Young Wealthy Americans Ditch Advisors Who Ignore Bitcoin

Younger rich folks want crypto on the same screen as everything else

There’s a new vibe in wealth management: younger, well-off Americans are treating Bitcoin and Ethereum like normal portfolio items — right next to index funds, T-bills, real estate and private deals. They don’t want crypto to be some exotic side hobby hidden in a separate app. They want it on the same dashboard as their stocks and bonds, and they expect their advisor to either make that happen or step aside.

A recent Zerohash survey of 500 U.S. investors aged 18–40 (household incomes from about $100k up to over $1M) spells it out. Roughly 6 in 10 of these affluent younger investors already hold crypto; that share rises among the highest earners. Many of those high-earners allocate double-digit percentages—some put 11–20% of their portfolio into digital assets. In short: this isn’t a fringe bet for them, it’s a legit allocation.

But the mismatch is obvious. About three-quarters of crypto holders in the survey manage those assets themselves rather than through their advisor. Only about one-quarter hold crypto via a wealth manager. That disconnect has real consequences: roughly one-third of affluent young investors say they’ve moved money away from advisors who won’t deal with crypto, and among the very highest earners that climb is even higher.

What advisors are getting wrong — and how they can fix it

Look, this isn’t a call to become a blockchain wizard overnight. The bar is lower than many firms imagine. Clients mostly want sane policies, custody they can trust, clear reporting, and someone who can talk taxes, estate planning, fees, and security without blinking.

Historically, a lot of advisory shops punted on crypto because product options were messy, compliance rules lumped crypto in with “prohibited speculative instruments,” and custody rules were awkward. A big accounting hurdle known as SAB 121 made banks nervous about holding digital assets. But regulatory shifts in recent years have softened some of those constraints and more institutional custody solutions are available now, so it isn’t the regulatory swamp it used to be.

Practical fixes are straightforward: add crypto to the Investment Policy Statement with sensible caps and liquidity rules; offer a simple product menu (spot ETFs for easy tax reporting, institutional custody for clients who want direct coins); pick partners that plug into your reporting and billing systems; and have standard procedures for handling staking, on-chain income, and the cybersecurity basics (hardware wallets, 2FA, SIM-swap guidance, and key recovery plans).

Why bother? Because the money moving between generations is enormous. Outside estimates put the transfer of wealth from older Americans to heirs and charities in the many tens of trillions over coming decades. The inheriting cohorts grew up with apps, real-time balances, and a healthy skepticism about advisors who refuse to discuss the tools they use. If you can’t manage the things they care about, they will find someone who can.

In practice the client journey looks like this: a person opens a self-directed account or buys a spot BTC ETF in a mobile app while their advisor stalls. If that slice becomes meaningful, they then shop for an advisor who will fold crypto into the overall plan. Advisors that move quickly and pragmatically can keep those relationships. Those that don’t risk losing accounts and recurring fee revenue — sometimes large sums per household.

Culture matters too. Big moves by well-known financial firms into digital assets make younger investors more comfortable seeing crypto in advisory portfolios. That validation helps lower the bar for mainstream advisors to accept that digital assets are a real part of modern balance sheets.

Bottom line: this is not about turning every RIA into a crypto trading desk. It’s about recognizing a growing client preference and building a modest, well-documented, and secure framework to manage it. Do that, and you keep assets and trust. Ignore it, and you might watch whole relationships wander off into other browser tabs.