On February 2, 2026, JPMorgan Private Bank released its Global Family Office Report surveying 333 family offices across 30 countries with an average net worth of $1.6 billion. The findings are stark: 89% hold zero digital asset exposure, and the global average allocation stands at just 0.4% of portfolios. Meanwhile, Wall Street is racing to build digital asset infrastructure at accelerating speed.
The numbers tell a story of strategic patience. Nearly nine in ten of the world's wealthiest families have made a deliberate choice to stay out of digital assets—for now. Meanwhile, the institutions these families have trusted for generations are building digital asset infrastructure with unusual urgency. The question is not whether family offices will allocate, but when.
Fidelity launched its FIDD stablecoin on February 4. Morgan Stanley is developing a digital wallet for the second half of 2026. CME Group announced exploration of its own proprietary token the same week. Bank of America now allows advisers to recommend up to 4% crypto allocations. The NYSE and Nasdaq are both racing toward tokenized securities platforms.
The gap between infrastructure buildout and allocation reality raises a fundamental question: who moves first, and what happens when they do?
The Current State: Where Family Offices Stand
The JPMorgan survey represents more than $500 billion in collective family office wealth. Beyond the 89% zero-exposure headline, 17% of family offices plan to prioritize digital assets in their future investment strategies—a number that likely understates near-term interest as infrastructure and regulation mature.
Compare this to what's happening in the tokenized asset market itself. Total RWA (real-world asset) TVL now stands at $23.87 billion, up 10.63% in the last 30 days alone. The number of asset holders has grown 34.45% month-over-month to 835,179. Tokenized Treasuries alone represent over $10 billion in value.
For context, $23.87 billion remains nascent relative to global family office assets under management—representing less than 0.5% of the estimated $6 trillion in global family office wealth. But the growth trajectory is notable: holder counts increasing 34% monthly suggest accelerating adoption among early participants.
The market is growing rapidly. Most family offices have not yet participated. But the conditions that justified caution are changing—and with them, the strategic calculus for allocators.
Why Adoption Has Been Slow—And What's Changing
Three barriers have historically slowed family office adoption of digital assets. Each is now being addressed at institutional scale.
1. Custody: Now Institutional-Grade
For years, the absence of institutional-grade custody was the primary barrier. That barrier has fallen. Fidelity Digital Assets, BNY Mellon, and State Street now offer custody solutions meeting institutional standards. BlackRock's BUIDL fund operates with Securitize and BNY Mellon as partners. The infrastructure that family offices require—qualified custodians with fiduciary oversight—now exists.
2. Regulatory Clarity: Arriving Fast
The SEC and CFTC launched "Project Crypto" on February 4, signaling unprecedented inter-agency coordination. Both regulators endorsed a token taxonomy distinguishing digital commodities from tokenized securities. David Sacks, the administration's crypto czar, announced a 180-day timeline for comprehensive policy recommendations.
The GENIUS Act implementation deadline of July 2026 provides a hard date for federal stablecoin framework adoption. For family offices waiting on regulatory certainty, the timeline is now visible.
3. Education: Investment Committees Getting Up to Speed
This barrier is being addressed through familiar channels. Bank of America now allows 15,000 advisers to recommend 1-4% digital asset allocations. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan all offer digital asset research to wealth clients. The knowledge asymmetry that slowed early adoption is narrowing as traditional advisers develop expertise.
Family office governance structures—investment policy statements, fiduciary obligations, and multi-generational time horizons—have appropriately required caution. But those same governance frameworks are now being updated to accommodate the asset class as infrastructure and regulation mature.
The window for first-mover advantage is narrowing. The barriers that justified zero exposure are being systematically removed. Infrastructure is live. Regulation is arriving. Education channels are active. Family offices that build evaluation capability now will be positioned to act as their governance frameworks permit.
Wall Street Is Building—Rapidly
January-February 2026 has seen an unprecedented concentration of institutional digital asset infrastructure announcements. The SEC-CFTC "Project Crypto" initiative, announced February 4, signaled regulatory coordination that institutions had awaited for years. With the GENIUS Act implementation deadline of July 2026 providing a hard date for federal stablecoin framework, major financial institutions are racing to position.
Wall Street Digital Asset Infrastructure (2026)
Bank of America's policy change is particularly notable. The firm now allows approximately 15,000 advisers across Merrill Lynch, BofA Private Bank, and Merrill Edge to recommend 1-4% crypto allocations to clients. This reverses prior restrictions that required explicit client requests before discussing digital assets.
The Strategic Opportunity
The current moment offers advantages for family offices ready to move ahead of the pack.
Liquidity premiums: Early participants in tokenized Treasury products, private credit, and real estate can access yield premiums that compress as capital flows increase. The current tokenized treasury market offers roughly 4.25-4.50% on Treasury-backed products with instant liquidity features unavailable in traditional structures.
Manager selection: The number of qualified tokenized asset managers remains limited. Early allocators can access capacity before it fills. Late entrants may face waitlists or closed strategies.
Operational learning: The family offices that build digital asset evaluation capability now will be positioned to capitalize on the next wave of products. Those who wait will need to develop that capability under time pressure when competitive dynamics force action.
A Framework for Getting Started
For family offices ready to move from zero to initial allocation, Bank of America's 1-4% guidance provides a reasonable starting framework. The specific approach matters more than the percentage—and institutional-quality options now exist across the risk spectrum.
Consider allocating across three tiers:
Tier 1 (Core): Tokenized Treasuries and money market equivalents. Products like Circle's USYC or BlackRock's BUIDL offer Treasury-backed yield with blockchain-native liquidity. These function as digital cash equivalents with yield enhancement.
Tier 2 (Diversifying): Tokenized private credit and real estate. Higher yield potential with structured credit risk. The $23.87 billion RWA market includes private credit positions yielding 8-12% with shorter duration than traditional alternatives.
Tier 3 (Opportunistic): Direct digital asset exposure through regulated vehicles. The spot Bitcoin ETFs now hold over $100 billion in combined assets, offering regulated access without custody complexity.
The 89% at zero today won't remain at zero forever. As infrastructure matures, regulation clarifies, and traditional advisers develop expertise, the conditions that justified caution are being replaced by conditions that reward action. Family offices building evaluation capability now position themselves to capture first-mover advantages before the window closes.
Position for the Opportunity
GSC provides independent analysis to help family offices evaluate digital asset strategies as infrastructure and regulation mature.
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