Institutions Held or Boosted Crypto Holdings During Bitcoin Bear Market

Despite the recent Bitcoin (BTCUSD) bear market, large institutional investors appear to have taken a different approach compared to retail traders. According to Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley, a survey of 15 major institutional investors revealed that none reduced their crypto exposure during the downturn, with several even increasing their positions. The group included endowments, corporations, sovereign investors, and pension funds.

Horsley highlighted the consistency of the responses, noting that these institutions chose to maintain or expand their crypto allocations despite falling prices. 'If people are wondering whether institutions, investment professionals, CFAs, billionaires, brilliant people want to own the asset class, they do,' Horsley said in an interview with Scott Melker. Every institution in the survey owned Bitcoin, with some also holding other crypto assets. Much of this institutional adoption remains invisible to retail investors, as large investors typically do not publicly announce their positions.

Bitwise itself saw roughly $1.8 billion in inflows during the first half of 2026 despite the bear market, with preliminary Q3 inflows estimated at around $1 billion. Horsley also noted an emerging trend of investors swapping directly held crypto into ETF shares to simplify custody and portfolio management. Bitwise observed roughly $60 million to $70 million of such swaps during Q3.

Horsley believes that steady positive price performance could create urgency among mainstream investors without making Bitcoin look overheated. He sees this as the ideal setup for further adoption, as the cryptocurrency demonstrates its resilience after more than 16 years.