According to Ron Biscardi, CEO of iConnections, which runs one of the largest capital introduction conferences globally, the mood around digital assets has changed again among the world’s largest allocators.
Biscardi, who has spent more than 25 years in the alternative investment industry and runs a platform that represents more than $55 trillion of assets, has a front row seat. His company tracks thousands of meetings between fund managers and institutional investors every year. That data shows how quickly sentiment can change.
He recalls that after a few “tough” years following the crypto market crash following the collapse of FTX in 2022, interest in last year’s conference began to plateau. “[In 2025] We have started to see funds wanting to come back, wanting to spend some money. Optimism around a more crypto-friendly regulatory stance in Washington helped, even if progress has been slow.
“I feel like what we’re seeing at this event [this year] It’s a more normal experience,” Biscardi said. “It’s not extremely crazy, but it’s also not [like] ‘I don’t want to go anywhere near it.’
change of tone
More than 75 digital asset funds participated in this year’s event, leading to approximately 750 meetings between managers and allocators, a level comparable to 2022 when crypto interest surged before the FTX collapse. Nearly a quarter of limited partners on the iConnections platform now show interest in digital asset strategies, confirming that crypto has become an established sleeve within options rather than a marginal allocation.
Family offices represent the largest LP group expressing interest, consistent with their track record of supporting emerging and innovation-driven asset classes.
And this trend has been increasing in recent years. While some family offices remain cautious about assets, many traditional wealth managers are under increasing pressure to distribute digital assets to wealthy clients, especially in crypto hotspots like Dubai, Switzerland and Singapore.
That interest is very much alive despite the crypto winter, with the price of Bitcoin rising It has declined nearly 25% since the beginning of the year and seen its market capitalization drop by more than $1 trillion since October’s all-time high. Stocks of popular crypto companies like Coinbase (COIN) or Strategy& (MSTR) have also been trading significantly lower this year, underperforming most other tech stocks.
However, Biscardi believes that digital asset managers are “very close to achieving institutional legitimacy.” Bitcoin has already crossed that line, he said, but altcoins are close to it. “The last part is really the regulatory framework that lets them do it safely.”
For chief investment officers, this issue dominates. “Regulatory hurdles are number one,” Biscardi said. “It always goes back to that.”
Big allocators are fiduciaries, he said. “It’s not their money, they’re fiduciaries for other people’s money, and it could be an extremely interesting category, but they won’t allocate there unless they can show their board that they’re doing it in a responsible, safe way.”
The tone of the debate has also changed. In 2022, some investors still questioned whether crypto was real or a Ponzi scheme. “I don’t hear anything like that anymore,” Biscardi said.
Indeed, for example, some traditionally conservative pools of capital have stepped up. Endowments, which focus on long-term stability and avoid sharp fluctuations in new asset classes, have begun allocating to Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded funds. The idea is not to overhaul portfolios, but to add measured exposures that can boost returns in years when crypto markets perform well, especially when many investors expect equities to deliver more muted returns than in the past decade.
still a risk asset
Still, allocators consider Bitcoin “far more of a risk asset” than a store of value. “Bitcoin has not behaved like that,” he said, pointing to its correlation with equities rather than gold during market stress.
Similarly, direct token purchases among institutions remain rare. Instead, he hears more about ETFs and fund structures. Limited partners rely on the general partners to select specific coins. “LPs who are bought into this area are really looking to GPs to make those decisions.”
It is not unusual for crypto companies to invest in spreading awareness of their products and services. According to Biscardi, this year’s event saw a significant increase in sponsorship numbers, with companies like BitGo (BTGO), Galaxy Digital (GLXY), Ripple, and Blockstream holding top-tier sponsor status.
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