Institutional interest is pivoting toward the utility of digital assets as wealth managers seek practical market exposure. Following the passage of the GENIUS Act, which established clear regulatory guardrails for digital assets in the United States, traditional financial allocators are re-evaluating their cryptocurrency strategies.
Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan disclosed in a June 10, 2026 memo that wealth managers are prioritizing stablecoins and real-world asset tokenization over Bitcoin. This shift occurs as investors move away from the traditional inflation-hedge narrative. Gold recently fell 20% from its all-time highs, reducing advisor interest in the asset class as a pure hedge.
Wealth Managers Pivot to Programmable Money
Hougan reported these findings after conducting direct discussions with over 40 financial advisors and wealth managers. While Bitcoin historically led crypto market recoveries after previous cyclical downturns, institutional professionals are looking at different metrics. Wealth managers now look at the structural changes happening in global payments and capital markets.
Corporate interest in these technologies is expanding at the institutional level. According to data from Artemis, mentions of stablecoins in corporate SEC filings and investor presentations reached an all-time high of approximately 1,000 during the first quarter of 2026. This data matches the findings of the 2026 Bitwise/VettaFi Benchmark Survey.
Survey Data Backs Asset Preference Shift
The survey data showed that 30% of financial advisors now select stablecoins and real-world asset tokenization as their top crypto investment theme for the year. By comparison, only 22% of surveyed allocators cited “digital gold” or Bitcoin as their primary focus.
Hougan wrote down these observations in an official memo distributed to investors. He stated that the wealth management sector controls 175 trillion dollars in assets, and advisors increasingly view programmable utility as the primary gateway into the digital asset ecosystem.
How Allocator Preference Shifts Capital Flow to Alternative Protocols
The shift in investor focus directly affects the broader infrastructure of digital assets. Financial firms are evaluating alternative protocols optimized for asset issuance and high-speed settlement over older networks.
Allocators are focusing their research on specific networks like Ethereum, Solana, Canton, and Avalanche. These networks handle high volumes of transaction settlement and host firms like Circle, Coinbase, and Figure. The focus on utility over store-of-value assets alters where capital is deployed across the 175 trillion dollar wealth sector.