UK Wealth Advisers Flying Blind on Half of Clients' Crypto Holdings
A CoinShares survey reveals half of UK wealth advisers cannot see clients' crypto assets, exposing a major visibility gap in wealth management.
Half of UK wealth advisers report that their clients' cryptocurrency holdings are effectively invisible to them, according to a new survey by digital asset manager CoinShares — a finding that highlights a deepening blind spot at the heart of traditional wealth management.
The CoinShares research also found that many EU-based wealth management firms have adopted policies that either outright restrict investments in digital assets or offer no internal guidance on how advisers should handle them. The dual problem — restricted access and a lack of policy clarity — leaves advisers poorly equipped to give holistic financial advice to clients who are increasingly holding crypto outside of traditional portfolios.
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The visibility gap carries real consequences. When advisers cannot account for a client's full asset picture, risk assessments become incomplete, portfolio diversification strategies can misfire, and regulatory obligations around suitability may go unmet. As crypto adoption grows among retail and high-net-worth investors alike, the disconnect between where clients are putting money and what advisers can actually see is widening rather than narrowing.
The findings arrive at a moment when regulators on both sides of the Atlantic are pushing for greater transparency and consumer protection in financial advice. For wealth management firms, the survey serves as a pointed signal that internal policies have not kept pace with client behavior — and that the industry faces mounting pressure to build frameworks capable of integrating digital assets into mainstream advisory practices.
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