The Block: Nasdaq survey indicates financial advisors are eager for a spot crypto ETF

Financial advisors surveyed by Nasdaq said that the existence of a spot crypto exchange-traded fund (ETF) would encourage them to invest more in crypto.

Nasdaq surveyed 500 financial advisors who are either investing client assets in crypto or considering it and found that 72% of them would be more likely to do so if there was a spot ETF product available.

The study was announced on Monday and also found that a much smaller percentage (38%) of respondents believed regulators were likely to approve an ETF in 2022.

To this date, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has denied every submission for a spot ETF, but last year the regulator approved the first bitcoin futures ETF, which was launched in October by ProShares.

Grayscale is currently waiting on a decision from the SEC on their proposed bitcoin ETF .

“Over the last decade, financial advisors have been focused on shifting assets into index funds,” said Jake Rapaport, head of digital asset index research at Nasdaq. “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.”

According to the survey, 86% of participants already investing in crypto expect to increase their crypto investments over the next 12 months and none of them had plans to reduce them. Half of those respondents said they had already used Bitcoin futures ETFs and 28% were expecting to do so in the next year.

Advisors said that on average they are looking to allocate 6% of their client’s total portfolio to crypto assets.