- 83% of institutional investors propose to increase their crypto allocations in 2025.
- Some investors revealed plans to allocate about 5% of their AUM to crypto this year.
- The survey was conducted in January by U.S. crypto exchange Coinbase and EY-Parthenon.
The cryptocurrency market has been facing a tough time with the king of crypto, Bitcoin, giving mixed signals. At the time of press, the asset is trading at $83K, with a spike of 0.90% in the last 24 hours. Despite the downtrend, the market has become an active space for institutional investors. Based on research by U.S. crypto exchange Coinbase and consultancy firm EY-Parthenon, around 83% of institutional firms have planned to boost their crypto allocations in 2025.
Conducting the study in January, involving about 352 firms, the survey further revealed that around 59% of investors have plans to allocate about 5% of their AUM to crypto this year. With President Donald Trump at the helm, the crypto market has developed significantly, garnering interest from investors at the start of the year. Further, investors are confident in the future prospects for stablecoins, DeFi, tokenization, and much more.
Broad use cases are driving growth interest in stablecoins. About 84% of investors in the survey are either in possession of stablecoins or in the plan of buying them. Investors who possess stablecoins in their holdings have allocated them to several functions that include internal cash management, foreign exchange, external payments, and generating yield. Further, about 73% of investors revealed that their firms hold Ripple’s XRP and Solana in addition to Bitcoin and Ethereum, whereas 68% of investors indicated that they would likely purchase single-asset exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for SOL and XRP. With the SEC-Ripple lawsuit coming to an end soon, the altcoin has garnered attention from investors.
Related: Ripple Expands in UAE with DFSA License for Crypto Services
Speculations are rife that the DeFi space will witness a boom in the upcoming two years. Further, the survey revealed that only 24% of investors are active on DeFi platforms, citing that the platform is accessible for staking, derivatives, and lending. Further, the firms pointed out that the platform provides access to altcoins, cross-border settlements, and yield farming. Although the study pointed to the investors’ inclination toward crypto, concerns arose regarding regulatory insights into the sector.
Although Gary Gensler is out of the picture and the Acting SEC Chair Mark Uyeda has relaxed the iron hand against crypto, investors are taking time before making their decision. Apart from the regulatory issues, investors have also highlighted concerns about market volatility. However, some investors have pointed out that the market witnessed significant developments in the first quarter of 2025, arousing interest in the assets. Despite mixed responses, the study concluded that a majority of firms are inclined to the crypto sector, with some planning to boost their holdings.
