They have wealth, crypto and a confession to make. In a survey published on October 5, CoinShares questioned 2,230 investors from 7 countries, including France, each with at least $500,000 to invest excluding real estate. 88% believe they do not know enough to invest in crypto with confidence. Their first instinct is to turn to their wealth management advisor, who very often cannot answer them.
Bitcoin invites itself into the heritage balance sheet
You have €700,000 in financial assets. Around ten percent is in bitcoin and ether, purchased over the years. Nothing exotic: in France, 2 out of 3 wealthy investors hold crypto.
In the 7 countries studied, this pocket weighs on average around 10% of the portfolio, as much as private equity.
The annual meeting with your advisor arrives. Between life insurance and the SCPI, you ask him whether to strengthen bitcoin or switch to ether. Polite silence.
If he practices under the sole status of financial investment advisor (CIF), like many independent CGPs, he no longer has the right to decide. The transition period for the European MiCA regulation ended on July 1. Since then, a personalized recommendation on a crypto has been reserved for approved service providers (PSCA), including for the choice of a platform.
On July 27, the AMF confirmed that CIFs were not entitled to any shortcuts: without approval, no crypto advice.
Your advisor keeps a narrow margin. It can set the size of your crypto pocket, “without going into the details of the assets”, summarizes Anne Raoul-Tardieu, lawyer at Banque Delubac & Cie. It can also offer you a listed product indexed to bitcoin.
In short, your advisor can tell you how much to invest in crypto. He no longer has the right to tell you which crypto to buy.
Everyone thinks the other is afraid
The blockage already existed before July, and not only in France. In the first quarter, CoinShares surveyed the other side of the office: wealth professionals from 5 European countries, including France. According to them, customers are mainly hesitant because of the volatility and speculative nature of crypto.
The advisor therefore thinks he is speaking to a nervous speculator.
Investors describe a completely different profile. Barely 6% see themselves as short-term traders. In France, nearly 8 out of 10 investors surveyed say they are comfortable with crypto risk.
The fall in February, the most brutal in several years, even made almost half of the French people surveyed want to buy.
Seen from the customer's chair, fear has changed sides. Among investors followed by a wealth manager, nearly 4 in 10 consider them too cautious on crypto, in France as in Germany or the United States.
The advisor often has no choice. In Europe, in firms that explicitly prohibit crypto, 1 in 100 advisors recommend it. Among those who support it, almost 1 in 2.
Bitcoins leave the cabinet
Clients don’t wait for their firm to change policy. In Europe, 1 in 4 advisors recognize that the majority of their clients' cryptos escape their control. They are found on exchanges or in personal wallets that he has never seen.
“Customers did not wait for permission,” summarized Jean-Marie Mognetti, general manager of CoinShares, in June. The group itself sells listed crypto products to advisors, and it has every interest in seeing firms wake up.
With or without an advisor, these investors are groping their way forward: 88% admit to lacking the knowledge to invest calmly. This lack doesn't stop anyone. In each of the 7 countries, at least 7 out of 10 holders plan to increase their exposure in 2026.
The basket remains to be filled
Back to your €70,000 crypto pocket. If bitcoin loses half of its value, as it has already done several times, €35,000 will disappear.
Part of crypto, however, escapes these shocks. More than half of the crypto holders surveyed also own stablecoins, whose price remains aligned with the dollar when bitcoin plunges.
Left in a wallet, these stablecoins earn nothing. Loaned on DeFi protocols, they make it possible to target a return paid by borrowers, independent of the direction of the market. You still need to know where to place them and what risks to accept.
For this type of choice, respondents know which guide they want. They first trust someone who has invested their own money. This criterion comes first or second in all countries except Sweden, ahead of certifications.
The 25% Club operates on this principle: its stablecoin strategies are first applied to real capital, committed and visible to all.
The 25% Club is a private club of more than 150 investors who manage their stablecoin savings via DeFi, with a goal of 15 to 25% per year, without directional exposure, by devoting a few hours per quarter.
How it works in practice:
A real portfolio of $100,000 managed in public: all decisions are documented and explained.
DeFi opportunities analyzed: you follow step-by-step video guides to invest in protocols selected for their robustness.
Control of your funds: you remain in control of your capital, no third party has access to your wallet.
Between now and the next asset review, 87% of French holders surveyed intend to strengthen their crypto pocket, with or without the advice of their advisor.
