Here’s a fun contradiction: your financial advisor probably knows about crypto, your advisor’s clients definitely own crypto, and yet your advisor almost certainly isn’t managing any of it.

A CoinShares survey published on June 25 found that 52% of UK wealth advisors reported managing less than half of their clients’ digital asset holdings.

The survey polled 261 wealth management professionals across Europe during Q1 2026, covering the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland.

The management gap is a policy problem, not a knowledge problem

The survey makes clear that the primary obstacle is firm-level policy. A full 61% of the professionals surveyed work at firms with outright restrictions or unclear guidelines around digital asset advising. In firms with supportive digital asset policies, 48% of advisors actively recommend crypto-related products to clients. In firms with restrictions, that number craters to 1%.

CoinShares CEO Jean-Marie Mognetti framed the problem in risk terms, warning that rigid firm policies create “wrong-way risk.” The logic is straightforward: clients have already allocated capital to digital assets on their own. When advisors can’t see or manage those positions, the risk doesn’t disappear. It just becomes invisible to the people whose job is to manage it.

Across Europe more broadly, 25% of advisors reported a similar management gap, suggesting the UK’s problem is particularly acute but far from unique.

What advisors say they actually need

The top answer, cited by 45% of respondents, was clearer regulatory recognition of digital assets as a mainstream asset class. Close behind at 43% was improved access to exchange-traded products, the kind of regulated, familiar wrappers that make compliance departments less nervous.

Only 9% of advisors ranked client education tools as important for increasing engagement with digital assets.

MiCA and the regulatory tailwind

Europe’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation, known as MiCA, has been rolling out in phases, establishing a continent-wide framework for how digital assets are classified, marketed, and managed by financial institutions. The complete transition of MiCA is set for July 1, 2026. Additionally, forthcoming UK FCA proposals aim to permit authorized funds to have limited exposure to cryptocurrency-linked investment products.

What this means for investors

If you’re a UK investor holding crypto outside your advisor’s view, you’re not unusual. You’re the majority. When 48% of advisors at supportive firms actively recommend digital assets compared to 1% at restricted firms, the policy change alone could unlock a wave of institutional capital flowing into regulated crypto products, particularly ETPs, across European markets.