Crypto Biz: Wealthy investors are buying crypto, but their advisers aren’t sold

Wealthy investors are embracing crypto faster than their advisers, while OKX attracts new funding and Strategy shifts more capital toward preferred stock buybacks.

Affluent investors appear increasingly comfortable with crypto, even if their financial advisers aren’t keeping pace. A new CoinShares survey found that a majority of wealthy investors across seven major economies already own digital assets, with many planning to increase their exposure this year.

The findings come as capital continues to move into crypto in other ways, even against a tougher market backdrop. Bitcoin is trying to build on its best quarter since 2017 while Treasury yields remain above 5%, and OKX has raised additional funding at a $25 billion valuation.

Meanwhile, Strategy is putting more capital into its preferred stock. The company spent more than six times as much buying back STRC shares last week as it did buying Bitcoin.

Bitcoin is coming off its best third quarter since 2017, but extending the rally could prove difficult as Treasury yields above 5% give investors an increasingly attractive alternative to risk assets , according to Delphi Digital.

Delphi pointed to Bitcoin’s 43% third-quarter gain and third consecutive weekly advance, but warned that “the grind higher is happening against real resistance.” This resistance includes the Federal Reserve’s September rate hike and Treasury yields at multi-decade highs.

However, Vanessa Grellet of Arche Capital noted that the debasement trade, which favors scarce assets such as Bitcoin and gold as a hedge against the declining purchasing power of fiat currencies, does not depend on low interest rates.

The outlook for rates has shifted since then. September payrolls showed just 29,000 jobs added, well below forecasts of 80,000, sharply lowering the odds of an October rate hike, according to CME FedWatch. New York Fed President John Williams also said there was no urgency to raise rates again.

For now, elevated Treasury yields remain a hurdle for risk assets. Bitcoin briefly climbed above $87,000 last week before pulling back to below $83,000 on Wednesday.

A majority of affluent investors across seven major economies hold digital assets , with crypto accounting for about 10% of their portfolios on average, according to a new CoinShares survey.

The survey covered 2,230 investors with at least $500,000 in investable assets across the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland. Crypto ownership ranged from 54% in Sweden to roughly 70% in the US, UK, Germany and Switzerland. In five of the seven countries, at least 85% of existing crypto investors said they planned to increase their exposure in 2026.

Investors appear more comfortable with crypto than some of their financial advisers. About four in 10 respondents in Switzerland, France, the US and Germany who worked with an adviser described them as overly cautious about digital assets.

Ric Edelman, founder of the Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals, questioned the survey’s finding that crypto accounts for 10% of the average portfolio, saying his research suggests current allocations of 2% to 5% are more common. Even so, Edelman recommends much larger allocations of 10% to 40%, depending on an investor’s risk tolerance.

OKX raised an undisclosed amount at a $25 billion valuation , extending a funding round that brought in $200 million from Intercontinental Exchange in March.

Existing partners and investors participated in the extension, including Standard Chartered’s SC Ventures, Qube Research & Technologies, Ripple and stablecoin issuer Circle. OKX did not disclose how much it raised in the latest round.

The funding comes as OKX moves further into traditional financial markets. On Monday, an OKX-ICE joint venture filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to launch a tokenized stock trading platform under the agency’s new innovation exemption. The platform’s launch remains subject to the filing and exemption.

Strategy spent $176.3 million repurchasing 1.77 million STRC shares last week, more than six times the $28.7 million it spent buying 334 Bitcoin.

The purchase brought Strategy’s holdings to exactly 848,000 BTC, according to a Monday 8-K filing with the SEC. Bitcoin accumulation has slowed considerably, with Strategy’s holdings rising just 0.2% in the third quarter after 7,218 BTC in purchases were partly offset by the sale of 5,553 BTC.

STRC, meanwhile, has recovered to near its $100 par value. The shares were trading around $99.53 after falling to roughly $75 in late June.

Strategy also filed a proxy seeking shareholder approval to pay dividends daily on STRC, STRF, STRK and STRD. STRC currently pays dividends twice monthly, while the other three pay quarterly. Shareholders are scheduled to vote on the proposal on Oct. 28.

If approved, daily STRC dividends would begin in November, followed by STRF, STRK and STRD in January. Strategy said the changes would not affect dividend rates or its overall payment obligations, but could affect reinvestment delays, liquidity and price stability.

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