Nexo: 67% of wealthy investors own crypto, only 4.7% deeply integrate it
Roughly two-thirds of affluent investors across the United States, the United Kingdom and Argentina already hold crypto, but few treat it as a core part of their finances, according to research published by Nexo and first reported by Crypto.news.
The report, “The Future of Digital Wealth 2026,” surveyed 1,000 investors through the research platform Attest in February and March 2026. Respondents scored an average of 4.83 out of 10 on Nexo’s new Crypto Integration Index, and only 4.7% reached 7 or higher, which the company calls “Structurally Integrated.”
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Nexo has a commercial interest in digital asset adoption and disclosed that relationship alongside the findings. The company described the index as a descriptive measure of reported behavior and said a higher score should not be read as meaning a better investment strategy.
Key facts
- 1,000 affluent investors in the U.S., U.K. and Argentina were surveyed in February and March 2026 via Attest, screened for at least $100,000 in liquid assets in the U.S. and U.K. or $40,000 in Argentina.
- Average Crypto Integration Index score was 4.83 out of 10; only 4.7% of respondents scored 7 or above.
- Among the most integrated investors, 36% cited security concerns, 34% high fees and 28% platform complexity.
- Argentina had the highest ownership rate at 74% but the lowest average score at 4.62; the U.S. had the lowest ownership at 62% but the highest average score at 5.07.
- Investors aged 35 to 44 showed the deepest retirement integration, with 28% treating crypto as a core retirement asset.
Risk perception is no longer the dividing line
Nexo built the index to measure commitment rather than exposure, scoring investors on five equally weighted factors: allocation size, holding period, retirement integration, substitution of a traditional asset and perceived risk. A respondent near the 4.83 average typically held a smaller position for a shorter time and had not folded crypto into retirement planning.
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Blockchainreporter reported that risk perception accounted for only 13.6% of the variation in scores. Substitution and retirement integration together explained more than half of that variation, according to the same report. Nexo analyst Iliya Kalchev said perceived risk looked similar between investors who had deeply incorporated crypto and those who had not, and that what separates them is whether they substituted crypto for a traditional asset and built it into retirement planning.
Conviction still ran ahead of the integration figures. Just under 20% of respondents expected crypto to become their largest source of personal wealth creation over the next decade, ahead of salary, equities and real estate.
The friction turns operational at the top
For investors who cleared the risk stage, the obstacles changed. Security concerns, fees and platform complexity outranked tax uncertainty, regulatory uncertainty and fiat conversion, each cited by 21%, according to Blockchainreporter. Neil Steinhardt, chief operating officer of Nexo US, said investors who had moved past risk concerns were left dealing with security, fees and how usable platforms are. He described that as the gap between owning crypto and building wealth with it.
Nexo framed these as scaling problems tied to position size rather than entry-level worries. Blockchainreporter noted the survey does not break down which specific fees or platform features respondents had in mind, and that its 1,000-person sample across three countries with wealth-based screening carries wider margins for any single age bracket or market. Blockchainreporter also reported that Nexo’s investor archetypes are composite profiles rather than individual case studies, and that the findings predate any changes the company or its competitors might make in response.
Why it matters
The three markets show different shapes of adoption. Nexo tied Argentina’s high ownership to a displacement of cash amid currency depreciation and capital controls, while U.S. investors treat crypto as a direct competitor to equity allocations. In the U.K., 65% held crypto but scored an average of 4.75, reflecting more fragmented positions, three points below the U.S. average.
The results land after Nexo returned to the U.S. market in February 2026 with investment, trading and crypto-backed credit products, following an earlier withdrawal and a $45 million settlement with U.S. regulators over its Earn Interest Product. Nexo launched a crypto card in Argentina in July and appointed Andres Ondarra as general manager there.
Separately, a September poll shared by Bitwise found 60% of participating wealth managers planned to allocate to crypto within a year, even though 67% said they were not currently allocating client portfolios to digital assets.
What to watch
The report covers only the surveyed group of affluent investors and is not representative of the general population. Nexo said it applies to that specific cohort and described crypto as speculative, high-risk instruments whose value can fall quickly, advising investors to seek independent financial, legal and tax advice. Whether the security, fee and usability frictions narrow inside those existing custody and product structures is not something the survey tests.
Sources: crypto.news, Blockchainreporter
