Few, if any, financial advisers expected to recommend bitcoin and dogecoin to clients — here’s how many now suggest buying crypto

A new report by the Financial Planning Association looks at the changing attitudes to cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and dogecoin

Some 14% of financial advisers have added crypto to their clients' portfolios or are recommending it to them, one survey found.

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Despite Bitcoin BTCUSD, -1.22%, Ethereum ETHUSD, -1.24% and Dogecoin’s DOGEUSD, +7.23% wild ride last month, more financial advisers than ever are recommending their clients have some crypto in their portfolios.

Some 14% of financial advisers have already added cryptocurrencies to their clients’ portfolios or are recommending it to them, according to a survey released Tuesday of 529 financial advisers conducted by the Financial Planning Association in March.

Some 14% of financial advisers have already added cryptocurrencies to their clients’ portfolios or are recommending it to them

That’s up by 13 percentage points from last year when less than 1% of advisers were recommending it, the poll found. More than a quarter (26%) of advisers are planning to recommend or add crypto to their clients’ portfolios in the coming year.

Last year however none of the 242 respondents to the same survey anticipated that they’d recommend crypto to their clients in 2021, the survey — commissioned by Onramp Invest, a crypto portfolio management software company — concluded.

So why the change of heart? Clients appear to be less concerned about asset market volatility this year compared to last, despite the rollercoaster ride in cryptocurrencies in recent months.

More than half (52%) of advisers said their clients inquired about market volatility over the past six months, whereas last year some 76% of advisers fielded questions from their clients about it over a six-month period.

Investors may also be drawn to cryptocurrencies lately because they view them as a hedge against inflation, which in the U.S. is hovering at a 13-year high.

Whereas stock-market investors will effectively earn less on any gains they realize this year due to inflation, investors in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, which has a limited supply like gold GC00, -0.15% or silver SI00, -0.07%, could have a better shot at earning more money as investors flock to them. Or not.

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