I sat down with Susan Holliday in a recent episode of the Corporate Director Podcast to explore why digital assets deserve a place on the  board’s agenda. For many boards, “crypto” and adjacent topics may still sound like a niche investment area, associated with speculation, scam risks, or questions about whether to hold Bitcoin on the balance sheet. In fact, Diligent Institute’s blockchain digital assets report, produced with the Silicon Valley Directors Exchange, underscored that knowledge gap: Back in 2022, directors rated their understanding of the topic just 4 out of 10 on average.

But Holliday, a global financial services expert and board member, says the crypto conversation has moved on since then. The more useful lens is a comprehensive discussion of digital assets: stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets, changing trading hours and new ways to move money.

Strategic opportunities and risks are emerging together. Boards must evaluate potential competitive advantages, disruption, regulatory uncertainty, cybersecurity, controls, insurance coverage, and reputational exposure.

“I would categorize the current environment as exciting but uncertain,” Holliday says. That uncertainty is precisely why directors should be paying attention. Digital assets could affect companies that never buy or sell cryptocurrency by influencing payments, liquidity, treasury operations, investor behavior and even how a company’s shares trade.

Strategic questions for the board

The board’s job is neither to chase the newest innovations in digital assets nor  to dismiss them reflexively. It is to understand the possible range of impacts these newer instruments could have on the organization and decide how, or whether, to respond. Holliday recommends asking where the company wants to sit: “Do you want to be the first mover? Do you want to be early, a smart follower, or do you see this as immaterial?” 

The answer should reflect the company’s sector, geography, risk appetite and operating model. A financial services or internationally active company may face near-term implications, while another organization may reasonably monitor developments from a distance.

What matters is making that choice consciously and revisiting as the environment changes. As Holliday notes, this area is moving quickly, so a single board briefing should not be the end of the conversation.

Turn curiosity into oversight

A productive discussion can begin with practical questions. Could stablecoins improve international payments? Would tokenization change how the company’s shares are used as collateral, or how shares are traded? Do current policies, controls and insurance coverage address digital assets? If the company experiments, who owns the work, what expertise is needed and which partners can be trusted? How will management track competitors, regulators and emerging risks?

The goal, as we often advise when a new issue area enters board conversation, is not to turn every director into a technologist. “I don’t think you need to be an expert on crypto or digital assets or even technology in general,” Holliday says. “But what you do need to do is understand how it can impact the company’s strategic model and operations and be equipped to ask insightful questions.”

That is a useful governance test for any fast-moving issue. Boards do not need perfect foresight, but they do need shared awareness, clear accountability and a process for learning. Digital assets may not become material for every company at the same speed.  But the market around every company is changing, and thoughtful boards will make sure they're ready before the change arrives at their door.