Nexo’s 2026 survey of affluent investors finds that ownership of digital assets is widespread, but security, fees and platform complexity remain barriers to deeper portfolio integration. Affl
Nexo’s 2026 survey of affluent investors finds that ownership of digital assets is widespread, but security, fees and platform complexity remain barriers to deeper portfolio integration.
Affluent investors are increasingly holding cryptocurrencies, but ownership has not translated into long-term integration into financial planning, according to a new report from digital-asset platform Nexo. The Future of Digital Wealth 2026 survey found that 66.7% of respondents already own crypto, while the average Crypto Integration Index (CII) score was 4.83 on a scale of 1 to 10.
Nexo developed the CII to measure crypto’s role within an investor’s broader financial life rather than simply whether an investor owns digital assets. The index combines allocation size, holding horizon, retirement integration, substitution of traditional assets and perceived risk. The report says a higher score reflects deeper integration into long-term portfolio planning, while emphasizing that the index is descriptive rather than a measure of investment quality.
The survey also found that 19.2% of respondents expect crypto to become their primary personal wealth driver over the next decade, ahead of salary, equities and real estate. Meanwhile, 42.6% of investors fell into Nexo’s Watcher and Convert categories, representing participants who already have exposure but have not yet committed to deeper integration.
Nexo’s analysis argues that risk perception is less important in separating levels of crypto integration than portfolio decisions. A chart on page 5 attributes 54.2% of variation in CII scores to asset substitution and retirement decisions, compared with 13.6% attributed to risk perception. The report also shows significant differences between markets: Argentina recorded the highest crypto ownership at 74.3%, while the U.S. had the lowest at 62.3% but the highest average CII score at 5.07.
Among investors with CII scores of 7 or higher, the report identifies security concerns as the most frequently cited barrier at 36%, followed by high fees at 34% and platform complexity at 28%. Tax uncertainty, regulatory uncertainty, limited protection and fiat conversion each accounted for 21%.
The findings also point to an age-related pattern. Crypto integration peaks among investors aged 35 to 44, with 28% of holders in that group treating crypto as a core retirement asset. Among 18-to-25-year-olds, ownership reaches 94.2% and 30.8% identify crypto as their primary wealth driver, but only 2% report a 10-year-plus holding horizon.
Rather than measuring adoption solely through ownership, Nexo’s framework focuses on how digital assets are incorporated into portfolio construction and retirement planning. The report’s page 7 segmentation shows that only 4.7% of the 1,000-person sample fell into the “Structurally Integrated” category, while 33.8% were classified as pre-entry.
The survey was conducted among 1,000 affluent investors in the United States, United Kingdom and Argentina. Nexo said the research was designed to examine the gap between holding crypto and incorporating it into longer-term wealth strategies. The full report provides additional regional and methodological detail.
