According to research conducted by Coinbase and EY-Parthenon, institutional investors in the EU and Great Britain plan to increase their crypto allocations in 2025.
Although this research was conducted only in Europe, it is likely a symptom of a global approach in the Western way to the crypto sector by institutional investors.
The research also finds increased involvement and greater allocations by institutional investors from the EU and the United Kingdom in digital assets, with plans to further increase them during the remaining part of the current year.
Coinbase research: institutions increasingly attracted to crypto
The new research follows the one conducted in March 2025 by Coinbase Institutional, in collaboration with EY-Parthenon, and is based on a survey conducted on more than 350 institutional investors. Of these, about 100 are located in the EU or in Great Britain.
What has been observed is an increase in allocations and an expansion of use cases crypto, with 83% of institutional investors expecting to increase their exposure to digital assets this year.
This growing interest from institutional investors in crypto is partly due to the belief that greater regulatory clarity will be the catalyst that unlocks a new wave of opportunities in this sector in the near future.
It should not be forgotten that the EU has already equipped itself with specific crypto regulation (the MiCA), and this is already producing some positive effects.
However, institutional investors believe the regulatory landscape, still in development, is one of the main challenges the sector faces.
The results of the ricerca
The result that stands out the most from this research is that the vast majority of institutional investors interviewed stated that they plan to increase their allocations in crypto over the course of the year.
Many indeed argue that these assets represent the best opportunity to generate interesting and risk-adjusted returns in the next three years.
As much as 50% of the respondents stated that they expect an allocation of more than 5% of their managed assets, a percentage far higher compared to the 2% or 3% generally considered interesting.
Furthermore, more than 42% stated that they already hold or use stablecoin, with another 34% expressing interest in leveraging them.
The main anticipated use for stablecoins has turned out to be yield generation, followed by currency exchange, internal liquidity management, and external payments.
Coinbase: the favorite cryptos of the institutional
In fact, 71% of respondents also stated that the companies they work for already hold altcoins, in addition to Bitcoin and Ethereum, even though most hold only one or two altcoins. XRP (Ripple) and SOL (Solana) are the most common.
Instead, the percentage of respondents who declare they use DeFi collapses to 27%, but with the prospect of rising to 68% in just two years.
Institutionals, in fact, might be attracted to DeFi for various reasons, including derivatives, staking, and loans, but they admit gaps in their knowledge of this sector.
It should be noted, however, that the majority of institutional investors interviewed (57%) state that they prefer exposure to crypto through regulated traditional financial products such as ETPs.
Instead, a full 98% declared themselves interested in tokenized assets, particularly tokenized bonds, stocks, and funds, mainly due to the desire for portfolio diversification and better portfolio construction.
However, EU/UK investors show greater interest in tokenized commodities, such as gold and oil, compared to US investors (56% versus 36%).
In reality, however, as of today only 13% declare they have already invested in tokenized assets, but 69% plan to do so by 2026.
The concerns
The main concern remains the one related to the evolution of regulations, indicated as the main concern by 52% of the respondents.
However, almost half are also those who declare themselves worried about price volatility (47%), while the percentage of those who say they are concerned about custody drops to 33%.
Furthermore, 68% of respondents indicated greater regulatory clarity as the next catalyst for the growth of the digital asset sector.
