Institutions held crypto through 50% drawdown, Bitwise finds

Asset manager Bitwise reported that none of the 15 institutional investors it spoke with trimmed crypto allocations during a roughly 50% market decline that began in October 2025; several firms instead increased their holdings. The interviews, conducted in late March and April 2026, covered a cross-section of large investors including endowments, foundations, public pensions, sovereign wealth funds, multi-family offices, investment consultants and public companies.

Across the institutions with crypto exposure Bitcoin was universally held and typically represented the largest and longest-held position. Many interviewees described BTC as a store-of-value asset, often considered alongside gold. By contrast, Ether and Solana tended to be smaller, shorter-term bets: several institutions said they would sell those tokens if network growth—such as activity in stablecoins, decentralized finance or tokenization—failed to translate into value accruing to the tokens themselves.

When asked what could prompt divestment, respondents did not cite price declines as a trigger. Instead they pointed to events like a regulatory reversal, an industry-wide credibility crisis or a breakdown of the investment thesis underpinning a token. Bitwise noted one institution that had extensively used DeFi applications but elected not to hold ETH or SOL because it did not see a clear mechanism by which that activity would benefit the underlying tokens.

Crypto allocations among the institutions with exposure ranged from 0.5% to 13% of investable assets, with most allocations between 1% and 2%. Bitwise also reported that almost every institution interviewed either used spot crypto exchange-traded funds or planned to, and some investors were shifting from private placements or direct custody into ETFs. Separately, a CoinShares 13F data report cited by Bitwise found that reported US spot Bitcoin ETF exposure fell 17% in the first quarter, with hedge funds and brokerages accounting for roughly 96% of that reduction while banks increased exposure.