According to a survey by London-based Nickel Digital Asset Management, institutional investors and wealth managers in the UAE plan to increase their exposure to cryptocurrency assets between now and 2023.

Ten institutional investors, or half of those surveyed, said they plan to dramatically increase their exposure to cryptocurrency assets between now and 2023 and a further 10 said they will add the asset class to their portfolio, the survey said.

“Despite the recent correction in the crypto market, our survey confirms there is an ever-increasing appetite for this asset class among professional investors, willing to take [a] constructive longer-term view,” Anatoly Crachilov, chief executive and founding partner of Nickel Digital, said.

“We are glad to see increasing adoption of digital assets by many family offices based in [the] UAE, as well as across the Middle East.”

Cryptocurrency afficionados argued during its recent run-up in prices that Bitcoin is being much more widely adopted by institutional investors, with the likes of Fidelity investing in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, which has more than $21 billion of assets under management.

The latest Digital Asset Fund Flows report by digital asset investment manager CoinShares reported $2.9 million of net inflows into cryptocurrency funds in the week ending July 19, bringing the total so far this year to $5.7bn. About 73 per cent of this has been invested in Bitcoin. There is now almost $37bn invested in cryptocurrency funds globally, the report says.

However, extreme price swings are often cited as a key factor that holds back institutional investors from entering the crypto space.

Bitcoin was trading at $33,904 at 11.05am UAE time on Saturday after a steep fall below the $30,000 mark on Tuesday.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency rose modestly after Business Insider reported on Thursday that US investment bank JPMorgan Chase will allow all of its wealth management clients access to cryptocurrency funds. The bank told its financial advisers in a memo earlier this week to take buy and sell orders from its wealth management clients for five cryptocurrency products, Business Insider reported.