88% of Advisors Are Waiting For Bitcoin ETF Approval To Buy BTC

Awaiting the potential approval of a spot Bitcoin BTC/USD ETF in the coming week, Bitwise has disclosed details of its survey highlighting investor sentiment towards crypto investments.

What Happened: Crypto index fund manager, Bitwise Asset Management and VettaFi, a data-driven ETF platform, announced the findings of the sixth annual “Bitwise/VettaFi 2024 Benchmark Survey of Financial Advisor Attitudes Toward Crypto Assets.” The survey highlighted a continuous interest in crypto and concerns about crypto regulation (64%) and volatility (47%).

The survey period was between Oct. 20 to Dec. 18, and it highlighted that the approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF could generate greater demand among investors than many expected. Around 88% of advisors are interested in purchasing Bitcoin and are waiting until after a spot Bitcoin ETF is approved. This marks it as a catalyst for the Bitcoin market.

Also Read: Spot Bitcoin ETF Debate Heats Up: 'We Have Heard Nothing To Indicate Anything But Approval'

However, only 39% of advisors expect a spot Bitcoin ETF to be approved in 2024 which is significantly lower than Bloomberg ETF analysts' peg of 90% for the likelihood of a January approval. Also, a very small 19% of advisors can buy crypto in client accounts.  

In response to which crypto area is most interesting, the survey highlighted a drop in investor interest in Bitcoin to 37% in 2023 from 41% in 2022 while Ethereum ETH/USD  interest widened to 25% from 20% in 2022. DeFi and Web3 and the Metaverse saw a drop in interest by 7% and 2% respectively. Crypto equities witnessed a rise in interest to 14% from 12%.

Why Does It Matter: The Bitwise report concludes with the note that crypto will move from being a niche allocation to a normalized allocation among many investors. It adds, “When you consider that advisors control more than $20 trillion of assets in America, the implications for crypto are considerable.”

Large crypto allocations (implying more than 3% of a portfolio) stood at 47% in 2023 from 22% in 2022. Meanwhile, 59% of advisors said “some” or “all” of their clients were investing in crypto independently, out of their advisory relationship.

X user Good Morning Crypto stated, “Buckle up for potential Bitcoin ETF fireworks by January 8-10, as predicted by analyst James Seyffart!”

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