BY MARKO VIDRIH: Institutional investors are gradually entering the cryptocurrency market: a Fidelity survey showed that 22% of them added digital assets to their portfolio.

The US asset management company conducted a survey of 411 institutional investors in the United States, which include pension funds, family offices, crypto, and traditional hedge funds, in order to understand the attitude of investors to a new asset class.

Fidelity analysts have found that most investments have been made in the past three years, amid growing excitement around digital assets. The survey also showed that 47% of participants are open to investing in crypto assets over the next five years.

According to the company, although 47% of investors plan to add digital assets to their portfolio, the approach to the market is different. While 72% of participants are willing to buy investment products related to cryptocurrency, 57% prefer to buy crypto assets directly and another 57% are ready to buy an investment product owned by companies engaged in digital assets.

“We’ve seen a maturation of interest in digital assets from early adopters, like crypto hedge funds, to traditional institutional investors like family offices and endowments,” said Tom Jessop, president of Fidelity Digital Assets. “More institutional investors are engaging with digital assets, either directly or through service providers, as the potential impact of blockchain technology on financial markets – new and old – becomes more readily apparent,” he added.

The study also showed that 47% of organizations consider digital assets as an innovative class of technology assets, and 46% consider the existing low correlation between digital and traditional asset classes an attractive feature.

“Institutions are doing the work to develop their own investment theses—but there’s more work to be done as it relates to describing digital assets and blockchain technology in terms that are familiar to them,” said Jessop.

Previous studies have also shown increasing institutional presence in the industry. A joint study of Global Custodian, Trade Crypto, and BitGo showed that 94% of trust funds have some form of investment in cryptocurrency. The survey participants were located in three countries – the USA, Canada and the UK.

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