Australian Financial Advisers Face Client Pressure to Include Crypto in Portfolios

Almost nine in 10 Australian financial advisers have been asked by clients about investing in cryptocurrencies but only a third are willing to allow them to do so, according to a new survey.

ETF fund manager BetaShares surveyed 252 financial advisers last month and found that 89.2 percent of respondents had been directly approached by clients about digital assets in the previous 12 months. Yet 70 percent of advisers said they would be “fairly or extremely unlikely” to recommend investing in cryptocurrencies within the next year.

This compares with another survey commissioned in March 2021 in which 26 percent of financial advisers said they would recommend clients invest in cryptocurrencies over the following year.

‘Caution Tempers Awareness’: BetaShares CEO

BetaShares’ chief executive Alex Vynokur said the latest survey showed a “strong awareness” of digital assets seemingly at odds with an “underlying sense of caution” on the part of financial advisers.

More than 60 percent of advisers surveyed believed clients were investing in crypto regardless of their advice. The Betashares survey follows findings published by crypto exchange Gemini earlier this week revealing that 43 percent of Australians first invested in digital assets in 2021 – clearly a big year for crypto adoption.

It appears not all financial advisers received the memo.