👨👩👧👦 A Family Office Affair
FIRE BTC Issue #24 - Family offices have trillions of dry powder to buy bitcoin
Is it too late to buy bitcoin? I get this question all the time.
My usual response is to flip the script and ask: how many people do you personally know who own a meaningful amount of bitcoin? Most of the time, the answer is “none.”
If adoption is still this early, where hardly anyone has exposure in any significant way, then there's still an incredible amount of capital on the sidelines. Combine that with bitcoin’s fixed supply, and the setup for future price appreciation is still very much intact.
This view was reinforced for me in a big way last week, when I spoke to a packed room of attorneys and wealth advisors who represent ultra high-net worth families. Only about 10% of them admitted to owning bitcoin, but the room was buzzing with enthusiasm for the topic.
Even the wealthiest people in America are extremely under-exposed to bitcoin. It’s still early.
🏠 What is a family office?
A family office is a private advisory firm that manages the finances and investments of a wealthy individual or family — typically with a net worth of at least $100 million, though some start around $30 million or less.
There are two main types:
Single-family office (SFO): Serves one ultra-wealthy family.
Multi-family office (MFO): Serves several wealthy families, sharing resources and infrastructure.
Family offices typically handle much more than just investing. They often manage estate planning, tax strategy, philanthropy, legal affairs, budgeting, insurance, and even personal matters like travel, staffing, or education planning.
Basically, it’s like having a private CFO and wealth management team — all tailored to one family's needs.
According to Deloitte, family offices account for over $5 trillion of wealth, which is expected to grow to almost $10 trillion by 2030. From the report:
That’s a serious amount of wealth. Some portion of those assets will inevitably move into bitcoin as these allocators recognize its superiority as a store of value relative to real estate, stocks, bonds, and other alternative assets.
🎓 Bitcoin 101
The event brought together seasoned attorneys and wealth advisors who guide billion-dollar families in managing their wealth and affairs. These are extremely intelligent and savvy professionals.
And yet their understanding of bitcoin is still rudimentary, leading to very low ownership levels for themselves and the families they represent.
At the start of our presentation, we ran a quick survey. Everyone in the room had heard of bitcoin, but 90% had zero allocation. That lack of exposure likely mirrors their clients' portfolios.
With that context, we shifted the conversation to the fundamentals — what bitcoin is and why it deserves serious consideration as a store of value alongside real estate, stocks, and bonds.
We knew going in that there were a few primary concerns to address:
Utility: People still have questions about what bitcoin is used for. We answered this by putting bitcoin in context with other store of value assets that family offices own. Bitcoin’s primary use case right now is a (volatile) store of value that is free of debasement. The store of value use case represents the largest market in the world, and managing and preserving wealth is at the core of what a family office does.
Volatility: Family offices already hold assets with volatility on par with bitcoin, and they manage that risk through position sizing. Stocks like Tesla and Nvidia experience major price swings, yet these investors include them confidently in their core portfolios. Amazon has seen multiple drawdowns of more than 80% over its history. However, when it comes to bitcoin, volatility is treated as something entirely unfamiliar or unmanageable. Our goal was to reframe that perception and provide the right context.
Regulatory: The world has shifted from “the government will ban it” to “the government will buy it” in a short 15 year period. We made sure to focus on the recent changes in regulatory posture in the US and their implications on bitcoin’s adoption by large capital allocators. The playing field is dramatically different now, and a previous headwind to bitcoin adoption has been almost completely neutered.
Opportunity: Bitcoin offers the potential for massively asymmetric returns. We pointed back to the results of our hand survey to highlight just how early we still are. Compared to the market size of traditional stores of value, bitcoin remains tiny. Even capturing a small slice of those markets could drive significant price appreciation, thanks to its fixed supply.
What’s striking is that, despite the sophistication of the professionals in the room, their concerns echoed the same ones we’ve seen throughout bitcoin’s history. Everyone goes through a similar learning curve. As each area of uncertainty gets resolved, the question shifts from should I allocate to how much should I allocate.
💼 Why family offices will embrace bitcoin
Our presentation was well-received. People were highly engaged, asking questions and expressing their appreciation for our valuable insights.
Family offices have unique advantages when it comes to adopting bitcoin.
Unlike institutional investors, who must navigate committees, strict mandates, and regulatory constraints, family offices typically make faster decisions. With fewer bureaucratic hoops, they can quickly capitalize on opportunities like bitcoin, particularly when their confidence in the asset grows.
Family offices manage generational wealth. They think in decades or even centuries, not quarterly reports. Bitcoin's volatility becomes less intimidating when viewed through this long-term lens.
Family offices also focus heavily on wealth preservation. With global debt and money printing at unprecedented levels, traditional assets like bonds are becoming more toxic in a portfolio. Bitcoin stands out as a superior alternative for safeguarding wealth across generations.
High-net-worth individuals frequently look to their peers for guidance. As family offices see respected figures in their networks allocating to bitcoin, social proof will accelerate adoption. It’s a domino effect.
🔮 The tipping point is near
Family offices represent a powerful wave of potential capital still largely untapped by bitcoin.
These offices don’t make investments lightly, but once committed, they typically allocate meaningfully. Bitcoin’s fundamental attributes align perfectly with family offices’ core goals of preserving and growing generational wealth.
The family office space may be quiet today, but my experience last week suggests they will be coming in force as their understanding of bitcoin accelerates. They are being inundated with headlines and information that forces it into their purview. It’s becoming too big and too loud to ignore.
That’s it for this week. Thanks for reading!
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Until next time,
Trey ✌️