State Street Study: Most Institutions Will Double Their Crypto Holdings Within Three Years

Bitcoin and Ethereum continue to generate returns, but tokenized public and private assets are gaining momentum in institutional strategies.

Over the next three years, a majority of institutional investors plan to significantly increase digital asset allocation, and more than 50% expect tokenized assets to account for 10-24% of total investments by 2030, according to State Street’s 2025 Digital Assets and Emerging Technology Study.

The report, which surveyed senior executives from asset management and ownership firms, found that digital assets are steadily shifting from experimental holdings to mainstream components of institutional portfolios.

Major portfolio changes

Currently, the average institutional portfolio allocates approximately 7% of assets to digital instruments, including cryptocurrencies, digital cash and tokenized versions of listed equities or fixed income. The target allocations have been achieved within three years expected reach 16%. Digital cash and tokenized public and private securities emerge as the most common forms of exposure, with respondents holding an average of 1% in each category.

In particular, asset managers show a greater commitment to digital assets than asset owners. Managers are twice as likely to hold 2-5% of their portfolios in Bitcoin, and slightly more likely to invest 5% or more. Ethereum allocations among managers also exceed those of owners, with three times as many managers owning at least 5% of their assets.

Additionally, 6% of asset managers report at least 5% of their portfolios in smaller cryptocurrencies, meme coins and NFTs, compared to just 1% of asset owners, indicating early experimentation with emerging digital instruments.

Tokenization is moving forward

More attention has also been paid to the tokenization of real-world assets. Managers report greater exposure to tokenized public assets (6% vs. 1%), private assets (5% vs. 2%), and digital cash (7% vs. 2%). By 2030, more than half of respondents expect between 10% and 24% of their total portfolios to be held in tokenized or digital assets, marking a major strategic pivot toward blockchain-based instruments, although few expect most investments to be fully tokenized.

Despite stablecoins and tokenized assets making up the majority of allocations, cryptocurrencies continue to generate the majority of returns. More than a quarter of respondents named Bitcoin as the best performer among their digital assets, with Ethereum following closely. Tokenized public and private assets currently contribute less to returns, although their role is expected to gradually increase as markets mature.

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State Street’s research also shows a longer-term perspective. This showed that private assets are seen as the likely first major beneficiary of broader tokenization, and most institutions foresee digital assets becoming a mainstream part of wallets within the next decade. Adoption is growing, but institutions are cautious and focusing on strategy, efficiency and compliance.