A recent survey from WisdomTree, conducted by CoreData, polled 600 professional investors responsible for £3.41bn, and 83 per cent said they had spoken to their clients about investing in cryptocurrencies or digital assets.
Yet almost a third of clients surveyed (32 per cent) intend to step outside of their adviser relationship to allocate to the asset class.
Indeed, commentators told FTAdviser's podcast last year that advisers who do not talk crypto currencies with their clients risk clients going elsewhere without advice or even losing their business in the future.
While acknowledging that crypto currencies are not a regulated asset class, experts said it was only a matter of time before the financial services regulator started allowing retail investors to access crypto through regulated products such as investment trusts or exchange-traded funds.
The Bank of England has also pushed for new regulations around cryptocurrencies as a "matter of urgency", due to the risks posed to retail investors.
The FCA considers cryptoassets as very high risk, speculative investments, and investors are unlikely to have access to the support of the Fos or FSCS if anything goes wrong.
Currently, what the regulator calls 'exchange tokens' (cryptocurrencies) are only regulated for money-laundering purposes.
sally.hickey@ft.com
