Digital asset fund manager survey - July 2025

Confidence in Ethereum grows, scepticism towards the FED mounts

• Ethereum saw improved sentiment, rising to 30% from 21%, while Bitcoin remains dominant at 56% despite losing ground to Ethereum. Altcoins beyond the top three (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana) continue to be overlooked by institutional investors.

• Average digital asset allocation dipped to 0.9%, with individuals and family offices holding the largest shares. Corporate access restrictions and custody concerns remain major hurdles, especially for new investors.

• Diversification and access to blockchain tech are now top investment drivers, overtaking speculation. Concerns over volatility and regulation have eased, though custody and accessibility issues persist.

• A growing number of investors doubt the FED's current policy direction, with “not yet” responses reaching their highest since Jan 2024—fuelling interest in Bitcoin as a hedge against monetary uncertainty.

Ethereum looks to be the only asset where sentiment has improved, rising from 21% to 30% of respondents believing it has the most compelling growth outlook. Bitcoin remains the most favoured asset, comprising 56% of the responses, although, along with Solana, it looks to have lost out to Ethereum.

While altcoin season is much talked about, it isn’t evident amongst institutional investors, with a continued belief that none have a compelling growth outlook.

Digital asset weighting in portfolios has fallen slightly to 0.9%, surprising given the dramatic inflows seen in our weekly fund flows report,  with US$30bn seen so far this year.

Those with the most flexible investment mandates, Individuals and Family offices have the largest positions of 48% and 4.5% respectively. Institutional funds have an average 1% position.

There is a high correlation between the asset market capitalisation and positions in various assets.

The survey shows that little has changed compared to the last survey in terms of positioning, with investors remaining focussed on little else other than the top 3, Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana. With some taking a multi-token approach.

Despite recent inflows into XRP, this sentiment has not been reflected in our survey cohort.

Diversification and access to distributed ledger technology remain the top two reasons to invest in digital assets. “Diversification” was lower than “speculative” in 2022, but this has steadily climbed to the top spot over time. Conversely, speculation has steadily fallen from being the top reason to invest and now ranking 5^th .

Interestingly, despite recent price rises, an increasing number see digital assets as good value.

Among those who have not yet invested, volatility is still cited as the primary reason, although worries for both this and regulation have fallen significantly, likely due to much lower volatility in recent months (lower than Nasdaq volatility at times) and growing regulatory acceptance globally. 

Corporate restrictions and accessibility have risen dramatically, suggesting some investors in the survey still find it challenging to access the asset class.

Understandably, we have seen a significant fall in regulatory concerns, volatility and political interference amongst those who have already invested.

Although custody seems to remain a sticking point for many, with 24% citing it as an issue. This surprises us but suggests there remains a misunderstanding of decentralised exchanges and spot-based physically backed ETP structures.

The total number who believe the FED has not made a policy error has fallen in favour of “not yet”, suggesting an increasing number of investors are sceptical of current FED policy. This is the highest number of “not yets” since January 2024. It comes at a time where there is increasing division amongst FED members. Uncertain monetary policy is often cited a reason why investors buy Bitcoin.

About our survey

The July 2025 Survey drew 34 responses from investors who cover ~US$529bn of assets under management.