the room itself, XRP drew more questions than anything else [9]. The session also covered Hyperliquid, stablecoins and tokenization alongside Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana [10]. Sixty per cent of respondents expected prices higher by the end of 2026 [8].
What to watch
- The 2027 Bitwise/VettaFi benchmark: whether allocation clears about 46% and whether advisor access clears 50%.
- Whether the share of crypto-holding portfolios sized above 2% keeps rising, since sizing lifts flows with no new advisors.
- Whether the XRP interest in the room turns into advisor-distributed product, or stays a question in a conference session.