Two registered investment advisors who have been allocating client money to Bitcoin for years joined us at PubKey DC to discuss how the asset fits into real financial plans, from retirement portfolios to 401(k) brokerage windows, and why the traditional advisory world is finally catching on.
At our latest event at PubKey DC, we tackled a question that most Bitcoiners have bumped up against at some point: what happens when you try to talk to a financial advisor about Bitcoin? For many people, the answer has been a blank stare or, worse, a lecture about speculation. So we brought in two registered investment advisors who have been allocating client money to Bitcoin for years to have an honest conversation about how the asset actually fits into financial planning.
Watch the full discussion on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0_ABJK3wHw
Seong, who moderated the panel, was joined by Asi De Silva, CFA, Chief Investment Officer at Capital Squared Financial, a Rockville-based wealth management firm, and Mike Casey, founder of American Executive Advisors (AE Advisors). Both have unusual backgrounds for the advisory world. They didn't wait for the ETFs to show up before putting Bitcoin in client portfolios. Asi founded his own firm, RockDen Advisors, back in 2020 specifically because he believed every client should have some Bitcoin exposure, and he went on to run a private fund through the end of 2025. Mike started his firm in 2019 so he could be independent enough to allocate to Bitcoin without anyone telling him no. Between them, they brought decades of experience in global macro investing, emerging markets, and retirement planning to a room full of people who wanted to know: how do the professionals think about this?
Seong opened by laying out the macroeconomic thesis that circulates widely in Bitcoin circles: growing debt levels require ever-expanding money supply, technological efficiency creates deflationary pressure, and the gap between those two forces erodes purchasing power for anyone not holding hard assets. He asked whether this framing has gone mainstream among financial advisors or remains an outlier view.
Mike's answer was direct. Most advisors don't think this way at all. His own Bitcoin journey forced him to learn monetary economics, including concepts like the Cantillon effect, where those closest to new money creation benefit at the expense of everyone else. He noted that every fiat currency in history has eventually failed, and while he doesn't want to see the dollar go that route, it's worth acknowledging what history says. Asi pointed to the annual Bitwise/VettaFi advisor survey, which shows that while only about 30% of advisors are allocating client money to Bitcoin, roughly 65% own it personally. The adoption, he noted, is running ahead of the understanding.
The conversation turned practical when the panel discussed how even a small Bitcoin allocation transforms portfolio performance. Both advisors referenced the Bitwise allocation tool, which lets anyone model what a 1%, 2%, or 5% Bitcoin allocation would have done to a standard 60/40 portfolio over various time periods. The results are striking: a 5% allocation roughly doubled the 10-year return of a traditional portfolio with only a marginal increase in maximum drawdown.
Asi broke down the mechanics. Bitcoin's correlation to traditional assets like the S&P 500 remains relatively low, around 50% over recent months, which means adding it doesn't just amplify existing risk. It introduces a genuinely different return driver. The Sharpe ratio (return relative to volatility) improves meaningfully with even a modest allocation. Mike put it more simply: the facts and data tell the story on their own.
On the question of age and allocation, both advisors pushed back against rigid rules. Mike shared that some of his older, retired clients came from the gold world and were already skeptical of fiat currency before Bitcoin existed. They wanted larger positions. Meanwhile, some younger clients couldn't stomach the volatility. The real variable isn't age; it's whether someone can sleep at night during a drawdown. Asi echoed this, noting that his firm builds what they call "fortress" retirement plans with two to four years of stable assets set aside for living expenses, which frees up the rest of the portfolio for growth-oriented positions including Bitcoin.
With the spot Bitcoin ETFs now well established, the panel explored how the access landscape has changed. Mike described the ETFs as a major breakthrough for frictionless access. Most clients still think of Bitcoin as another stock, and buying shares of a fund feels familiar. But he was clear with the audience: if you want the full experience of economic empowerment, you need to own the coins yourself. Asi noted that his practice is now entirely ETF-based for client accounts, though he guides clients toward self-custody when they express interest. He estimated that the ETFs cover the vast majority of outcomes, but acknowledged the tradeoff. Moving to self-custody eliminates counterparty risk but introduces the risk of lost keys or physical disaster.
The conversation took an interesting turn when Seong raised Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), the Tysons Corner, Virginia-based company that has become the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin. He walked through a thesis he'd encountered: using Strategy's preferred stock (STRK) for short-term yield, spot Bitcoin for the medium term, and Strategy common stock as a leveraged long-term play. Mike's take was to keep it simple. Just buy Bitcoin for the long term. Asi cautioned against treating STRK's 11.5% yield as a safe income source, arguing it carries equity-like risk because Strategy's cash flows come from new share issuances rather than operating revenue. Both agreed that Strategy common stock is best viewed as a satellite position, not a core holding, given the complexity of analyzing its NAV premium, dilution dynamics, and shelf registration for billions in new stock.
The Q&A brought some of the evening's best moments. Jason from PubKey's New York chapter asked how the advisors see their client bases evolving over time. Asi shared that he's watched clients progress from initial 1% allocations to requesting increases as their comfort grew, and noted that there's significant pent-up demand within the RIA community, with many investment teams wanting to allocate but being held back by firm founders who still view Bitcoin skeptically. Mike observed that the physical reaction clients used to have when he mentioned Bitcoin (wide eyes, visible discomfort) has disappeared. Everyone's heard of it now, but most haven't adopted yet, which he sees as a massive remaining opportunity.
A question about real estate versus Bitcoin as a long-term asset drew thoughtful responses. Mike argued that Bitcoin is far harder to impair than real estate, which comes with maintenance, property taxes, and regulatory exposure. Asi framed them as fundamentally different: real estate is a yield-generating asset driven by utility, while Bitcoin is a monetary asset with outsized return potential. Seong added context about how residential real estate's attractiveness has shifted as interest rates have risen, compressing the spread between rental income and financing costs.
One audience member shared that he'd called his 401(k) provider and discovered he could open a brokerage window to buy the Fidelity spot Bitcoin ETF (FBTC). Both advisors praised the move and wished more people knew about it. The ensuing discussion about whether someone could eventually redeem ETF shares for actual Bitcoin in a retirement account led to a practical nuance: in-kind redemptions are available to authorized participants (market makers), not individual investors, but rolling a 401(k) into an IRA that allows spot Bitcoin purchases through a specialized custodian is a viable path.
The final question asked whether AI would prefer Bitcoin as a payment mechanism. Mike didn't hesitate: he's never seen an AI that doesn't choose Bitcoin as the best monetary asset when asked. Asi noted the practical hurdle of tax treatment, since every Bitcoin transaction is currently a taxable event, and suggested that a de minimis exemption could unlock a much broader use case.
Before the panel began, Trey shared an exciting announcement: BDI is partnering with a local nonprofit that runs a table tennis academy serving kids, seniors, and people with disabilities. On April 18th, they'll host a fundraiser tournament, with a portion of the proceeds going to establish a Bitcoin treasury for the organization. It's a concrete example of bringing Bitcoin's benefits directly to community organizations that can use them. The fundraiser will also help BDI to partner with other local organizations like this.
Events like this one are at the heart of what we're building at BDI. When two fiduciary advisors can sit in a room with a mix of seasoned Bitcoiners and curious newcomers and have a real, substantive conversation about how Bitcoin fits into financial planning, complete with sharp audience questions and honest answers, that's education happening in the most natural way possible.
Get involved at https://bitcoindistrictinitiative.org.
