By Mallika Mitra
Shortly after Charles Schwab announced in April that it would soon allow investors to trade crypto directly on its platform, financial advisor Jeff Judge received a question from a 68-year-old client who had always dismissed Bitcoin: Was he "missing something?" the client asked Judge.
The client ended up investing $125,000 -- some 5% of his $2.5 million portfolio -- in a crypto exchanged-traded fund (ETF).
"Institutional credibility moved the needle in a way that price performance never did," said Judge, managing partner at Chesapeake Financial Planners in the Baltimore area. "When Fidelity, BlackRock and now Schwab put their name on it, older investors interpret that as a green light, or at least a sign they should ask the question."
Crypto has surged to a $2.6 trillion market cap, up more than 1,000% from April 2020 as retail investors and institutional ones alike have taken an interest in digital currency.
Bitcoin's price jumped from roughly $8,000 per coin in early 2020 to as high as $126,000 per coin in October of last year. Once just accessible to investors willing to learn the jargon and complicated way crypto was traded and stored in its early days, the asset can now be bought and sold on trading apps alongside stocks.
Even well-known crypto skeptics are changing their tune. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who called Bitcoin a fraud in 2017, wrote in his most recent letter to shareholders that the bank was building upon its capabilities in digital assets. And Schwab is just the latest investment firm to let investors invest in Bitcoin and Ether -- the second-most popular crypto -- on its platform.
The crypto market has historically been dominated by young investors: Gen Z and millennials -- people 45 or younger -- make up 68% of crypto owners, according to digital asset exchange Coinbase. But Mike Casey, an advisor with AE Advisors who specializes in integrating Bitcoin into portfolios, says he has had multiple conversations with preretirees and retirees after institutions began pitching crypto. Most recently, a retired engineering executive in his mid 60s reached out after seeing Schwab's announcement.
"His framing wasn't 'should I speculate?'" Casey says. "It was 'what am I missing if credible institutions are building infrastructure here?' That's a very different entry point."
The retired engineer and his wife both decided to add Bitcoin exposure to their portfolio as a long-term holding.
The late economist Paul Samuelson said investing should be akin to "watching paint dry or watching grass grow." Digital assets are anything but boring. Over roughly the last five years, Bitcoin's beta has been 1.92 compared with the S&P 500's beta of 1, according to data from Morningstar. In other words, Bitcoin has been nearly twice as volatile as the stock market.
For most older investors, crypto should account for no more than 5%-10% of their investments, not as a replacement for core income-generating holdings, Casey says. That's if it even has a place in a portfolio at all.
Judge echoes that view: "A 70-year-old with a fixed-income need and low risk tolerance doesn't automatically benefit from an asset class just because Charles Schwab decided to offer it," Judge says. "My honest answer to most of these clients is some version of: small allocation, eyes open and only if we've already handled the things that actually protect your retirement."
How risky is crypto? Bitcoin lost roughly half its value between April and July in 2021 and again between October 2025 and February of this year. Patrick Huey, a financial advisor in Naples, Fla. who owns Victory Independent Planning, says he wouldn't recommend more than a couple percentage points of a total portfolio at maximum. And even then, he wouldn't necessarily recommend a client put that money straight into Bitcoin or Ether. "I would probably prefer the diversified ETF exposure to more of crypto versus betting on a single coin."
ETFs give investors exposure to a basket of investments, there are plenty of options on the market that give investors a taste of the crypto ecosystem without requiring they go all in on Bitcoin. Take the State Street Galaxy Hedged Digital Asset Ecosystem ETF, which holds businesses that "stand to benefit from the growing adoption of the blockchain and cryptocurrency industries" including digital infrastructure company Riot Platforms and Cipher Digital, which offers data centers for bitcoin mining.
Whether an investor chooses to invest in the crypto ecosystem at large, in a specific coin or not at all, the key is not to invest more than is appropriate because you are afraid of missing out.
"In a long-term investment plan, there's really no such thing as missing the boat," Huey says.
"You're always going to be presented with investment opportunities that are new and different."
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May 02, 2026 04:00 ET (08:00 GMT)
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