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Dividends as alternative sources of income
Today, there are more investment choices than ever before. Yet, when looking for income, a lot of investors tend face two options:
• Take More Risk: Usually, this ends up being “credit” risk, which deals with the chance of an entity being able to meet specific obligations. Common strategies may focus on “High Yield” or “Floating Rate” debt, or dealing with European Banks, AT1 Coco Bonds. Why is there more income? To compensate investors for taking greater risk that payments won’t be made.
• Accept Lower Income: People are aging, so “lower income” may not necessarily be an option for everyone. If safety of principal is the primary objective, then there is little safer than government debt of some of the world’s most creditworthy countries, such as the United States, Germany or Japan. We cite these three countries because they also have exhibited “safe haven” characteristics, meaning that when investors are nervous, the value of these assets has historically tended to rise.
The ugly nature of inflation
Inflation is important to consider because it may be one of the most significant challenges facing investors in the future. Central Banks printed an awful lot of money in response to the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-2009. History has indicated that typically the consequence of this response is higher inflation. Consider that, at 3% inflation, prices double every 24 years and at 5%, they double every 15 years. Inflation truly erodes real returns, as the purchasing power of future units of currency—be it British pounds, US Dollars or Euros—can buy less and less and less over time.
To give investors a sense of the current environment :
• The US 10-Year Treasury is yielding slightly more than 3.20%.
• The United Kingdom 10-Year Gilt is yielding almost 1.60%.
• The German 10-Year Bund is yielding less than 0.50%.
• The Italian 10-Year BTP (not currently in the headlines for its lack of risk—quite the opposite) is yielding nearly 3.40%.
An alternative may be dividend-paying stocks, as these are one investment option that could not only potentially provide income, but also have a higher potential for price appreciation—providing the opportunity to keep up with inflation. Consider that dividend equities:
• Offer the potential to grow your income stream through dividend growth, in fact, outpacing the rate of inflation over the entire history of the S&P 500 from 1957 to today .
• Provide potential growth of principal through price appreciation
• May offer more downside protection than their non-dividend paying counterparts
Dividends are everywhere
First, it is worth noting that dividends are quite prolific. Small, medium and large companies all over the world offer dividends, with nearly 35% from the United States, more than 18% from emerging markets and almost half coming from Europe and other developed international countries.
Figure 1: The world broken down by dividend stream weighted exposure
Sources: WisdomTree, Factset, Standard & Poor’s, with data measured as of the 30 September 2018 WisdomTree Global Dividend Index Screening. Historical performance is not an indication of future performance and any investments may go down in value. You cannot invest directly within an Index.
New paradigm for asset allocation?
While it is always difficult to make such a bold statement, we think that it is always important and valuable to look across different, logical alternatives. For decades, people have looked at equity markets and thought in terms of weighting stocks by their market capitalization (share price x number of shares outstanding). Doing this, roughly speaking, leads to approximately 50% weight to the US, 40% weight to the developed world ex-US, and 10% weight to emerging markets . Figure 1 substitutes “dividend per share” for “share price” in the aforementioned equation, and we saw the results in the regional allocations. Now might be an interesting time to be thinking in these ways, as the US equity market has tended toward strong outperformance for the better part of the past 10 years.
2024 was a landmark year for bitcoin, solidifying its role as a fully institutionalised asset class.
Institutional inflows into physical bitcoin exchange-traded products (ETPs) reached nearly $35 billion globally, signalling a major shift in how traditional investors view crypto. As bitcoin continued to enhance portfolios’ risk-return profiles, more institutional investors followed suit, reshaping the financial landscape.
Looking ahead, 2025 promises to bring exciting developments across the crypto ecosystem. Here are the top five crypto trends to watch.
Fear of being left behind
The era of bitcoin as a niche investment is over. Institutional adoption is creating a ripple effect, forcing hesitant players to reconsider. Portfolios with bitcoin allocations are consistently outperforming those without, highlighting its growing importance.
Figure 1: Bitcoin in a multi-asset portfolio
| 60/40 Global Portfolio | 1% Bitcoin Portfolio | 3% Bitcoin Portfolio | 5% Bitcoin Portfolio | 10% Bitcoin Portfolio | MSCI AC World | Bloomberg Multiverse | Bitcoin | |
| Annualised Return | 5.77% | 6.46% | 7.83% | 9.20% | 12.57% | 9.07% | 0.56% | 56.24% |
| Volatility | 8.79% | 8.86% | 9.14% | 9.62% | 11.42% | 13.94% | 5.05% | 67.28% |
| Sharpe Ratio | 0.48 | 0.55 | 0.68 | 0.79 | 0.96 | 0.54 | -0.20 | 0.81 |
| Information Ratio | 1.01 | 1.01 | 1.01 | 1.00 | ||||
| Beta | 70% | 71% | 73% | 75% | 81% | 100% | 24% | 181% |
Source: Bloomberg, WisdomTree. From 31 December 2013 to 30 November 2024. In USD. Based on daily returns. The 60/40 Global Portfolio is composed of 60% MSCI All Country World and 40% Bloomberg Multiverse. You cannot invest directly in an index. Historical performance is not an indication of future performance and any investment may go down in value.
