The idea of cryptocurrencies being solid investment vehicles is gaining ground among institutional investors. Per a recent report by Nickel Digital Asset Management, cited by CoinDesk,

almost 82% of the institutional investors and wealth managers

surveyed in the United States, the U.K., France, Germany and the UAE expect to increase their exposure to crypto and digital assets by 2023.

Moreover, four out of 10 respondents are anticipated to be aggressive in raising their holdings. The increase in exposure will primarily be driven by long-term capital appreciation prospects of cryptos and digital assets, as cited by 58% of the survey respondents.

Markedly, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are a good hedge against the pandemic-induced weakness in traditional currencies, including the U.S. dollar as well as inflation. Further, endorsements by institutional investors like

Tesla


TSLA

CEO Elon Musk as well as Paul Tudor Jones and Ray Dalio makes 37% of the survey respondents confident in investing in cryptocurrencies.

Elon Musk has been one of the proponents of cryptocurrencies through his support for bitcoin and dogecoin. Although he abandoned bitcoin due to the huge power consumption and resultant pollution issues, Musk continues to support the dogecoin through memes and tweets, thereby boosting its price. The joke coin is currently up 4,865.65%, year to date.

However, the pollution issue prompted Tesla to reject bitcoins as payment for its cars in May. The EV giant is likely to resume transaction only if the currency’s mining is done using 50% of renewable energy.

Tesla’s ban, along with the regulatory crackdown in China, as well as a more hawkish Fed tone dealt a blow to bitcoin, which is currently down 46.3% from the year’s high of $64,829.14 hit on Apr 14.

The bitcoin collapse has also dragged down crypto-oriented stocks. Since Apr 14,

Marathon Digital


MARA

and

Riot Blockchain


RIOT

, both Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) stocks, are down 30.9% and 29.4%, respectively. Moreover,

Coinbase


COIN

and

MicroStrategy


MSTR

, both Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stocks, are down 28.3% and 13.8%, respectively.

Notably, Musk and Tesla’s focus on using green energy for mining has apparently influenced a majority of investors, per a latest Investing.com survey, as

72% of investors now favor green cryptocurrencies

like ripple and cardano.

Hedge Funds Are Most Enthusiastic About Crypto

Cryptocurrencies are being highly valued by hedge fund managers. According to a latest FT article, which cited a survey of 100 hedge fund CFOs by Intertrust, hedge funds are projected to increase their exposure to cryptocurrencies by 2026, holding an average of 7.2% of their assets. This will equate to roughly $312 billion of assets in cryptos across sectors, with 17% of the survey respondents expected to hold more than 10% in cryptocurrencies.

Hedge fund pioneer Paul Tudor Jones has expressed his optimism for bitcoin as a solid investment vehicle to protect wealth over the long term. Jones considers the digital currency as a hedge against inflation and expects to increase his bitcoin holdings to 5% of assets from the current 1-2%. Moreover, his company Tudor Investment has custodial ties with Coinbase and Bakkt.

Coinbase also has a custodial relationship with Daniel Loeb’s Third Point LLC. The company held $122 billion of institutional assets as of Mar 31, 2021.

Another hedge fund billionaire and Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio considers bitcoin attractive as a savings instrument. Once a skeptic of the digital currency, Dalio now

owns some bitcoin

and believes it to be a better investment than bonds.

Further, according to Skybridge Capital’s Anthony Scaramucci, bitcoin is set to become a

“replacement” for gold

. Despite the digital currency’s volatility, Scaramucci is optimistic over its growth prospects, as per CNBC.

Moreover, Alan Howard, co-founder of the Brevan Howard hedge fund, reportedly plans to invest up to 1.5% of its core fund in cryptos. Howard has been actively investing in crypto start-ups including Kikitrade, Copper, CoinShares and Ledn.

Crypto Volatility Makes Equities Safer Bets

Undoubtedly, cryptocurrencies are high-risk investments and not everybody’s forte due to their inherent volatility. Although growing institutional investor base might provide some sort of stability to the crypto market, crypto enthusiasts are advised to keep crypto exposure minimal (1-2% of portfolio) to avoid portfolio damage from the alarming price swings.

In this scenario, investors can use stocks to gain exposure in cryptocurrencies and the underlying blockchain technology. Investors can focus on stocks like

NVIDIA


NVDA

and

Square

(SQ) to gain exposure without taking undue risk.

Remarkably, NVIDIA is benefiting from strong demand for its GPUs among cryptocurrency miners, while Square is facilitating bitcoin transactions. Currently, both NVIDIA and Square carry a Zacks Rank of 2 (Buy). You can see

the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here

.

Infrastructure Stock Boom to Sweep America

A massive push to rebuild the crumbling U.S. infrastructure will soon be underway. It’s bipartisan, urgent, and inevitable. Trillions will be spent. Fortunes will be made.

The only question is “Will you get into the right stocks early when their growth potential is greatest?”

Zacks has released a Special Report to help you do just that, and today it’s free. Discover 7 special companies that look to gain the most from construction and repair to roads, bridges, and buildings, plus cargo hauling and energy transformation on an almost unimaginable scale.

Download FREE: How to Profit from Trillions on Spending for Infrastructure >>

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.

Click to get this free report

To read this article on Zacks.com click here.