DACFP and Franklin Templeton Digital Assets Advisor Pulse Survey Finds a Seventy Percent Change in Number of Financial Advisors Planning to Recommend Crypto in Next Six Months

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Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals

May 13, 2024, 09:45 ET

Franklin Templeton launches online digital assets education course for financial professionals in partnership with DACFP

GREAT FALLS, Va., May 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- More than one-third (35%) of financial advisors surveyed say they plan to recommend digital assets to their clients within the next six months, according to a March 2024 survey conducted by the Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals (DACFP) and sponsored by Franklin Templeton Digital Assets. This represents a 70% change compared to the more than one-fifth (21%) of financial advisors who said they plan to recommend crypto within six months, when surveyed in December 2023.

"The availability of new spot bitcoin ETFs, combined with a roughly 50% increase in bitcoin's price so far this year, is spurring advisors to get more involved with crypto than ever," said DACFP Founder Ric Edelman, CBDA, author of the #1 Amazon best-seller, The Truth About Crypto. "Advisors are racing to gain the knowledge they need to properly serve their clients."

Among advisors who recommend an allocation to crypto, nearly nine in 10 (87%) are recommending that clients allocate 1% to 5% of their assets. The most recommended allocation is 2%, indicated by three in 10 survey respondents (31%). Advisors are also recommending that clients make greater allocations to crypto following the launch of spot bitcoin ETFs, with 85% of advisors suggesting allocations of more than 1% in March 2024 compared to only 74% in December 2023.

"Advisors increasingly express interest in allocating towards digital assets as a means of better diversifying their clients' portfolios and capturing the investment opportunity represented by the growing protocol-based network economy," said Sandy Kaul, Head of Digital Asset & Industry Advisory Services at Franklin Templeton. "As advisors and their clients progress through their respective digital assets journeys, it is important they choose a partner capable of conducting research, development and education across the entire digital assets ecosystem."

Educational Resources
Franklin Templeton Digital Assets recently worked with DACFP to launch a new online Discovering Digital Assets: Blockchain, Bitcoin and Beyond course, which provides financial professionals with practical and actionable advice to effectively incorporate digital assets into their businesses. The 60-minute course consists of videos that address various topics including blockchain, bitcoin, Ethereum, tokenization, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), decentralized finance (DeFi), staking, lending, and investing in cryptocurrencies. The content is CE credit eligible for the CFP^®, CIMA^®, RMA^® & CPWA^® designations.

Additionally, DACFP reports a sharp increase in the number of advisors enrolling in its online Certified in Blockchain and Digital Assets (CBDA) program. The program is available via the online DACFP Learning Center that hosts CE courses and content designed to educate financial professionals about blockchain and digital assets. Participants in the program are eligible to receive the CBDA designation upon completion.

Methodology
272 financial advisors participated in the March 2024 iteration of the survey. Of them, 71% are financial advisors of independent RIA firms and the remainder work for regional or independent brokerage firms (19%), wirehouses (2%), or other types of companies in the financial services industry, such as trust companies and family offices (8%). This segmentation tracks very closely to the December 2023 survey released in early 2024.

To learn more about the survey and its findings, please click here.

About Franklin Templeton Digital Assets
Franklin Templeton Digital Assets has been active in the digital asset ecosystem since 2018, building blockchain-based technology solutions, developing a range of investment strategies, and running node validators. Franklin Templeton Digital Assets' dedicated digital assets research team leverages fundamental "tokenomic" analysis, insights from an imbedded data science team, and deep industry connections to help inform product development and investment decisions. For more information, please visit Franklin Templeton Digital Assets and follow the team on Twitter.

Franklin Templeton Digital Assets is a part of Franklin Resources, Inc., a global investment management organization with subsidiaries operating as Franklin Templeton and serving clients in over 150 countries. Through its specialist investment managers, the company offers specialization on a global scale, bringing extensive capabilities in fixed income, equity, alternatives and multi-asset solutions. With more than 1,500 investment professionals, and offices in major financial markets around the world, the California-based company has over 75 years of investment experience and over $1.6 trillion in assets under management as of March 31, 2024. For more information, please visit franklintempleton.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

About DACFP
Founded by Ric Edelman, the Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals is the leading provider of crypto education. DACFP connects the financial services industry and digital assets communities with leading experts via live and online events, webinars, blogs and other educational content. Its flagship program, the Certified in Blockchain and Digital Assets^SM, is the first and largest certification program of its kind—an online self-study program featuring a world-class faculty and 18 Continuing Education credits. Thousands of financial professionals from 37 countries have enrolled.

SOURCE Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals