Citi survey reveals family offices doubled down on crypto year-over-year

The number of family offices optimistic about crypto more than doubled to 17% this year from 8%, with direct exposure being their favored form of investing, according to Citi’s “Global Family Office 2024 Survey Report” published on Sept. 20.

The report indicated that interest in digital assets continues to increase from a low base. Both large and small family offices — those with less and more than $500 million in assets under management, respectively — showed similar levels of interest in digital assets, with direct crypto and crypto-linked investment funds being top priorities.

About a quarter of respondents had already invested or were planning to invest in digital assets, with 17% categorized as early adopters and 10% as “digital asset curious.”

Notably, most of the early adopters seem to be experimenting with crypto, as 15% of them allocated less than 5% of their portfolio to crypto.

Family offices favor direct exposure

Family offices still favor direct exposure to crypto, with 24% of the surveyed entities investing directly in digital assets. Meanwhile, 18% of family offices reported exposure through exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Large family offices are more interested in tokenized real-world assets (RWA) than their smaller counterparts, with 11% of large entities reporting an exposure to crypto versus 3% for the latter.

On the other hand, small family offices have a greater appetite for derivatives, with 8% having exposure to these products compared to 3% of the larger entities.

Additionally, despite having similar exposure through stablecoins, the number of small family offices exposed to non-fungible tokens (NFT) is 4x higher than larger firms.

Asia Pacific leads in interest

The report also highlighted that family offices still lack proper education about crypto, as two-thirds of participants remained undecided about which digital asset product to explore.

Asia Pacific led in digital asset adoption, with 37% of family offices invested or interested in investing in digital assets. One in twenty family offices in the region reported more than 10% of investable assets in digital assets.

Meanwhile, Latin American family offices showed the least interest, with 83% not prioritizing an allocation in digital assets.

While the overall trend shows increased interest, the report also noted that the percentage of those planning to add to their allocations minus those planning to decrease was negative (-11%) for digital assets. This means there is more interest in reducing exposure compared to increasing it despite the bullish sentiment in the market.

Additionally, the Citi report highlighted that crypto is not a priority for a significant majority (73%) of the surveyed family offices.

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