Sygnum, a digital asset banking group, revealed the results of its Future Finance 2025 global institutional investor report. The late-Q3 survey examines the interests, market sentiment and behavior of 1000+ institutional and professional investors currently active in the crypto market across 43 different countries. The report shared by Sygnum bank has several key themes; asset allocation, investment strategies, products and services, investment barriers, market outlook, along with a focus on High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs).
The Sygnum update noted that they now see respondents rating portfolio diversification (57%) as the primary reason to invest in digital assets, reportedly overtaking “short-term return potential (53%) and perceived value as a safe-haven investment and macro hedge (45%).”
Various factors are now said to be driving this trend shift. Crypto asset’s multi-dimensional nature and idiosyncratic properties are “enabling new diversified models within multi-asset portfolios.”
A growing digital asset universe, from yield generating DeFi to tokenized Real World Assets (RWAs), is also enhancing diversification potential, especially when supported by institutional-grade infrastructure and on-ramps. This year’s report indicates that institutional crypto investors are now thinking less “crypto as defence” and more about “participation” in the structural evolution of global finance.
Key Numbers to make note of:
- OUTLOOK → 61% plan to increase their digital asset allocations and 55% lean bullish in the short-term – however this is dependent on the Q4 arrival of a number of market catalysts and improved market conditions
- STRATEGY → 76% favour direct token investments and 55% support ETPs/ETFs
- BITCOIN → Over 80% believe Bitcoin is a viable treasury reserve, and 70% report that holding cash instead of Bitcoin has a high opportunity cost over 5 years
- TOKENIZED RWAs → 26% are interested in this asset class due to greater product availability – up 20% from 2024
- STABLECOINS → 50% allocation due to improved regulatory conditions – this is likely to grow further
- ETFs → Over 80% are interested in crypto ETFs beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum, with 70% willing to start allocating, or to allocate more, if they offered staking
- HNWIs → 91% agree that crypto is important in long-term wealth preservation
Lucas Schweiger, Lead Crypto Asset Ecosystem Research and report author, says that digital assets and traditional finance are now intertwined more than ever through legislation, regulated derivatives, corporate demand and exciting new tokenisation and stablecoin trends.
Lucas added that the story of 2025 is one of measured risk, pending regulatory decisions and powerful demand catalysts against a “backdrop of fiscal and geopolitical pressures.”
But investors are now better informed for the most part. and discipline has tempered exuberance, but “not conviction, in the market’s long-term growth trajectory.”
Other key observations from the report:
- Top investment strategies are now actively managed and passive market exposure
- Single token exposure is no longer the dominant strategy, with institutional respondents now looking towards actively managed mandates that can adapt to changing market conditions and spread risk more evenly. The rise in the popularity of discretionary mandates is explained by a market outlook that is now highly event and policy driven.
- More than 70 percent of respondents said they would start to allocate, or consider increasing their allocations, if staking were enabled on the more than 90 ETF applications pending SEC approval. Interest was strongest in the Solana and multi-asset ETPs, the latter seen by many investors as the next-stage of evolution for these products. While the SEC has delayed some filings due to the US Government shutdown, including BlackRock’s ETH staking amendment, earlier unexpected approvals may act as market catalysts.
- Direct token investments and ETFs dominate product interest
According to respondents, direct token investments continue to dominate institutional allocations, “likely due to the performance of major tokens and their ability to be flexibly deployed into staking, lending and other yield-generating strategies.”
Demand for ETH has surged in parallel with its ETF and treasury demand growth, while interest in “actively managed and index-linked certificates shows that investors are looking for ways to adjust exposure as conditions change.”
Regulatory uncertainty has now overtaken digital asset volatility as the primary obstacle to entry, which could suggest that investors are now at ease with prevailing market conditions and current cycles, and are now rather waiting for legislation and frameworks to be introduced.
This trend is seemingly evident in APAC than in Europe. When asked about the greatest barriers to investing in digital assets, respondents also “cited concerns around security and custody.”
These are reminders that proper infrastructure will be a prerequisite for traditional institutional investors to invest with “peace of mind.”
In late Q3, steady Q4 allocation plans were said to be based “on anticipated catalysts, including more ETFs and market structure bills.” These have not yet arrived, and Q4 to date has been marked by “adverse market conditions, including the October liquidations.”
Some plans may have now changed to some extent. Mid-Q4 sentiment could also potentially be impacted by anticipated cooling momentum following the “impact of the market catalysts, not yet in place, and uncertainty about 2026.”