In recent years, family offices have gradually evolved from being the "exclusive asset stewards" of the elite circle to the "asset management console" in the eyes of high-net-worth individuals. Especially after the rise of emerging investment paths such as Web3 and RWA, more and more investors have begun to explore: Is it suitable for me to participate through a family office? How to build it? Faced with the high volatility and high complexity of the crypto world, how should I set up the structure and configuration path?
In the previous article of Portal Labs, we analyzed in detail "Why family offices are naturally suitable for Web3 investment, especially RWA assets". In this issue, we will go a step further and analyze how family offices are truly established, used and optimized as an investment path from a practical perspective, aiming to answer three key questions:
Who is suitable to enter Web3 through the family office route?
How to build a “usable” family office structure?
How should family offices set up Web3 investment strategies and implementation methods?
Who is suitable for the “family-run route”?
Not everyone needs a family office, because its essence is to serve the purpose of "managing complexity".
If your assets are sufficiently concentrated, the transaction frequency is low, and the investment path is relatively simple (such as fixed income products, real estate, and domestic funds), then the governance capabilities of the family office may far exceed your needs, resulting in a bloated structure and high costs.
But if you belong to the following groups, a family office is almost the only way to balance security, structure and growth:
Large asset volume and complex structure
Your investable assets have exceeded 10 million RMB, and span equity, real estate, overseas funds, digital assets, and even involve different currencies, accounts, and holding entities.
There is a need for cross-border architecture
Including but not limited to overseas immigration, offshore companies, non-Chinese tax residency, as well as overseas investment, identity planning, family member distribution and other scenarios.
Investment tends to be structured products
In Web3, more and more new structured products such as fund tokens, convertible bonds, income certificates (Notes), tokenized equity, etc. are only open to "qualified investors" or legal persons.
Long-term governance is needed
You hope to use asset allocation to serve intergenerational inheritance, continuation of family will, or allocate long-term assets such as RWA with "construction period + operation period + exit period".
The common point among these groups of people is that assets are not for short-term gains, but for crossing cycles; investment is not single-point speculation, but structural participation.
In this context, the governance structure of a family office is no longer an identity label but a practical tool.
What is the key to building a "usable" family office?
The establishment of a family office structure is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Its core mission is to "solve real problems." Many people understand family offices as "buying a service package" from trusts, law firms, and FO companies. But a truly useful family office must be "tailored" around your family structure, asset portfolio, and investment goals.
In the context of Web3, a “usable” family office needs to answer at least the following four questions:
Clear purpose
Are you looking for tax optimization, cross-border identity configuration? Or to obtain project investment qualifications? Or to configure a crypto asset portfolio for the next generation? Clarifying the purpose is the starting point for structural design and resource allocation.
Suitable selection
SFO (Single Family Office): The fund size is more than RMB 30 million. It is recommended to consider setting up an independent team with independent operation capabilities;
MFO (Multi-Family Office): With funds of around RMB 10 million, it is possible to consider cooperating with professional service agencies to provide management, compliance, investment research and other services;
VFO (Virtual Family Office): If the funds are not enough to set up an independent office, it can be operated lightly through an outsourcing network consisting of law firms, trust institutions, and FAs;
Cross-border SFO (such as established in Singapore): often used to resolve identity, taxation, and investment channel issues, and is currently the most common option for Chinese families.
Architecture and legal design
A typical family office structure usually includes:
Offshore holding entities (such as BVI/Cayman/SPV) for holding and capital contribution;
Trust or foundation structures for tax optimization and succession arrangements;
Legal advisors and compliance teams for ongoing monitoring and adjustments;
"Investment carrier accounts" connected to Web3 projects, such as enterprise-level wallets, dedicated custody accounts, etc.
Professional resource allocation
It is not enough to have money to set up a family office. You also need to match the roles of legal, tax, financial, and technical consultants to ensure that the structure operates in compliance and the investment is successfully implemented. Many family offices choose to set up entities in Singapore and set up financial cooperation teams in China to form "internal and external linkage".
At the same time, building a family office can be roughly divided into three levels:
Layer 1: Identity and Structural Framework
Clarify tax residency, family structure, and inheritance path;
Establishment of domestic/foreign holding entities, trusts or SPVs (depending on the type of assets and where they are held);
Solve the compliance path for asset holding, tax declaration and cross-border circulation.
This layer is the "legal identity certificate" for all Web3 investment behaviors. Especially when you participate in overseas RWA projects, the lack of structure means "no channel".
