“You don’t want more than 5 percent in alternative investments of any kind,” said Boyd, 30, whose Washington-based firm manages about $500 million.

Boyd, who owns bitcoin in what he calls a “long, long, long-term investment,” also warns clients not keep their wallet on the platform where they bought a digital currency. Wallets secure the private key that bitcoin owners need for transactions. Those who bought assets on Mt. Gox and left them in a wallet on the cryptocurrency exchange in Japan lost their investment when the platform was hacked.

Boyd suggests transferring bitcoin into a so-called desktop wallet like Exodus. These are as secure as the computer they’re stored on, he said, so back up your machine and safeguard your data.

Supply and Demand

Greg Sullivan, chief executive officer of Sullivan Bruyette Speros & Blayney, steers clients away from bitcoin by telling them to think about supply and demand. Unlike other assets, cryptocurrencies have no barriers to entry, he said, so new ones could easily siphon off demand.

Sullivan tells clients to focus on blockchain technology, an encrypted, real-time digital ledger of transactions, that could eliminate many middleman roles. Investors should look for companies able to use blockchain to be more efficient as well as technology firms that can help meet blockchain’s need for processing speed.

"This isn’t something you need to have figured out today," said Sullivan, whose firm is based in McLean, Virginia, and manages $3.3 billion. "But you need to be watching because it will unfold over the next five years or so and could be a game changer."

First-Mover Disadvantage

Wealth managers also remind would-be bitcoin buyers that the first mover in a new technology is often not the big winner.

“Right now you’re not only speculating that people will continue to pay more for bitcoin in the future, based on no reason tied to intrinsic value,” said Michael Kitces, a partner at Pinnacle Advisory Group in Columbia, Maryland, which manages more than $1.8 billion. “You’re also gambling that bitcoin is the one that survives in a blockchain future. And that assumes no one finds some magic flaw in blockchain that makes it unravel.”