Attention institutional investors: Whether you’re a bonafide and laser-eyed true believer or a skeptical holdout, the risks from cryptocurrencies could be steadily “creeping” into your portfolio, according to MSCI. From a report: At least 52 companies representing $7.1 trillion in market capitalization have some exposure to cryptocurrencies, according to an analysis by MSCI. They range from all-in players like Coinbase to Bitcoin balance-sheet “hodlers” like Tesla and MicroStrategy to those dipping a toe into crypto-market services such as JPMorgan Chase. The growing importance of the volatile digital asset class brings with it an assortment of challenges for investors and companies alike as they try to assess the environmental, social and governance risks that come along with it, the report says. These include questions about everything from greenhouse gas emissions stemming from mining coins, to a lack of accounting standards for crypto and questions about transparency surrounding how the networks are run, according to MSCI. “Really simple questions start to become really tricky here,” Harlan Tufford, who leads MSCI’s North American corporate-governance research, said in a podcast discussing the report. “Like, who in the company knows the passkey to access your private anonymous wallet that stores, you know, a billion dollars in Bitcoin? And how do you monitor that?”
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