Second layer: governance mechanism and authorization system
Determine the family's governance mechanisms (e.g., investment committee, will, equity agreement);
Establish an internal and external advisory system (division of roles such as law, taxation, investment, and management);
Establish authorization mechanisms and supervision processes to ensure that "someone is responsible, someone is executing, and someone is correcting mistakes."
This layer determines whether the family office is "operable". If everything depends on your personal decision, once an accident occurs or you withdraw, the family office will be useless.
The third layer: asset allocation strategy
Set long-term allocation ratios (e.g. 40% for RWA, 30% for VC, 10% for digital assets, and 20% for cash and liquidity);
Match the life cycle rhythm of various assets (construction period, lock-up period, exit period);
Set up profit-taking and stop-loss mechanisms, as well as risk position adjustment mechanisms.
This level is the key to whether the family office can "survive" in the market.
How can family offices participate in Web3 investment?
When we say "participate in Web3 through a family office", it does not mean changing an account to invest in a project, but reconstructing your role, path and strategy. Clarifying the structure is just the starting point, and the real core lies in "how to invest".
Web3 investment has the characteristics of high volatility, high technical barriers, and changeable supervision, and must be addressed through "structured design".
Set up investment identity
Web3 project docking identities usually include:
Direct legal person (company): An offshore company established by SFO to connect with the investment agreement;
SPV holding: holding assets through a third-party SPV and controlling voting rights;
Trust beneficiary: Setting up a trust with a family office to hold tokens or equity facilitates tax optimization and intergenerational planning.
It is recommended that family offices establish their identities in accordance with the legal system of the project location, in collaboration with law firms and compliance agencies, to avoid missing out on investment opportunities due to “no qualified entity”.
Matching asset type
The types of Web3 assets suitable for family offices include:
RWA (Real World Assets): such as tokenized bonds, real estate, income sharing agreements, etc.
Structured funds: such as income tokens, re-pledge agreements, income certificates, etc.
Equity assets: such as convertible bond tokens, dividend tokens, DAO governance tokens, etc.
It is not recommended to participate in a large proportion of purely speculative projects that have "no real asset support, no governance structure, and no exit mechanism."
Setting investment rhythm and risk management mechanism
The biggest difference between Web3 investment and traditional PE/VC is the uncertainty of the pace. Family offices should refer to the following mechanisms for configuration:
Set the “acceptable lock-up period” and exit window;
Design a "phased release" mechanism to release funds based on project progress;
Configure a "reinvestment income" pool to make additional investments in high-quality projects;
Clarify the tax declaration rhythm and establish a reporting and auditing mechanism.
Governance participation and deep collaboration
High-end family offices are more than just investors.
In the RWA project, the family office can play roles such as auditor, governance representative, and custodian;
In the DAO, the family office can participate in governance by staking tokens and configure a “strategy wallet” to vote;
In the on-chain protocol, family offices can be embedded in the collaborative process as long-term LPs, principals, and ecological collaborators.
This type of "embedded investment" not only enhances the certainty of returns, but also makes it easier to create information advantages and reinvestment opportunities.
Common Misunderstandings and Tips for Avoiding Pitfalls
As Web3 enters deep waters, investment is no longer a question of “whether you can invest”, but rather “with what identity and in what way to invest”.
A family office is a structural carrier that can carry long-term governance capabilities, legal identity configuration and asset flow paths.
It allows investors to be not only bettors, but also structure designers, governance participants and value accumulators.
However, many newly established family offices tend to fall into the following misunderstandings when they come into contact with Web3:
Misconception 1: Using the family office as a vest
If a company is set up but has no compliance path, no financial flow, and no tax disclosure, it will ultimately be difficult to obtain approval from banks and regulators.
Myth 2: Lack of investment governance capabilities
Only one legal account is set up, but there is no budget and reallocation mechanism, and ultimately the investment cannot be effectively tracked and adjusted.
Misunderstanding 3: Blindly pursuing profits and ignoring compliance boundaries
If you participate in an "unlicensed dividend project", once regulators intervene, your funds will be frozen or you will be fined.
Therefore, Portal Labs recommends that after setting up a family office, at least the following mechanisms should be formed:
Annual investment plan + analysis review;
Clear compliance review + audit mechanism;
Professional team + continuous legal counsel.
At the same time, I would like to remind you again that family offices are not suitable for everyone. They need to match the size of funds, long-term will and collaborative resources to truly play a role.
The key to whether to take the family office route is not to ask "Do I have money?" but to ask "Do I need a structure to undertake cross-cycle governance tasks?"
If the answer is yes, a family office is not only a wealth container, but also a long-term base for you to enter Web3 structural investment.
