Morgan Stanley GIC suggests 2 to 4% crypto allocation across portfolio types

Key Takeaways

The Global Investment Committee at Morgan Stanley has outlined a 2% to 4% target range for crypto allocations based on investor risk appetite.
The GIC explicitly likens Bitcoin to digital gold, emphasizing its scarcity-driven investment appeal.

Morgan Stanley’s Global Investment Committee (GIC), which oversees the firm’s strategic asset allocation framework for wealth management clients, has recommended allocating between 2% and 4% of portfolios to crypto depending on investor risk appetite, per a new GIC report shared by Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley.

According to the GIC, crypto is an “emerging, speculative asset class” that has nevertheless matured into a legitimate component of diversified portfolios. The committee refers to Bitcoin as “digital gold.”

Institutional interest in crypto is rising, fueled by strong returns, stabilizing markets, and pro-crypto policy momentum under Trump, as noted in the report.

The GIC suggests initial allocations are capped at 2% for balanced growth portfolios, 3% for market growth, and 4% for opportunistic growth strategies. Investors focused on capital preservation or income generation are advised to avoid this asset class.

The committee also recommends that exposure be implemented through exchange-traded products and rebalanced quarterly or annually to manage volatility and prevent crypto holdings from expanding excessively during market upswings.

“This is huge,” Horsley commented on the GIC report. “We’re entering the mainstream era.”

As one of the earliest Wall Street institutions to approve Bitcoin ETF recommendations for clients, Morgan Stanley continues to expand its crypto footprint.

The bank has partnered with Zerohash to enable crypto trading for E*Trade users and is preparing to roll out a structured digital asset allocation strategy across its wealth management platform.