Affluent Investors Put Crypto Over Stocks—But 1 in 5 Hold No BTC
A new survey by Vardaxoglou Advisory and CoinShares reports that in the U.S., U.K., France, and Germany, 33%–40% of affluent investors ranked “crypto” above equities and real estate on long‑term performance expectations. The study polled 2,230 respondents with at least $500,000 in investable assets across the U.S., U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, and Switzerland between May 11 and June 5, 2026. According to the report, conviction in digital assets among U.S. respondents rose by 13 percentage points versus the firms’ 2025 survey.
Where crypto ranks depends on the market
The authors say crypto trailed only equities in Italy and Sweden. In Switzerland, respondents ranked crypto behind both equities and real estate. Bonds and commodities were also listed as choices in the survey, but the published report does not include their results.
Bitcoin demand is high—even among those who don’t own it
Across all seven countries, the study found Bitcoin was the most sought‑after crypto asset. Yet ownership is far from universal: the authors note that very few investors hold BTC alone, and about one in five crypto holders own no bitcoin at all. On average, 58% of crypto holders own ether, 57% hold stablecoins, and 36% hold other altcoins, according to the report.
Bitcoin also leads planned allocation increases: depending on the country, 65%–77% of investors want more exposure to BTC, versus 30%–47% for ether. In five of the seven markets, at least 85% of respondents who already held digital assets said they were extremely or very likely to increase exposure in 2026.
They call Bitcoin a hedge—but invest for other reasons
The report says 65%–86% of respondents view Bitcoin as playing a significant role in the future global financial system and as a hedge against fiat currency debasement. However, only 9%–19% of crypto holders named hedging as their primary reason for investing in digital assets. Instead, long‑term capital appreciation and portfolio diversification dominated. The question on primary reasons applied to digital assets broadly, not to Bitcoin specifically. Crypto‑native motives—such as interest in blockchain technology, income from staking or DeFi, and exposure to a new asset class—appeared in 27% of responses on average across countries.
Other surveys show lower average allocations
HSBC’s Affluent Investor Snapshot 2026—based on nearly 10,000 affluent and high‑net‑worth investors in 10 markets surveyed from Jan. 6 to Feb. 6, 2026—found mean crypto allocation at 6%, down 1 percentage point from 2025. By contrast, the CoinShares/Vardaxoglou report says investors kept around 10% of their portfolios in crypto assets. HSBC surveyed investors in the U.S., U.K., and additional markets in Asia, Mexico, and the UAE.
HSBC reports that 45% of participants planned to increase crypto investments in 2026 and 40% planned to keep allocations stable. The bank’s survey period coincided with Bitcoin peaking just above $97,000 before falling below $70,000. Separately, the source material cites a recent survey of 15 major institutional investors indicating none reduced their crypto allocation during this year’s drawdown, while several bought more.
Methodology notes
All figures above are drawn from Vardaxoglou Advisory and CoinShares’ survey of affluent investors unless otherwise attributed to HSBC or the separate institutional survey cited in the source material.