- A recent Coinbase and EY-Parthenon survey of 350 institutional investors found 86% are exposed to crypto or plan to be in 2025, with 73% already holding at least one altcoin.
- Bitcoin and Ethereum are the most popular holdings, but XRP (34%) edges out Solana (30%) among altcoins, with most investors preferring exposure through ETFs rather than direct ownership.
- While 80% of institutional investors expect higher crypto prices and 70% see the sector as having the largest potential for risk-adjusted returns, many remain concerned about regulatory uncertainty, volatility and security.
- The survey methodology raises questions about bias, as respondents included a mix of past and current crypto investors and those who have never invested but may be planning to, potentially creating an overly bullish picture.
According to a recent survey, institutional investors seem to prefer XRP over Solana. Coinbase and EY-Parthenon released the survey on Tuesday which also found that institutional investors are increasingly planning to allocate to crypto in 2025.
The survey, conducted with the input of 350 institutional investors, showed that 86% of those surveyed are “exposed to crypto, or plan to be in 2025”.
Among the surveyed investors were asset managers, hedge funds, private banks and VC funds, family offices and asset owners (for example Pension, Endowment, Foundation, etc.).
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The survey focussed heavily on the United States and Europe, with the two regions accounting for 90% of respondents.
Survey was focused on US (62% of respondents) and Europe (28% in UK/ EU), with some representation from rest of world (“ROW,” 10% in APAC, LatAm, Africa).
Coinbase and EY-Parthenon survey
59% of them plan to allocate as much as 5% of their portfolio into crypto this year, while 73% hold at least one altcoin.
The survey also revealed that institutional investors are quite bullish on crypto, with 80% expecting higher prices, while 70% see crypto as the sector with the largest potential for risk-adjusted returns.
However, concerns over regulatory uncertainty, crypto’s volatility, asset security, market manipulation and criminal activity are of concern to survey respondents.
Interestingly, a third also thought the lack of fundamentals (for valuation) is of concern, which contrasts the bullishness mentioned before.
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Institutional Investors Prefer Altcoin Exposure via ETFs
Not surprisingly, the most held assets are Bitcoin and Ethereum. Most investors only hold 1-2 altcoins beyond these two largest cryptocurrencies.
XRP comes in with 34%, while Solana sits at 30% and Dogecoin is held by a solid 25% of institutional investors.
Another interesting fact of this survey is that only roughly a third of respondents hold crypto directly, either via a wallet or on an exchange.
The majority, or 60%, prefer to hold crypto via a “registered vehicle where crypto is the underlying asset”, aka exchange-traded products (ETPs) and most commonly exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
The slew of ETF applications – currently under consideration by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) – is very likely to continue to boost the asset class, if approved.
Survey Methodology Cause for Concern
One word of caution about the survey, though: the authors state that the survey was conducted with a “mix of respondents who have / are currently invested in digital assets (e.g., crypto, stablecoins) and digital asset products (e.g., funds, trusts, derivatives), and those who have never invested”.
So the survey included a mix of respondents: those currently or previously invested in crypto, alongside others planning to invest or showing interest. The survey doesn’t tell us what that mix exactly is.
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This means that the survey leaves out a significant portion of institutional investors who have no interest in, or plans to invest in, crypto and have not held crypto in the past or present:
Respondents are currently invested, previously invested, or planning to invest in digital assets or digital asset-related products in the next 12 months.
Coinbase and EY-Parthenon survey
This is likely the cause of the overly bullish picture the survey paints – so, while it is an interesting snapshot, it shouldn’t be taken as gospel.
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