State Street study finds 51% of institutional executives expect crypto to go mainstream

Two years ago, barely one in ten institutional executives thought digital assets would go mainstream anytime soon. Now it's a majority.State Street Corporation released its fifth annual Digital Assets Study on October 6, 2026. It found that 51% of respondents expect digital assets to reach mainstream adoption within five years. That figure was 42% in 2025 and just 11% in 2024.State Street polled 300 senior executives across asset management and wealth management worldwide. The survey ran from July 20 to August 19, 2026.Respondents reported an average allocation to digital assets of approximately 11% today. They expect that to climb to 17% over the next three years.According to the study, 35% of respondents already manage or distribute digital assets. Another 28% say they have built the infrastructure needed to serve client demand.Fund issuance and tokenization ranked as a strategic priority for 52% of respondents. Tokenization means representing a real-world asset, like a fund share, as a digital token on a blockchain.Cost reduction and efficiency gains were the top expected benefits, cited by 53% of respondents.State Street's findings also emphasize operational resilience and digital cash solutions as essential parts of where asset management is heading.When choosing a digital asset service provider, 69% of respondents ranked experience with regulatory frameworks as the most critical requirement. Cybersecurity came next at 54%, followed by financial strength at 47%.In 2024, only 11% of surveyed executives saw mainstream adoption coming within five years. By 2025, that share had nearly quadrupled to 42%. In 2026, it crossed the halfway mark at 51%.This is State Street's fifth edition of the study, giving it a useful baseline as the same institution has been tracking the same question as attitudes shifted.For investors, the most concrete takeaway is the projected allocation increase from approximately 11% to 17%.For service providers, with 69% of respondents prioritizing regulatory experience, cybersecurity at 54%, and financial strength at 47%, firms without strong compliance records and security credentials may struggle to win mandates.The sample covers 300 executives from asset and wealth management. A five-year adoption forecast is, by definition, a prediction.