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Australians are increasingly looking to cryptocurrency to secure a peachy retirement, with allocation to the asset class from self-managed retirement funds increasing 400% in just four years \u2014 and the growth rate surpassing stocks and bonds.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As of the quarter ending in September, the nearly 612,000 self-managed super funds (SMSFs) are holding a total of $658.6 million (992 million Australian dollars) worth of cryptocurrencies, show statistics released<\/a> on Nov. 26 from the Australian Tax Office (ATO).<\/p>\n The latest figure is a 400% increase from the same quarter in 2019, which closed out at just under $131.5 million (198 million AU). <\/p>\n In Australia, self-managed super funds \u2014 also known as private superannuation funds \u2014 allow individuals to control how their retirement funds are invested. The retirement scheme is overseen by the Australian Tax Office, and the SMSFs are still required to comply with superannuation laws.<\/p>\n Crypto tax provider Koinly\u2019s head of tax, Danny Talwar, told Cointelegraph this makes crypto the \u201clargest growing asset class in SMSFs.\u201d <\/p>\n In comparison, listed shares \u2014 representing the largest allocation category for SMSFs at the end of the last quarter \u2014 grew 28% over the same time. Allocations to debt securities, such as bonds, fell 5.8% over the past four years.<\/p>\n However, total SMSF allocations to crypto saw a slight 0.8% drop from the quarter ending June 2023 and a 2.4% drop compared to the previous year. <\/p>\n Despite the rise in more recent years, the amount of crypto held in self-managed funds is currently still down 38% compared to the all-time high of nearly $1.06 billion (1.6 billion AU) in the quarter ending June 2021 during the last crypto bull cycle.<\/p>\n