Majority of Institutions Expect to Double Digital Asset Exposure by 2028: State Street

Institutional investors are moving past the testing phase and into large-scale adoption of digital assets, according to new research from State Street released ￰0￱ custody bank's 2025 Digital Assets Outlook found that more than half of surveyed institutions expect their exposure to digital assets to double over the next three years, signaling a growing comfort with blockchain-based investment ￰1￱ survey, which gathered input from senior executives across asset management and asset ownership firms, points to tokenization of private equity and fixed income as the most likely starting ￰2￱ refers to the representation of assets, such as stocks and bonds, as digital tokens that can be bought, sold and traded on ￰3￱ 2030, a majority of respondents expect between 10% and 24% of their total portfolios to be ￰4￱ practice, that could mean investors holding blockchain-based versions of traditionally illiquid assets — potentially making it easier to trade or revalue ￰5￱ and operational efficiency are driving the ￰6￱ half of respondents cited improved visibility into asset data as a key advantage, while others highlighted faster trading and reduced compliance ￰7￱ one in two expect cost savings of at least 40% from adopting digital asset ￰8￱ study also points to how emerging technologies are ￰9￱ respondents see generative AI and quantum computing as complementary tools that could further streamline investment ￰10￱ Street, which oversees $49 trillion in assets under custody, said 40% of institutions now have dedicated digital asset units.

“Clients are rewiring their operating models around digital assets,” said Donna Milrod, the company’s chief product officer. “The shift isn’t just technical — it's strategic."