Once clients have sufficient digital assets, Whalen and Ross both recommend moving the coins off the exchange and into hardware wallet storage that’s held in a safe-deposit box. Whalen says he stores his Ethereum coins on a PIN drive (a USB drive requiring a personal identification number to access the data). Ross uses a Ledger hardware wallet designed for cryptocurrencies (and available at Ledger.com).
For now, Ross recommends that advisors start studying cryptocurrencies to prepare for eventual client questions. If clients ask, advisors should say, “‘I’m learning about it; you should learn about it. When the time is right, when there is an opportunity that makes sense when I can add it to your portfolio, it can be something we can do,’” he says.