54 percent of affluent Swedes hold crypto. Yet Sweden is the most cautious of seven markets in CoinShares' new survey: half are sitting on the fence, and the fewest have a wealth manager who includes crypto in the portfolio.
Caption: AI-generated illustration / Kaupr
CoinShares is Europe's largest digital asset manager, with Swedish roots and around $6.9 billion under management. In its Affluent Investor Crypto Report 2026, the company surveyed 2,230 affluent investors in the US, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Sweden about their relationship with crypto. All hold at least $500,000 in investable assets excluding real estate, half of them more than $1 million.
The report gives each country its own persona. France is the "bitcoin believers", Switzerland the "risk-averse accumulators", Italy the "discerning diversifiers" and Germany the "autonomous institutionalists".
Sweden, the only Nordic country in the sample with 304 respondents, is labelled the "risk-averse traditionalists" – and the report calls it the most cautious market by some distance.
54 percent of affluent Swedes hold digital assets. That is the lowest of the seven countries, against a European average of 64 percent and around 70 in the US, the UK, Germany and Switzerland.
A full 52 percent of Swedish respondents describe themselves as observers – investors who follow the market but have minimal exposure. That is the highest in the survey, and the report calls the group "the largest untapped pipeline". 18 percent of Swedes say they are not interested, against 11 percent in the rest of Europe.
Only three percent of Swedish investors call themselves traders. Short-term speculation is almost absent, in Sweden too.
Kaupr has covered the headline figures for all seven countries here: https://www.kaupr.io/nyheter/to-av-tre-velstaende-investorer-eier-krypto-viser-coinshares-rapport
64 percent of Swedes are comfortable with crypto's volatility, against 75 percent in Europe. 19 percent of Swedish investors are outright uncomfortable – more than twice as many as in most other countries.
February's price fall split Swedish investors almost down the middle: 40 percent saw it as a buy signal, 33 percent reduced their exposure.
Only 24 percent in Sweden say they are extremely likely to increase their exposure in 2026, against 46 percent in Europe and 64 in the US.
70 percent of Swedish investors see bitcoin as a reliable store of value, against 76 percent in Europe. 12 percent of Swedes disagree – the highest in the survey.
65 percent in Sweden believe bitcoin works as a hedge against fiat currency debasement, against 76 percent in Europe.
Only 58 percent of Swedes rank crypto among the top three asset classes for long-term returns. Sweden is the only market below 65 percent, and crypto trails equities by 14 points.
Among Swedes who hold digital assets, 73 percent hold bitcoin – the lowest of all, against an average of 80. Swedes more often build a crypto portfolio without bitcoin.
Swedish investors respond less to political signals than others. 49 percent of Swedish investors say MiCA makes them more likely to invest, against 60 to 65 percent in the other European countries.
67 percent in Sweden support more regulation, against 79 percent on average.
Donald Trump's personal endorsement of crypto makes 41 percent of Swedes more likely to invest, the lowest of all. The broader US crypto policy scores 68 percent. The 20-point gap between the person and the policy is the largest in the survey.
Geopolitical tension between the US and Europe is seen as a reason to buy by 45 percent in Sweden, against 57 percent on average.
One finding points the other way. 60 percent of Swedish investors say the motion in the Riksdag that the Riksbank should hold a bitcoin reserve made them more likely to invest – 19 percent "a lot", 41 percent "somewhat". The motion, tabled by two Sweden Democrats, was rejected.
The Riksbank's advice to keep cash at home because of cyber vulnerability in digital payments was also read as an argument for crypto: 48 percent of Swedes became more likely to invest, 16 percent less.
62 percent of Swedish investors prefer to invest through a broker, ETP or wealth manager rather than directly on a crypto exchange. Only Switzerland is more institutionalised.
At the same time, only 34 percent in Sweden have a wealth manager who actively includes digital assets in the portfolio – the lowest in the survey, against 51 percent in Europe and 60 in the US. 44 percent of Swedes are invested without a manager but open to using one. That is the largest such group in any country.
31 percent of Swedish investors think their wealth manager is too conservative.
Swedes who have a manager listen to them the most: 45 percent name the manager as their most important source of information, the highest of all. And in Sweden it is older investors, not younger ones, who most often actively seek a manager with crypto expertise.
Laurence Vardaxoglou, who led the work on the report, has no single explanation for the Swedish figures.
– Sweden is an outlier on many indicators. Personally, I don't have an explanation, but there are clues in the report, he said during the presentation in London.
Benoît Pellevoizin, Head of Marketing at CoinShares, points to a Swedish split.
– Swedish traditional finance embraces the infrastructure but won't talk about the asset class. To them, bitcoin and ether are almost radioactive, while the blockchain is good. It is impossible to get a Swedish bank to cover CoinShares as a crypto company, says Pellevoizin.
CEO Jean-Marie Mognetti tells Kaupr that Sweden has always lagged the rest of Europe on crypto.
– It's not new. Sweden is a very active trading market, but it also has a rich choice of other things to invest in. And the investor base in crypto has been strongly male-dominated, says Mognetti.
Sources: CoinShares, Kaupr
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