Digital Asset Allocators Emphasize Risk Management as Institutions Move In

Remy: Well, Wall Street is keeping a close watch on how big picture economic policy is shaping digital assets. Now, the broader market, keeping an eye on interest rate shifts and the upcoming transition at the Federal Reserve. Now, regulatory frameworks in the US are becoming more defined, and professional allocators are increasingly incorporating digital assets into diversified portfolio as well. Joining me as we kick off a new month is Max Kahn, CEO of Digital Wealth Partners. Max. Great to have you here. Thank you so much for joining me.

Max: Thank you for having me. Really excited. Good to meet you.

Remy: Well, first and foremost, we have to keep in mind that the beginning of the year in January was quite the month in terms of volatility across all asset classes here. So as we head into the rest of this year of 2026, what are you telling your clients right now when it comes to the macro outlook?

Max: On the macro outlook in general? You know, we maintain a long term bull bias on digital assets. We remind clients that short term price volatility you know while scary you know we have to keep that fear & greed index in line, right? And consumer sentiment really drives a lot of the digital asset market today without a lot of institutional adoption, which we do believe is on the horizon. we really like to highlight the long term outlook from a macro perspective, instead of watching the short term volatility and sell offs in a still maturing market.

Remy: Yeah, and I'm glad you brought that up. Because if we look at the price action of the crypto majors over the weekend, including Bitcoin as well as Ether, we saw Bitcoin fast approaching that 52 week low. So if you're in the market, of course if you're a short term you are concerned about the moves. But if you're looking long term, why do you think active risk management is so important in the current environment?

Max: You know, I think active risk management is really important in every asset class, right. Not just digital assets in crypto, but certainly in a volatile asset class like this. For peace of mind, for principal protection. Active risk management is critical. And I think, you know, a disciplined approach and a systematic approach is really what separates professional portfolio management from speculation. So to provide that peace of mind to our clients, we like to take that long term view and have a lot of risk management rigor built into our strategies.

Remy: And when I speak to a lot of people in the digital asset space, one of the trends that they're watching heading into 2026 is institutional adoption. So how does interest from major allocators out there changing, especially during current regulatory uncertainty?

Max: Yeah, it's a great question. So there's a couple of things that I think about when I think about institutional adoption. The first one is absolutely regulatory clarity, which with the Clarity Act, we're hoping that we get some clarity soon. And the second one is the infrastructure. So institutions need those pipes, those trustworthy on ramps and off ramps in order to make a meaningful allocation. As we head into 2026, we're hoping we get a lot more clarity on this opaque regulatory environment so they know the rules of the road, and then all that product development and infrastructure is being built in the background so that they can participate in a meaningful way once they're ready.

Remy: And as we look ahead, aside from the crypto majors, including Bitcoin, when it comes to evaluating quality outside of the crypto majors, what does that actually look like?

Max: Yeah. So when I look at deploying capital, we're really looking for utility and broad application across, you know, a diverse array of industries. A great example is XRP and what Ripple is doing right now. You know, their payment infrastructure, in particular, is really important because it allows for instantaneous settlement. that's really interesting and really important because it increases the velocity of money.

And anything that increases the velocity of money is good for the economy. And as a capitalist society, we're very likely to adopt that technology. So we're looking for things with utility, with broad application potential, with compliance ready frameworks, with risk management models in place. All of these things are going to attract long term capital.

Remy: Yeah. And Max, understand that you recently announced a $250 million Bitcoin strategy with Two Prime. So tell us about those.

Max: Yeah really excited to expand our relationship with Two Prime. You know this strategy is really centered on risk management and return generation. Two things really core to the ethos of Digital Wealth Partners is expanding these institutional strategies into the broader market. So democratization of access, whether that be through lower minimum, you know, easier on ramps and off ramps through onboarding into these strategies, we really want to be able to provide institutional quality strategies and asset management for our end clients, and this strategy allows us to do that. The other thing it does, and what we're really excited about is putting your dormant assets to work.

So a lot of our investors have a long term view on the particular asset of choice. In this case it's Bitcoin. We also see it in XRP in the Solana communities. But they don't want to miss out on that upside potential So how do we put that asset to work so they don't miss out on the upside potential. But it's not just sitting there and they're hoping it goes up. So in this relationship with Two Prime and this product in particular, we're leaving the Bitcoin in qualified custody. And we have an in-kind margin relationship and off exchange settlement relationship with the exchange counterparty. So that Bitcoin could be traded you know or the excess liquidity can be traded to generate returns for these investors participating. And we're seeing a lot of demand for these strategies, especially off exchange settlement infrastructure after the FTX situation in 2021. So anything we can do to keep assets in qualified custody? We'd like to. We'd like to do that.

Remy: And finally, Max, before I let you go, we have about 60s here. You mentioned the word demand. So what other areas are you also seeing demand?

Max: So our clients, you know, we're very crypto core to our ethos, but we are a full spectrum financial services provider. And we do anticipate liquidity events in the future. So we're building out our investment products for those liquidity events. We see demand in real estate. Obviously in current market conditions, we're getting a lot of questions about metals and commodities, which is always exciting and a great opportunity to educate our clients on diversification., you know, a diverse portfolio is really important for our advisors and for our client base.

So we like to build products to meet demand. We're crypto focused and crypto centric, but how can we show our clients where crypto fits into their broader financial planning goals? And that's what we're focused on.

Remy: Okay, Max, we will have to leave it there. But thank you so much for joining me today, and thank you so much for all of your insights.

Max: Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.