Investment advisers are set to surpass hedge funds as the largest holders of U.S.-listed spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in 2025, according to a report from CF Benchmarks. Currently, hedge-fund managers own 45.3% of the ETFs, while investment advisers hold 28%. The rise of investment advisers as the dominant holders of these ETFs is attributed to the expected embrace of digital assets by the U.S. wealth management industry, surpassing the record-breaking $40 billion in net flows seen in 2024.
In addition to bitcoin ETFs, investment advisers are already leading in the ether ETF market and are poised to further increase their share next year. The report predicts that Ethereum’s parent blockchain will benefit from the growing popularity of asset tokenization, with tokenized real-world assets expected to exceed $30 billion in 2025. Stablecoins are also expected to see competition from new entrants like Ripple’s RLUSD and Paxos’ USDG, challenging the dominance of tether’s USDT.
The scalability of blockchains will be put to the test in 2025, with the anticipated increase in active user adoption driven by regulatory clarity potentially doubling on-chain capacity to over 1600 transactions per second. The report also predicts a dovish stance from the Federal Reserve, with unconventional measures such as yield curve control and expanded asset purchases likely being employed to address higher debt servicing costs and a weak labor market. This could lead to deeper debt monetization, elevating inflation expectations and boosting hard assets like Bitcoin as hedges against monetary debasement.
Overall, 2025 is expected to be a transformative year for digital assets, with investment advisers playing a key role in reshaping the ownership composition of U.S. spot crypto ETFs. As the demand for these assets grows and the industry matures, investment advisers are likely to become the predominant holders, signaling a shift in the landscape of digital asset investments. With the anticipated rise in asset tokenization, increased competition in stablecoins, and the testing of blockchain scalability, the year ahead is set to be a crucial period for the digital asset market.
