Fidelity: Huge adoption gaps and resistance to crypto winter

Fidelity Digital Assets has conducted a yearly survey since 2018 to learn more about how institutional investors view and use digital assets. They highlighted key findings from the Fidelity Digital Assets 2022 Institutional Investor Digital Assets Study in this draft report, including trends in overall adoption across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, as well as how different institutional investor segments view the role of digital assets in investment portfolios.

On Thursday, October 27, Fidelity Digital Assets published its yearly analysis of institutional buying of digital assets. Fidelity observed that the adoption of digital assets increased by 9% and 11%, respectively, in the United States and Europe, to 42% and 67%, in its study of 1,052 institutional investors in Asia, Europe, and the United States. Despite a minor dip in adoption, Asia continued to lead the world with 69%.

The report indicates that despite the challenges, the fundamentals of digital assets are still solid, and investor acceptance is still very unequal. One of the highest increases in future intentions was seen in U.S. high-net-worth investors, who wanted to buy or invest in digital assets by 74%, up from 31% a year earlier. That indicator increased from 71% to 74% overall.

The most striking statistic in the survey may be the wide variation in adoption among different investor categories. While 82% of high-net-worth individuals "currently buy/invest in digital assets," that percentage lowers to 7% for conventional hedge funds and 5% for pension funds for other investors kinds. Family offices, pensions/defined benefit plans, traditional hedge funds, endorsements, or foundations do not exhibit the same affinity for digital assets as high-net-worth investors, crypto hedge funds, venture capital, or financial advisors.

Fidelity Digital Assets president Tom Jessop commented in the report: "Institutional investors are experienced in managing through cycles, and the largely inherent factors that they cited as appealing in this study will likely remain as the market emerges from this period."

It's worth noticing that Fidelity is a big proponent of cryptocurrency. To reach its goal of 500 employees by the end of the first quarter of 2023, Fidelity Digital Assets announced 100 additional hires on October 20. It also started the custody and trading of ether, which will begin Today, October 28. Additionaly, Fidelity stated in April that it would provide 401(k) retirement plans to Americans exposed to Bitcoin.