Bitwise Research Director Ryan Rasmussen: 60% of 400 Financial Advisors Plan to Allocate to Crypto Within a Year
Bitwise Research Director Ryan Rasmussen stated that he and Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan explained Bitcoin, Solana, Hyperliquid, stablecoins, and tokenization to about 400 financial advisors. On-site questions revealed that 67% have not yet allocated to crypto assets, 60% believe prices will be higher by the end of the year, and 60% plan to allocate in the next year.
This result was based on a show of hands or immediate polling, not random sampling. A 2026 advisor benchmark survey by Bitwise and VettaFi also showed that 32% of advisors have allocated crypto in client accounts over the past year; 65% are bullish on Bitcoin for the next year, 62% on Ethereum, and 57% on Solana; among those already allocated, 99% plan to maintain or increase their positions. If large brokerage model portfolios allocate 1% to 2%, it corresponds to trillions in assets under management. Schwab and others have publicly discussed higher percentage ranges. In February 2025, the two presented Bitcoin to about 350 advisors, stating that 53% planned to allocate.
The sample at the event was skewed towards those willing to listen to crypto roadshows, with a high percentage of non-allocators coexisting with those planning to allocate within a year, indicating that the education phase is not over. The bullish sentiment on prices and the actual ordering are separated by investment committees, compliance, and product lists.
Hyperliquid and tokenization were included in the same session, indicating that the topic has expanded from whether to hold Bitcoin to on-chain applications and stablecoins. Once model portfolios change templates, inflows will repeat annually, not according to tweet rhythms.
In market mechanics, the buyers are financial advisors still waiting for templates, while the sellers are asset managers like Bitwise issuing spot and crypto stock ETFs. The driving force is the on-site statistics, which are emotional events. Funds have not yet entered due to the show of hands. The beneficiaries are issuers with compliant channels already listed, while the pressured parties are client cash waiting for investment committee approval, and those treating the show of hands as a confirmed order for next year.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
Matt Hougan and Ryan Rasmussen turned the 400-person conference room into a thermometer. The 67% who have not allocated and the 60% who plan to allocate within a year are the same group: they understand but have not moved their accounts. The 32% already allocated in the VettaFi survey are unlikely to withdraw, indicating that once they pass the investment committee, they stick. The 1% to 2% model portfolio is what they really want to leverage—like the total assets of Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, UBS, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. After Schwab raised the discussion range by several percentage points, 1% no longer seems offensive. Hyperliquid being included in the slides means that perpetual contract platforms are also being integrated into the wealth management vocabulary, but compliance is still a distance away.
The capital path is through ETFs and model portfolios. Bitwise is selling channels, not the mood of the conference. The motivation is to warm up between the year-end price vote and next year's allocation window; the strategy is to have advisors raise their hands in bullish sentiment and then take the questionnaire back to the investment committee. The 53% planning from the 350-person event in 2025 to the 60% in the 400-person event in 2026 shows that the slope comes from products being available for purchase, not just from belief.
Comparative examples include the entry of gold ETFs into financial advisors in the 2010s, ESG into model portfolios, and the roadshow season in the year Bitcoin spot ETFs were approved. The phase is shifting from "can we allocate" to "how much and which codes to allocate."
This is a transfer of pricing power. The transfer is about who has the authority to write crypto into standard portfolios. The mechanism is: conference statistics create urgency, while model portfolios create sustainability. The 60% bullish sentiment among advisors prices the narrative; the 1% pricing from the investment committee is for next year's subscriptions. When both exist simultaneously, prices can move first, and shares can follow.
ABAB News · Cognitive Law
Those planning to allocate in the conference do not equal those who have already allocated in their accounts.
A change of one percentage point in model portfolios carries more weight than 400 people raising their hands.
Advisors who have already allocated are unlikely to withdraw; the threshold is passing the investment committee the first time.