Goldman Sachs finds crypto interest has waned among ultra-rich

Goldman Sachs’ latest survey of institutional family office investors has found that interest in crypto has significantly faded among the wealthy elite, due to the extreme crypto market volatility of the past year.

The part of family offices that are not invested in crypto and are not interested in investing in it for the future has risen to 62% from 39% in 2021 when the investment banking giant first conducted its survey. The portion of those potentially interested in crypto investing for the future has also fallen to 12% from 45%, per the latest survey.

The results indicate a notable shift in sentiment after recent high-profile crypto collapses, including FTX, BlockFi and Celsius. Still, more family offices are today invested in cryptocurrencies than in 2021 — 26% today, up from 16% — with the most-citing rationale being their “belief in the power of blockchain technology.”

The survey captured responses from 166 family offices around the world, with a net worth of at least $500 million (93%) and 72% having at least $1 billion. The survey was conducted in January and February of this year.

Goldman Sachs uncovers fading crypto craze

During its last survey, in 2021, Goldman Sachs found that nearly half the family offices it did business with were interested in adding crypto to their investment portfolios because of “higher inflation, prolonged low rates, and other macroeconomic developments following a year of unprecedented global monetary and fiscal stimulus,”

Now they are interested in increasing allocations to public and private equities and adding fixed-income exposure to capture higher rate opportunities.

“With the flexibility to invest across the risk spectrum, family offices have maintained a largely consistent approach to more aggressive allocations as they seek superior returns,” Meena Flynn, co-head of global private wealth management and co-lead of One Goldman Sachs Family Office Initiative, said in a statement. “Planned risk-on allocations tell us they see strong opportunities to capture added alpha. This patient, strategic, long-term orientation is often an advantage in managing and preserving generational wealth.”

While institutional interest in crypto might be waning, Goldman Sachs recently said it is open to adding more staff to its 70-person digital assets team while flagging the potential for blockchain technology to improve the functioning of markets such as private equity. Earlier today, Goldman Sachs participated in crypto infrastructure company Digital Asset’s privacy-enabled interoperable blockchain network, called the Canton Network, to provide a decentralized infrastructure for institutional clients.

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