Survey finds rising crypto knowledge and growing demand for ETFs, staking, and tokenization

Sygnum Digital Bank has published its Future Finance Report 2025, which surveyed 1000 professional and institutional investors from 40+ countries in Q3, and found that digital assets are increasingly being viewed as legitimate portfolio diversifiers.

With 89 percent of respondents already holding crypto, 57 percent named portfolio diversification as their main reason to invest, ahead of exposure to the crypto “megatrend” which topped last year’s report at 62 percent (now 53 percent).

The Sygnum survey report was structured around six major themes, asset allocation, investment strategies, products and services, investment barriers and market outlook with a dedicated section on HNWIs (High Net Worth Individuals).

It found that direct token investments and ETFs dominated product interest with demand for Ether rising in parallel with ETF and treasury demand growth. Interestingly, 70 percent of respondents noted they would increase their allocations if staking was enabled, with interest being strongest in Solana and multi-asset ETPs.

Crypto and Blockchain knowledge has increased

The survey showed a 6 percent increase in those responding to the question on how knowledgeable they were in crypto and blockchain. 78 percent of respondents report high or very high levels of knowledge in crypto and blockchain, a 6 percent increase from 2024.

HNWIs showed the highest knowledge levels at 83 percent high or very high. Professional managers reported high levels at 75 percent, followed by a third of institutional investors, with most describing their knowledge levels as neutral.

Trading and brokerage firms, asset and fund managers, external asset managers, as well as multi-family offices and investment banks, showed the highest levels of openness, while banks presented the widest spread ranging from strongly open to not open at all.

The biggest holdings are in Blockchain protocol tokens

The Sygnum survey noted that 85 percent of active crypto respondents hold tokens in blockchain protocols such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. While other allocations include protocols such as BNB Chain, Tron, Sui, Sei, and Cardano. 20 percent hold only Layer 1 tokens.

Additionally stablecoins are also widely held, with half of respondents leveraging their non-volatility as a market hedge and as a practical on-and offramp to the crypto market.

There was a rise in those holding tokenized assets to 26 percent from 20 percent last year.

HNWIs’ motivation to hold crypto is for yield generation, while professional managers show higher demand for short-term trading opportunities.

The smaller cohort of institutional investors leaned toward portfolio diversification (80 percent), the recognition of crypto as a new alternative asset class (55 percent) and safe haven and macro hedge interest (30 percent).

Future crypto allocations

The survey found that 61 percent of respondents plan to increase their allocations given the new ETF approvals, altcoin treasury demand and upcoming crypto market structure bills. Yet a fifth of respondents who plan to increase exposure are undecided when to act.

Meanwhile, more than a third maintain their positions, with 50 percent leaning towards neutral to slightly bearish outlooks, while 56% remain bullish, with only a small minority planning to reduce exposure.

For those who want to increase allocations, 60 percent believe there will be higher returns.

Those maintaining their exposure report diversification as the primary reason, although almost half in this group also expect higher future returns from current positions.

The availability of institutional-grade products has been the biggest change. Only 5 percent mentioned it last year, while this year the figure has risen to a substantial 44 percent among those.

In terms of the 11 percent of respondents who don’t hold crypto, 36 percent plan to allocate, while 44 percent remain undecided and 20 percent have no plans to invest at all.

Yet the survey shows that crypto has lost its superior investment case this year when compared to traditional assets. Sygnum report notes that this is likely due to the strong performances in gold and equities markets this year.

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