Three-quarters of financial advisers have been asked by their clients about them investing in cryptocurrency, an AJ Bell study has found.

According to the research, 36% of advisers said their clients held cryptoassets.

The investment platform surveyed 311 advisers at the end of July and also found that just 4% would consider advising clients to invest in cryptocurrency directly.

However, 26% would consider recommending investment in a multi-asset fund that had some crypto exposure, which compares with 43% who hold gold as part of a balanced asset allocation.

AJ Bell financial analyst, Laith Khalaf, said that advisory clients are not immune to the “lures of cryptocurrency”, and stated that all but a few advisers wouldn’t consider recommending a direct investment in cryptocurrency.

“Cryptocurrency is here to stay for the foreseeable, and so advisers are going to find themselves continuing to field questions on the subject from clients,” Khalaf said.

“However, the asset class hasn’t really made it into mainstream investment solutions, with the notable exception of funds from Ruffer, who bought Bitcoin earlier this year, but realised profits pretty swiftly thereafter. Nonetheless just over a quarter of advisers said they would consider investing in a multi-asset fund that had some crypto exposure.

“That seems the most likely path for crypto to make it into the portfolios of advised investors in future, though that would require more asset allocators to build exposure to cryptocurrencies, something we haven’t seen as yet.”

Khlaf warned that there is still scepticism towards cryptoassets in the investment community, citing volatility, a lack of functionality in the real economy, a heavy carbon footprint, and regulatory risk.

He added: “While investors may choose to dabble with a few pounds here and there, crypto in its current state isn’t highly investable for advisers or money managers.”

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