Institutional Digital Asset Survey Report

June 15, 2020  •  16 min read

Introduction

Understanding the preferences of major institutions and their behavior toward the digital assets industry is a core driver of product and business development at Fidelity Crypto LC^SM.

Fidelity Crypto LC, Fidelity Center for Applied Technology and Fidelity Consulting collaborated with Greenwich Associates to survey almost 800 investors. This year’s survey included over 300 more investors than last year’s, with a deeper dive into investor segments and the European market. The responses and insights are instrumental in gauging institutional interest and adoption of digital assets, as well as understanding the key barriers to participation in the asset class.

Survey Shows European Investors Generally Have More Progressive View of Digital Assets

The most recent installment was conducted blind by Greenwich Associates from November 2019 to early March 2020; Greenwich interviewed almost 800 investors across the U.S. and Europe. In each region, the number of investors surveyed was roughly equal at almost 400 investors per region. The first installment of The Institutional Investors Digital Assets Survey covered the period of November 2018 to January 2019 and surveyed over 400 U.S. investors. Thus, the year-over-year comparisons depicted below compare only the responses of U.S. investors.

The results show that European investors generally have a more progressive view of digital assets, made evident when comparing the responses across all categories. Among U.S. investors, we saw growth across all categories including familiarity, positive perception and appeal, current exposure, propensity for future investment and more in this year’s results. The strength of concerns about digital assets among U.S. investors also declined relative to last year’s survey. In this report, we provide key data points from the survey along with our incremental commentary and interpretation of the results based on our experience serving institutional investors in the digital asset industry.

To learn more about how institutions, advisors, and investors think about digital assets - not only overall, but also as a part of an investment portfolio, download the full piece.