Bitwise CIO Says “Most Powerful People in Finance” Are Investing in Cryptocurrency
While significant allocations toward bitcoin in financial advisors’ client accounts may still be a ways off, an increasing number of them are allocating to crypto assets in their personal portfolios, according to Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan.
“A wave of the most powerful people in finance are finally investing in crypto,” Hougan said in a memo to clients on Tuesday, reflecting on his keynote address at the Barron’s Advisor 100 Summit in Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday.
The summit is a gathering of top U.S. financial advisors, and Hougan was invited to speak after the launch of exchange-traded Bitcoin Spot ETFs, including Bitwise’s BITB product, earlier this year.
In an attempt to gauge the space, Hougan began by asking how many people held bitcoin or another crypto asset in their personal portfolios.
Hougan, who had attended the summit and asked the same question for the past three years, said the answer was previously in the 10% to 20% range. However, this time, the Bitwise CIO estimated it was more like 70%, as “almost every hand in the room went up.”
“There’s a very fancy technical word that economists use for this kind of year-over-year phenomenon: wow!” Hougan added.
When he went on to ask how many had bitcoin allocations in client accounts, very few kept their hands up, Hougan clarified, which is not surprising given that many of the advisors work for broker-dealers who are not yet allowed to buy bitcoin ETFs on the spot.
In his experience, however, Hougan said advisors almost always allocate funds to their personal accounts first, with allocations to clients typically following six to 12 months later.
