A new survey from CoinShares reveals a striking gap in the wealth management world: more than half of UK-based financial advisers say the bulk of their clients’ cryptocurrency holdings are essentially invisible to them.
The survey, which polled 261 European wealth management professionals, found that 52% of UK advisers reported that most of their clients’ digital asset exposure was outside their visibility. Across the EU as a whole, the number was lower — about 25% — but 61% of all advisers said they worked at firms that either explicitly restricted investments in digital assets or offered no clear internal guidance on the matter.
“The capital has already been allocated,” said Jean-Marie Mognetti, CoinShares’ co-founder and CEO. “The people entrusted with managing it simply cannot see it, and in most cases not because clients are unwilling to engage, but because firm policy prevents them from doing so.”
Mognetti stressed that this isn’t a knowledge or demand problem — it’s a firm-policy issue that’s becoming a “wrong-way risk.” His point: you can’t give advice, allocate capital, or build trust around assets you can’t even see.
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority reported in December that roughly 8% of British adults held crypto investments. The regulator has recently proposed letting authorized investment funds hold up to 10% in cryptocurrency exchange-traded notes, signaling a gradual shift toward mainstream acceptance.
Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer resigned as Labour leader this week, opening the door for new leadership that could reshape crypto policy. Andy Burnham, the former Mayor of Greater Manchester, won a recent by-election and is seen as a favorite to replace Starmer. As mayor, Burnham supported blockchain as an economic development driver, though his national policy stance remains unclear.
