Family offices have traditionally been cautious about buying cryptocurrency. But recent developments — such as bitcoin’s surge last year, the Trump administration’s support of the industry, the rise of crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and the growth of tokenized assets — have made the market more appealing to high-net-worth families.
About 27% of family offices in a recent Citi Private Bank survey said they had already invested or planned to invest in digital assets — a turnaround from 2023, when only 8% were bullish on crypto. At the time, net sentiment for the sector was the most negative compared with all other assets.
Overall, the crypto market is expected to exceed $4 trillion this year.
Most recently, the Avenir Group, a Hong Kong-based family office, invested $599 million in the BlackRock Bitcoin ETF, signaling growing institutional interest in digital assets. The move made Avenir Asia’s largest holder of bitcoin ETFs and highlighted Hong Kong’s plans to waive taxes on investment gains from cryptocurrencies for certain institutional investors.
It also illustrates how ETFs have become an increasingly attractive way for once-wary family offices to gain exposure to bitcoin without having to directly own the cryptocurrency.
“We are optimistic about the long-term prospects of bitcoin and other crypto assets,” said Jason Lan, CEO of Avenir Crypto Business. “As the U.S. enters a rate-cutting cycle and regulatory frameworks become clearer, it is expected that mainstream institutions will increase their presence in the crypto asset space, attracting more investors to enter the market quickly and share the benefits of its growth.”
Bitcoin recently surpassed the long-awaited $100,000 benchmark before retreating in recent weeks, partly fueled by Trump’s pro-crypto sentiment. Soon after taking office, he signed an executive order promoting cryptocurrency in the U.S., including a proposal to establish a national digital asset stockpile.
“We’ve come a long way,” said Kristen Mirabella, head of partnerships at Eaglebrook Advisors, a crypto investment platform. “Everyone was so afraid to touch crypto after FTX,” she said, referring to the crypto exchange that went bankrupt in November 2022.
“We’re definitely seeing more interest in the space from family offices,” Mirabella said, though she acknowledges that volatility remains a concern, “especially for the family that’s thinking about long-term investment.”
‘Beyond bitcoin and ethereum’
The rise of regulated platforms and ETFs has lent some stability to the sector, making crypto an increasingly common component of family offices’ diversified portfolios — usually comprising 1% to 5% of total assets, Mirabella said. Crypto separately managed accounts (SMAs) — portfolios of digital assets actively managed by professional investment managers — also offer benefits, such as automated tax-loss harvesting and institutional-grade storage solutions, she said.
“This is the first time that family offices have reached out to me instead of me seeking them out,” said Ben Wiener, founder of Benaiah Capital, a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, investment firm focused on digital assets. Wiener said that in the past, “I’d leave a meeting, and they’d say: ‘That guy’s crazy. Can you imagine investing in cryptocurrency?’ ”
Now, family offices are beginning to see real opportunities in the sector, particularly as equities become overinflated, Wiener said. The White House’s support for crypto, he said, has been a significant factor, “giving a green light to the industry — beyond just bitcoin and ethereum.”
The recent proposal to include smaller coins like cardano and solana in the crypto strategic reserve suggests that investors are becoming more receptive to newer cryptocurrencies. “There’s an idea that investors might have missed the boat on bitcoin and ethereum, but this could be their chance,” Wiener said. Even though bitcoin is a “tremendous asset,” he believes several other cryptocurrencies will significantly outperform it.
Understanding how it works
For investors who are experienced in researching equities but may feel intimidated by the crypto sector, education is key. “It’s about trying to get people to understand what it is, how it works and who the people behind it are,” Mirabella said.
She advises investors to analyze the top 25 cryptocurrencies by market cap and evaluate them as they would a portfolio of stocks. “What blockchain are they building on? What does that blockchain do? Maybe it’s for speed. Maybe it’s for storage of other documents. Maybe it’s for bringing real-world assets onto the chain,” Mirabella said.
By doing this analysis, she said, “you can feel better about what you’re including in your portfolio.”
Typically, next-generation members of family offices have been the first to invest in crypto, Mirabella said. But as the sector gains mainstream acceptance, even older family members are taking an interest.
“I think it means that they understand it’s not going away and that it could have real value, especially as the next generation is going to inherit the portfolio,” she said.
Along with the surge in crypto, interest is growing in blockchain’s evolving role in finance. More family offices — such as the Cooper Family Office in Boca Raton, Florida; and Lightning Capital in Sag Harbor, New York — are investing in early- and late-stage companies involved in decentralized finance (DeFi).
Lightning’s CEO, Jason Albanese, said the firm’s venture fund is focused on “teams that are solving critical challenges in digital-asset technology and infrastructure. The companies must be institutionalizing and/or improving the [user experience] of the digital-asset ecosystem.”
As stewards of intergenerational wealth, Albanese said, “the strategic inclusion of digital assets is not just an acknowledgment of their growth potential but a proactive step in building a resilient portfolio capable of withstanding the vicissitudes of the economic landscape.”
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