UK Wealth Managers Are Flying Blind on Client Crypto Holdings

The survey of 261 European wealth management professionals across five key markets, including France, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland, reveals a pervasive "management gap." This term describes client digital asset exposure that remains completely invisible to the advisor. While one in four European advisors report that over 50 percent of their clients' crypto holdings exist outside their oversight, the situation is most acute in the UK, where that figure climbs to 52 percent.

Firm policy, rather than a lack of client demand or advisor competence, acts as the primary barrier. According to the report, 61 percent of advisors operate within firms that either explicitly restrict digital assets or fail to provide any clear internal guidance. This institutional blockade creates a clear pattern: the more restricted the advisor, the less they know about the client's actual holdings. In firms that support digital asset engagement, the management gap remains at a low 4 percent, compared to 34 percent in firms that enforce restrictive policies.

Jean-Marie Mognetti, CEO of CoinShares, characterized the findings as a "wrong-way risk," noting that capital is already moving into digital assets regardless of advisory oversight. When firms forbid these conversations, clients simply move to exchanges and self-custody platforms, effectively bypassing the professional guidance they are paying for. The data suggests that the perceived knowledge gap among advisors is a secondary symptom, as most managers who feel insufficiently informed simply work in environments where they were never permitted to seek training.