Family Offices want crypto – but who's helping them get there?

If you work with family offices, you will have noticed a shift over the recent years. Digital assets have moved from dinner-party curiosity to a boardroom agenda item. Over that time, we have seen that shift, and have helped a number of family offices navigate the complex regulatory environment as they actively look to integrate crypto and digital assets into their investment strategies.

According to a recent Ocorian study – which surveyed family members and senior executives across 16 jurisdictions including the UK, US, UAE, Singapore and Switzerland – 70 percent of those considering digital asset investments have struggled to find third-party support for the regulatory and reporting challenges that come with the territory. Only eight percent say they are in a "very strong position" to meet global regulatory requirements more broadly. That's a striking gap.

It’s not hard to see why. Family offices now have multiple routes into digital assets – direct holdings, allocations in crypto-focused funds, exchange-traded products such as spot Bitcoin ETFs, staking and DeFi yield strategies, venture investments in blockchain infrastructure, and tokenised real-world assets including bonds and real estate. Each carries a distinct regulatory profile, and the compliance picture shifts depending on the route chosen and the structure through which the family office invests.

In the UK, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) recently finalised the regulatory framework that will govern various types of crypto activities and businesses. With it, comes welcome certainty in how the FCA intends to supervise such activities but also what family offices can expect of a licensed service provider. This includes rules governing how a crypto investment is managed, how it is safeguarded, how it can be redeemed, what risk mitigations does a service provider has in relation to a particular product / service, information and reporting requirements, change in control triggers (if, for example, a family office invests in regulated crypto business), etc.

The practical implications go further. The customer journey itself raises regulatory considerations – from AML/KYC requirements at onboarding through to the very real question of whether you will be banked or debanked for engaging in crypto. These are not abstract risks; they are operational realities that need planning for upfront, and not after a decision to invest has been made.

One must also consider how the digital assets strategy fits into the wider investment strategy and family office structure. Do core family office structure documents permit digital asset holdings? Do governance frameworks need updating? How do gains, rewards, losses, estate value sit from a tax perspective? And how does all of this connect to intentional succession planning for the next generation?

Critically, digital assets cannot be treated in isolation. Supporting family offices’ appetite on this requires a joined up and interdisciplinary approach, including looking at implications from a financial services regulation, funds, tax, private client tax, corporate, commercial, real estate, family law perspective. We are well-placed to work with family office clients across these disciplines, helping them to stay up to date with the speed of change, and join up the questions that a digital assets strategy inevitably raises. With the right regulatory architecture in place around a family office’s investment routes, family offices have the potential to deploy capital confidently as the market develops.  

Family offices see a real opportunity. The regulatory support to match it should too.