Artificial Intelligence Dominates Family Office Strategy While Crypto Lags Behind

Artificial intelligence has become the clear priority for the world’s largest family offices, with a strong majority identifying AI-driven opportunities as central to their future investment strategies across multiple regions and asset classes. A new report from JPMorgan Private Bank surveyed 333 single-family offices across 30 countries and found that 65% are either currently investing in AI or planning to do so soon. By comparison, cryptocurrencies and digital assets continue to attract far less enthusiasm, with only 17% of respondents identifying the sector as an important theme for future allocations. The findings also revealed that 89% of family offices currently hold no crypto exposure at all, while the global average allocation to digital assets stands at just 0.4%. Exposure to Bitcoin is even more limited, averaging just 0.2%, suggesting that digital assets remain on the fringes of institutional family wealth strategies. Private Equity And Growth Sectors Lead Allocation Plans Private equity remains the dominant asset class among respondents, with 37% planning to increase allocations over the next 12 to 18 months as they pursue long-term growth opportunities. Growth equity and venture capital are also rising in prominence, particularly as family offices view them as primary entry points into early-stage AI innovation and emerging technology ecosystems. Despite this, more than half of the offices surveyed still report having no exposure to those segments, indicating that capital deployment into innovation remains selective rather than widespread. Geographically, 59% of respondents are based in the United States, while others span Europe, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region, creating a diverse but cautious global investment footprint. Gold And Traditional Hedges Fail To Attract Interest Even traditional safe-haven assets such as gold are failing to capture meaningful attention from family offices, with 72% reporting no exposure despite heightened geopolitical uncertainty. “Despite geopolitical fears, family offices avoid gold and crypto,” the report wrote, adding that “appetite for traditional and emerging hedges remains limited.” Geopolitical instability was cited as the top portfolio risk by 20% of respondents, followed by concerns over liquidity and trade policy, each highlighted by 12% of participants. Other concerns included asset valuations, slowing economic growth and risks tied to concentrated portfolio positioning across fewer high-conviction investments. Asian Family Offices Show Growing Interest In Crypto While global interest in digital assets remains subdued, family offices across parts of Asia appear to be taking a different approach toward cryptocurrency exposure. Reports have suggested that wealthy families in Singapore, Hong Kong and mainland China are exploring allocations closer to 5% of their portfolios amid rising demand for crypto-focused funds. One Hong Kong-based multi-family office with $4 billion under management recently confirmed plans to invest up to $10 million into specialist crypto strategies for the first time. This regional divergence highlights how attitudes toward digital assets can vary significantly depending on market maturity, regulatory clarity and client demand.