Recently, VettaFi and Bitwise released “The Bitwise/VettaFi 2025 Benchmark Survey of Financial Advisor Attitudes Toward Crypto Assets.” This yearly survey sources advisor attitudes toward crypto, and the results from this year revealed some interesting changes. Evan Harp sat down with Cinthia Murphy and Todd Rosenbluth to discuss the results.
Evan Harp: Tell us a bit about what surprised you most about the results of this survey.
Todd Rosenbluth: We have just come off an amazing year for crypto investing, led by soaring prices for bitcoin. Some advisors got their clients exposed to bitcoin via the ETFs that launched in January 2024. However, we believe many others held out voluntarily, or because they had limited access at their firms.
But the advisors that responded to the survey sent a very strong signal. And that is that we are in the early stages of growth for cryptocurrencies, certainly via the ETF. Let me share one of the data points initially. More than half of the respondents (56%) said they were more likely to invest in crypto due to the election results. The Trump administration and a Republican-led Congress are likely to be supportive of crypto, according to this community.
Cinthia Murphy: It’s clear that the ETF structure opened a compelling way to access digital assets for all sorts of investor types, especially advisors and institutions. The data confirms adoption is increasing, and increasing significantly across ETF solutions relative to owning cryptocurrencies directly. As a big believer in the benefits of the ETF structure, that’s exciting to see.
Evan Harp: How have spot bitcoin ETFs changed/impacted this?
Rosenbluth: ETFs in general are the way a growing number of advisors are accessing the markets — whether that’s the equity market, the bond market, or the cryptocurrency market. ETFs make it simple and easy to combine investments in one portfolio. And it is easier for clients to understand.
Here’s another data point from the survey. When asked what investments are you most interested in allocating to in 2025, 22% of respondents chose spot crypto ETFs. This was up from the 13% who chose this last year as the ETFs were first coming to market. But the 22% was more than double the 9% of advisors that were most interested in individual crypto assets. For many advisors, ETFs are the go-to vehicle of choice for crypto exposure.
Murphy: It was a little surprising to see — in a good way — that demand for spot crypto ETFs isn’t taking away from demand for crypto equity-related funds. That tells us that investors are embracing the entire digital asset ecosystem, and are looking to participate in the growth of that entire ecosystem going forward. That’s positive to bitcoin and other crypto currencies, but also to blockchain portfolio and stock-specific plays.
Harp: What should crypto skeptics take away from this survey?
Rosenbluth: First, I want to share that while the data is favorable toward cryptocurrency adoption in general and via ETFs, there are advisors that have concerns and are not currently or planning to allocate. Nearly half of the respondents that did not have initial exposure cited crypto as being too volatile, and nearly one-third said they have no idea how to value crypto assets.
But 70% of respondents said some of their clients invest in crypto on their own. So to the advisors that are skeptical, still knowing about cryptocurrency and the ways to get exposure either through an ETF or otherwise is important. To best serve clients, collective education is key.
Murphy: Another interesting find in the survey is that, when it comes to areas of concern, volatility of digital assets ranks low in the order of priorities. For how much we talk about bitcoin volatility being difficult to stomach, advisors aren’t really worried about that as much as they are about regulation, education, and custody issues. Again, that suggests long-term thinking about this new asset class, which is a positive thing for its future growth.
Harp: Where can advisors learn more?
Murphy: We are excited to talk about digital assets and dive into all of these findings as well as what comes next with industry experts at Exchange in March.
Rosenbluth: VettaFi has partnered with Btiwise for seven years on the advisor survey, followed up by a webcast. I’m moderating this event tomorrow, where we will share the full results and key takeaways. Virtual events like these are a great way for advisors to learn more about an investment such as crypto. We will have more events in the first quarter.
In addition, as Cinthia mentioned, many providers of cryptocurrency ETFs will be at the Exchange conference as partners. Cinthia and I will be talking with them and others on and off stage. Advisors should join us and get their own questions answered.
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