The head of an administration platform servicing the sector has revealed SMSF members are investing in digital assets in a measured and sensible manner, although activity from this cohort has reduced in recent months.
“Similarly to the market, there are not many [SMSF members] actively investing [in digital assets] today, but the people who are … are not the 100 per cent-type crypto people we’re seeing [driving] fear mongering in the press,” SuperConcepts chief executive Andrew Row told delegates at the Digital Economy Conference 2026 held in Sydney recently.
“There are certainly some concentrated holdings and holdings where people have taken a position quite early and they’ve ridden the price all the way up, but for the most part [SMSF members are investing in digital assets] as part of a considered allocation strategy.”
Further, Row provided insight into the various avenues SMSF members are using to make their investments in digital assets.
“We see a blend of clients who are investing directly in digital assets or [accessing the asset class] via ETFs (exchange-traded funds) and aggregators,” he shared.
However, he recognised the main characteristic of SMSF members likely means they will end up favouring one mode of digital asset investing.
“Self-managed super is about control and being able to invest in one-to-one direct digital assets, rather than through an ETF, gives people the control to select their own asset allocations and not really defaulting or deferring that decision to somebody else,” he noted.
Further, he pointed out most SMSF members are educating themselves about all aspects of running their own funds, including investing in digital assets, and so are not in the main relying on financial advice.
“The fact is almost three-quarters of self-managed super trustees are self-directed. They are making those decisions themselves, they’re educating themselves, but they’re not necessarily going to a financial adviser and saying: ‘What should I invest in?’” he said.
“So really the importance comes down to having simple access to those investments and doing so [while observing compliance requirements].”
During the same session, Row highlighted what SMSF members are looking for from a digital asset service provider.
Darin Tyson-Chan
Editor
Darin is the founder and publisher of Benchmark Media, an independent publishing house whose mastheads include financialobserver, selfmanagedsuper and smstrusteenews. He has been covering the financial services space for over a decade and in this time he has worked for a variety of trade publications. Darin has also written for the Money section published in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
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