In the cryptography of today’s advisors, Dovile Silenskyte de Wisdomtree talks about the growth of cryptographic products and how they have become a strategic investment allocation.
Then, Kim Klemballa de Coinndesk Answer questions about reference points and digital asset trends in Ask to Expert.
– Sarah Morton
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The evolution of cryptographic products, from speculative bets to strategic assets
Crypto is no longer the “Wild West” of investment. Once fired as mere speculative bets, digital assets have matured in a credible and increasingly strategic component of institutional portfolios.
Figure 1: Global assets under management (AUM) in physical cryptography ETP
Source: Bloomberg, Wisdomtree. April 1, 2025. Historical performance is not an indication of future performance and any investment can decrease in value.
At the end of the first quarter of 2025, global assets under administration (AUM) in physical -contained products (ETP) were greater than $ 100 billion. That figure indicates the deep and sustained conviction of institutional investors, which means that this is no longer only the scope of the first users. Today, sovereign wealth funds, pension plans and asset administrators are being assigned to crypt at scale.
After more than 15 years of development, multiple cycles of boom and fall and a basis of global users that exceed half a billion people, Crypto has shown that it is not an approved trend. Bitcoin has emerged as a cryptographic macro asset: scarce, decentralized and increasingly positioned as a nucleus that is expected within the diversified portfolios of multiple assets.
But here is the capture: cryptographic assignments are not yet fun.
Despite the growing adoption, most cryptographic portfolios remain closely concentrated in Bitcoin. That is an inherited mentality and one that is fundamentally defective. Investors would not assign their entire capital exhibition to Apple, nor would they trust a single bonus to represent the fixed income. However, that is precisely how many they still treat cryptography.
Diversification is fundamental in traditional finances. The risk is propagated, improves resilience and unlocks access to broader sets of opportunities. The same principle remains in digital assets.
The cryptocurrency universe has expanded far beyond Bitcoin, evolving a dynamic ecosystem of technologies, cases of use and investment thesis.
Intelligent contract platforms such as Ethereum, Solana and Cardano are building decentralized infrastructure for everything, decentralized finances (defi) to non -fungible tokens (NFT), each with unique compensation in scalability, safety and network design. Meanwhile, Polkadot advances interoperability, which allows perfect communication in the chains, a key construction block for a future of multiple chains.
Beyond these block chains of layer 1, we are seeing rapid innovation in:
- Tokenization of real world assets (RWA) where traditional finances meet blockchain rails
- Defi protocols that feed loan, trade and decentralized liquidity solutions
- Web3 infrastructure, from decentralized identity to storage, forming the spine of a more open internet
Each of these sectors carries its own risk return profile, adoption curve and regulatory trajectory. Treating them as interchangeable, or worse, ignoring them completely, is similar to the reduction of global capital investment to a single technological action. It is not only outdated, it is strategically inefficient.
Diversification in cryptography is not about avoiding risk, but to capture the complete spectrum of innovation. In a world of multiple multiple theses, not diversifying the means of leaving the opportunity at the table.
The case of encryption indices
The reality is that most investors do not have time, tools or technical experience to keep up with 24/7 cryptographic markets. Cryptographic indices offer a powerful solution for those who seek broad and systematic exposure without having to immerse themselves in tokenomic, validator activity or network updates.
Like capital investors, they trust reference points such as S&P 500 or MSCI indices, diversified cryptographic indices allow investors to access the market passively, with scale, structure and simplicity. Without conjectures, without selection of tokens, without the need for constant rebalance. Simply clean exposure and rules to evolving cryptographic panorama.
– Dovile Silenskyte, Director of Digital Assets Research, Wisdomtree
Ask an expert
Q. Why is diversification in cryptography important?
TO. Among more than 20,000 quoted cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin now represents approximately 65% of the total market capitalization. Diversification is key to institutional investors to manage volatility and capture broader opportunities. The indices can be an efficient way to track the performance of the asset class, while products such as bags quoted in the stock market (ETF) and accounts administered separately (SMA) can provide exposure to multiple cryptocurrencies at the same time, which can help spread the risk.
Q. What trends are you seeing in digital assets?
TO. Institutional investors are entering the market, pushing the digital assets of a niche investment to a class of key assets. Ey-Parthenon and Coinbase conducted a survey of more than 350 institutional investors worldwide in January 2025. Of the investors surveyed, 87% plans to increase the general assignments to cryptography in 2025, which cover a variety of options such as stock-listed products (ETPs), investments in digital companies of companies, stews, future and mutual funds. According to the survey, 55% have spot crypt through ETP, with 69% of those planning cryptographic who plan to do it using registered vehicles.
Q. Is there a broad base reference point in Crypto?
TO. There are broad reference points in digital assets. In the Cindenesk indices, we launched the Coindesk 20 index in January 2024, to capture the performance of the main digital assets and act as an entrance door to measure, trade and invest in the class of constantly expansion cryptographic assets. Designed with liquidity and diversification in mind, Coindeesk 20 has generated $ 14.5 billion unprecedented in total negotiation volume and is available in twenty investment vehicles worldwide. Coendesk indexes also have the Coindesk 80 index, the Coindesk 100 index (Coindesk 20 + Coinndesk 80) and the Coindesk memecoin index, among others.
– Kim Klemballa, Marketing Chief, Coindesk Indices
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