CoinShares analysts surveyed 261 wealth management professionals in France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and the UK. The main takeaway from the study is that clients have already invested in digital assets, but their advisors are unaware of it.
Experts have termed this a "management gap." For 25% of European advisors, more than half of a client's crypto portfolio is out of sight. In the UK, this figure rises to 52%.
The primary cause of the issue, according to experts, is the internal policies of firms rather than a lack of knowledge or demand. Approximately 61% of professionals work at firms that either prohibit cryptocurrency transactions or lack clear guidelines for handling them. In such organizations, advisors recommend digital assets 4.5 times less frequently than in firms with more lenient policies.
Jean-Marie Monietti, head of CoinShares, noted that capital is already allocated, but managers are not seeing it. He stated that the lack of transparency hinders risk assessment and trust-building, while clients have begun investing on their own without waiting for official approvals.
To address the issue, 45% of respondents are awaiting regulatory recognition of cryptocurrencies. Another 43% believe that the launch of exchange-traded products is necessary. However, only 9% of respondents expressed interest in educational tools.
Analysts expect that the implementation of MiCA regulations in July 2026 and the approval of cryptocurrency funds in Europe will help bridge this gap and bring assets back under the control of professional managers.
It is worth noting that in the first quarter of 2026, institutional investors filing 13F forms reduced their positions in U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs by 17%.