TL;DR

• CoinShares surveyed 261 wealth management professionals for The Silent Portfolio.
• 52% of UK advisers reported a management gap above 50% for client crypto exposure.
• The firm says restrictive policies and lack of internal guidance are major barriers.

A new CoinShares survey suggests UK wealth managers are facing a major blind spot when it comes to client crypto exposure. The report, titled The Silent Portfolio, found that 52% of UK advisers said more than half of their clients’ digital asset holdings sit outside their oversight.

What Happened?

CoinShares surveyed 261 wealth management professionals and found a notable gap between client behaviour and adviser visibility. The UK figure was particularly striking, with 52% of advisers reporting a management gap of more than 50%.

The firm said the problem is structural. According to the firm, 61% of surveyed wealth managers work at firms with either restrictive digital asset policies or no clear internal guidance. Advisers at supportive firms reported a much smaller gap.

CoinShares CEO Jean-Marie Mognetti described the situation as a wrong-way risk, where clients have already allocated capital to digital assets but advisers are prevented from overseeing or managing those risks because of firm policy.

Why It Matters?

The findings matter because crypto adoption does not always happen through formal advisory channels. Clients may buy Bitcoin, Ethereum, stablecoins or other digital assets directly, leaving advisers with an incomplete view of portfolio risk.

That can create issues around concentration, liquidity, tax planning and volatility management. If an adviser cannot see a client’s crypto exposure, they cannot properly assess how that exposure interacts with the rest of the portfolio.

The survey also points to demand for more regulated access. According to the survey, 45% of advisers cited regulatory recognition as a key confidence factor, while 43% wanted better ETP access. That suggests advisers may be more willing to engage with crypto when the products and rules look familiar.

What To Watch Next

The next stage is likely to involve firm-level policy changes. Wealth managers may not need to recommend crypto aggressively, but they may need better tools for discovering and monitoring client exposure.

Regulated ETP access could also reduce the blind spot by moving crypto allocations into channels advisers can see and manage. That is especially relevant in markets where direct token custody creates operational hurdles for advisory firms.

For the wider market, CoinShares’ report shows that adoption is already happening beneath the surface. The question is whether wealth-management firms can catch up before unmanaged exposure becomes a larger risk.

For readers, the practical takeaway is to treat the story as part of the wider market structure rather than an isolated headline. Crypto markets are now shaped by macro data, regulation, public equities, exchange infrastructure, stablecoins, derivatives and on-chain flows at the same time. That means each development can matter even when it does not immediately create a clean one-way price move.

Source: NewsBTC