Crypto Adoption Grows Among Hedge Funds: New Survey Shows 55% Participation In 2025

Throughout the year, President Donald Trump’s crypto policies have spurred a notable increase in the adoption of digital assets through various channels, including exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and crypto-focused ￰0￱ a result, a recent survey conducted by the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) and PwC revealed that the percentage of traditional hedge funds holding cryptocurrencies has climbed to 55%, up from 47% in ￰1￱ Crypto Exposure Among Hedge Funds Despite the ongoing volatility in crypto markets, 47% of institutional investors surveyed expressed that the current regulatory environment, shaped by Trump’s appointments of crypto-friendly agency heads and the implementation of the GENIUS Act has encouraged them to increase their allocations to digital ￰2￱ Delaney, managing director of asset management regulation at AIMA, commented on the findings, stating: For most of these funds, regulatory uncertainty has been a major ￰3￱ year, those barriers are starting to be ￰4￱ year’s report may mark a turning point in overcoming these challenges.

However, regulatory clarity isn’t the sole factor driving institutional interest in ￰5￱ fear of missing out (FOMO) on substantial market gains is also a compelling ￰6￱ survey highlighted that alongside traditional hedge funds, specialized fund managers with at least 50% of their assets in crypto have emerged, with several new funds launched this ￰7￱ Dominates, Solana’s Popularity Surges Among the crypto-focused funds, Bitcoin (BTC) remains the most commonly held asset, closely followed by Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL). Notably, Solana saw a surge in popularity this year, with 73% of the funds now holding it, a marked increase from 45% in ￰8￱ average, hedge funds have allocated about 7% of their assets to crypto, up from 6% the previous year, although over half of the respondents commit less than 2%.

Encouragingly, 71% of those surveyed indicated plans to increase their crypto exposure within the next twelve ￰9￱ firms are also showing interest in this ￰10￱ Howard Asset Management has reportedly appointed a former executive from Peter Thiel’s family office to lead a crypto-focused investment division. Additionally, asset managers like Steven Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management and Elliott Investment Management have disclosed holdings in Bitcoin and Ethereum-linked ￰11￱ to the AIMA survey, the proportion of respondents using ETFs has risen to 33%, compared to 25% the previous ￰12￱ survey indicated that the most popular access method to the digital asset market among managers is through derivatives, with 67% of respondents utilizing them, an increase from 58% in ￰13￱ trading has also grown, rising to 40% from 25%.

Moreover, some asset managers are exploring the tokenization of their funds, similar to initiatives by firms like ￰14￱ half of the survey participants expressed interest in this approach. Lastly, the survey found that 43% of traditional hedge funds investing in crypto plan to enhance or initiate their engagement with DeFi over the next three years, with nearly a third believing that DeFi could disrupt their business ￰15￱ image from DALL-E, chart from ￰16￱