A new study by Fidelity Digital Assets, a subsidiary of financial giant Fidelity Investments, shows that 58% of institutional investors surveyed invested in digital assets in the first half of this year and 74% plan to invest in the future.
Fidelity’s Institutional Investor Digital Assets Study
Fidelity Digital Assets, a subsidiary of financial giant Fidelity Investments, released its fourth annual “Institutional Investor Digital Assets Study” Thursday. The study features a blind survey conducted between Jan. 2 and June 24. A total of 1,052 institutional investors in the U.S. (410), Europe (359), and Asia (283) participated.
According to the study:
Nearly six in 10 (58%) institutional investors surveyed invested in digital assets in the first half of 2022, while 74% plan to invest in the future.
In addition, 88% of institutional investors surveyed “find characteristics of digital assets appealing” and 51% “have a positive perception of digital assets.”
More than 81% of institutional investors surveyed believe that digital assets should be a part of an investment portfolio. Nearly 39% of respondents globally that invest buy digital assets directly, with bitcoin and ether noted as the most popular direct investment assets.
Fidelity detailed:
As the digital assets market and ecosystem continues to mature, fewer institutional investors now view digital assets as an alternative asset class, particularly in the U.S. and Asia.
According to the survey, “Lack of fundamentals to gauge value, security concerns among institutions and end-clients, market manipulation risks, complexity, and regulatory concerns were all cited by at least one-third of respondents as a reason why they do not currently invest in digital assets.”
Tom Jessop, president of Fidelity Digital Assets, commented: “The increased adoption reflected in the data speaks to a strong first half of the year for the digital assets industry.” He opined:
While the markets have faced headwinds in recent months, we believe that digital assets fundamentals remain strong and that the institutionalization of the market over the past several years has positioned it to weather recent events.
Fidelity Digital Assets has been ramping up services for institutional investors interested in having exposure to cryptocurrency in their portfolios. This week, the firm began offering ethereum (ETH) trading.
The firm recently explained how bitcoin could be considered portfolio insurance. “Bitcoin remains one of the few assets that does not correspond to another person’s liability, has no counterparty risk, and has a supply schedule that cannot be changed,” Fidelity Digital Assets described.
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