Almost 75% of financial advisors surveyed say a spot crypto ETF would make them likely to invest clients' money in digital assets

• A Nasdaq survey shows 72% of financial advisors would support a spot crypto ETF product in the US.
• The majority of respondents in the March survey said they would be more likely to invest in digital assets if such an ETF were available.

Exchange-traded funds tied to spot prices of cryptocurrencies would prompt a majority of financial advisors to put their clients' money to work in digital assets, a Nasdaq survey found.

72% of advisors would invest in crypto if a spot ETF product were available, according to the survey of 500 advisors who are currently or considering allocating to digital assets.

The report published Monday highlights support for such a product to come to market. The Securities and Exchange Commission has yet to greenlight numerous applications from companies seeking to launch bitcoin ETFs, the first of which was filed in 2013 by the Winklevoss twins. Among this year's rejections were filings from Global X, NYDIG and Ark 21Shares, with the regulator citing concerns about the lack of investor protections.

"Over the last decade, financial advisors have been focused on shifting assets into index funds. As they incorporate digital assets into their investment strategies, they are expressing strong interest in a similar vehicle that can offer broad asset class exposure for their clients," Jake Rapaport, head of digital asset index research at Nasdaq, in the survey's statement.

He said the vast majority of respondents to the survey conducted in March either plan to begin allocating to crypto or increase their existing allocation to crypto.

"As demand continues to surge, advisors will be looking for an institutional solution to the crypto question that now dominates client conversations," Rapaport said.

ProShares in October launched the first bitcoin futures ETF to reach the market. The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF gives exposure to bitcoin through contracts that speculate on how the price of Bitcoin will move.

86% of advisors already investing in crypto expect to increase their allocations over the next 12 months, "while 0% report plans to decrease," said Nasdaq.

It said of the same group, 50% use bitcoin futures ETFs, and 28% plan to start using them in the next 12 months.