With bitcoin’s ability to noticeably improve portfolios’ risk-return profiles, asset managers face a clear choice: integrate bitcoin into multi-asset portfolios or risk falling behind in a rapidly evolving financial landscape. In 2025, expect the competition to heat up as clients demand exposure to this powerhouse cryptocurrency.
Expanding crypto investment options
In 2024, regulatory breakthroughs opened the doors for physical bitcoin and ether ETPs in key developed markets. This marked a critical step towards making cryptocurrencies mainstream, providing seamless access to institutional and retail investors alike.
Figure 2: Global physical crypto ETP assets under management (AUM) and 2024 net flows
Source: Bloomberg, WisdomTree. 02 January 2025. Historical performance is not an indication of future performance and any investment may go down in value.
In 2025, this momentum is expected to accelerate as the crypto regulatory environment becomes more friendly in the United States and as key developed markets follow Europe’s lead and approve ETPs for altcoins such as Solana and XRP. With their clear utility and growing adoption, these altcoins are strong candidates for institutional investment vehicles.
This next wave of altcoin ETPs will expand the diversity of crypto investment opportunities and further integrate cryptocurrencies into the global financial system.
The maturing of Ethereum’s layer-2 ecosystem
Ethereum’s role as the backbone of decentralised finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and Web3 is unmatched, but its scalability challenges remain a hurdle. Layer-2 solutions—technologies such as Arbitrum and Optimism—are transforming Ethereum’s scalability and usability by enabling faster, cheaper transactions.
In 2025, Ethereum’s recent upgrades, such as Proto-Danksharding (introduced in the ‘Dencun’ upgrade), will drive layer-2 adoption even further. Innovations like Visa’s layer-2 payment platform leveraging Ethereum for instant cross-border transactions will underscore the platform’s evolution.
Expect Ethereum’s layer-2 ecosystem to power real-world use cases ranging from tokenized assets to decentralised gaming, positioning it as the infrastructure of a truly scalable digital economy.
Stablecoins: bridging finance and blockchain
Stablecoins are becoming indispensable to the global financial system, offering the stability of traditional assets with the efficiency of blockchain. Platforms such as Ethereum dominate the stablecoin landscape, hosting stablecoin giants Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC), which facilitate billions in daily transactions.
Figure 3: Key stablecoin chains
Source: Artemis Terminal, WisdomTree. 05 January 2025. Historical performance is not an indication of future performance and any investment may go down in value.
As we move into 2025, stablecoins will increasingly interact with blockchain ecosystems such as Solana and XRP. Solana’s high-speed, low-cost infrastructure makes it ideal for stablecoin payments and remittances, while XRP Ledger’s focus on cross-border efficiency positions it as a leader in global settlements. With institutional adoption rising and DeFi applications booming, stablecoins will serve as the backbone of a seamless, interconnected financial ecosystem.
Tokenization: redefining ownership and revolutionising finance
Tokenization is set to redefine how we think about ownership and value. By converting tangible assets like real estate, commodities, stocks, and art into digital tokens, tokenization breaks down barriers to entry and creates unprecedented liquidity.
In 2025, tokenization will expand dramatically, empowering investors to own fractions of high-value assets. Platforms such as Paxos Gold and AspenCoin are already showcasing how tokenization can revolutionize markets for gold and luxury real estate. The integration of tokenized assets into DeFi will unlock new financial opportunities, such as using tokenized real estate as collateral for loans. As tokenization matures, it will transform industries ranging from private equity to venture capital, creating a more inclusive and efficient financial system.
For the avoidance of any doubt, tokenization complements crypto by expanding the use cases of blockchain to include real-world applications.
Looking ahead
2025 is set to be a defining year for crypto, as innovation, regulation, and adoption converge. Whether it is bitcoin cementing its position as a portfolio staple, Ethereum scaling for mainstream use, or tokenization unlocking liquidity in untapped markets, the crypto ecosystem is poised for explosive growth. For investors and institutions alike, the opportunities have never been clearer or more compelling.
This material is prepared by WisdomTree and its affiliates and is not intended to be relied upon as a forecast, research or investment advice, and is not a recommendation, offer or solicitation to buy or sell any securities or to adopt any investment strategy. The opinions expressed are as of the date of production and may change as subsequent conditions vary. The information and opinions contained in this material are derived from proprietary and non-proprietary sources. As such, no warranty of accuracy or reliability is given and no responsibility arising in any other way for errors and omissions (including responsibility to any person by reason of negligence) is accepted by WisdomTree, nor any affiliate, nor any of their officers, employees or agents. Reliance upon information in this material is at the sole discretion of the reader. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.
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