Why Family Offices Are Going All In on Crypto in 2026

For years, family offices cited regulatory uncertainty as their primary reason for staying on the sidelines. Fair enough. Fiduciaries have obligations, and operating in legal gray areas creates liability that most wealth managers simply won’t accept, but that excuse evaporated in 2025.

With the bipartisan support of the GENIUS Act, which created a federal framework for stablecoins. The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act that was introduced by Rep. French Hill of Arkansas provided clearer guidelines separating the jurisdictions of the CFTC and SEC and stands in a favorable position heading into the new year. Family offices now have something they never had before: a playbook that mirrors the compliance guardrails they use in traditional finance.

Tokenization of real-world assets is attracting enormous institutional interest. Converting ownership rights of assets into digital tokens on a blockchain promises to unlock liquidity and increase trading efficiency for traditionally illiquid investments. According to a recent institutional investor survey, more than half of respondents expressed interest in investing in tokenized assets. 61% were specifically interested in tokenizing alternative funds like private equity, private credit, and real estate.

The question isn’t really whether family offices will integrate digital assets. It’s whether individual families will be early enough to capture the full strategic benefit, or late enough that they’re playing catch-up while paying more for the same positioning.