According to a report by Aspen Digital, 76% of family offices surveyed in the second half of this year hold crypto assets. DeFi, artificial intelligence (AI) and DePin are among his main areas of interest.

The private fortune has a positive long-term view on cryptocurrencies and expects BTC to trade in five-figures by the end of December. An increasing number of Asia-based private wealth managers are starting to enter the crypto market; Some predict that bitcoin (BTC) will reach $100,000 by the end of the year.

Digital assets are emerging as an alternative investment class for private wealth in Asia, according to a report published by digital asset technology platform Aspen Digital; 76% of family offices have invested in cryptocurrencies, while 16% plan to invest in the future.

This is a significant improvement from the previous study conducted in 2022; At that time, 58% had exposure to digital assets and 34% were considering investing. While most respondents cited the expectation of high returns as the primary reason, a growing number listed the appeal of diversification and inflation protection as key motivations for investing in digital assets.

The report is based on a survey of more than 80 family offices and high-net-worth individuals conducted in the second half of this year. Most participants have assets under management (AUM) between $10 million and $500 million; 20% have AUM of more than $500 million. The report also includes contributions from SBI Digital Markets and the Hong Kong Family Offices Association.

Decentralized finance (DeFi) remains a key area of ​​interest, with 67% of respondents expressing interest in DeFi developments; This is followed by artificial intelligence and decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePin) with 61%, blockchain infrastructure with 50%, and real world assets (RWA) tokenization with 47%.

“We think every asset class will eventually move to blockchain, representing tremendous growth potential for DeFi by leveraging the competitive advantages offered by blockchain technologies. Currently, approximately 85 million users interact with financial services on-chain, with this number expected to increase to 200 million by the end of 2025,” Re7 Capital said. “We expect it to exceed,” he said.

One participant noted the ease of trading memecoin on Ethereum rival Solana, while another executive found liquid restaking tokens (LRT) “too complicated.” The survey also highlighted the preference for digital asset custody at the institutional level.

The private wealth sector has a positive long-term outlook; 31% of respondents predict that bitcoin could rise to at least $100,000 by the end of the 4th quarter. Respondents cited interest rate cuts, US presidential election results, and positive developments in the crypto industry as the main positive drivers.

Despite the optimism, most private wealth managers allocate less than 5% of their portfolios to digital assets. The report cited the fragmented nature of digital assets, regulatory uncertainty, and poor user experience as critical barriers to widespread adoption.

However, 30% of respondents are hopeful of increasing their exposure in the future, and many high-net-worth individuals and family offices have increased their exposure from 5% to over 10% in 2024, following the launch of spot-based bitcoin and ether ETFs It aims to gain exposure to the broader crypto market.