Institutions Stand Firm on Bitcoin Holdings Amid Market Downturn

The market crash of Bitcoin between October 2025 and April 2026 saw a significant decline in value, but it did not deter large institutional investors from holding onto their crypto assets. According to a report by Bitwise, a crypto fund manager that oversees more than $9 billion in client assets, 15 large investors interviewed during this period maintained their Bitcoin holdings despite the price drop.

The group included university endowments, pension funds, state-owned investment funds, family offices, and public companies. Every institution that owned cryptocurrency held Bitcoin (BTC). When asked why they refused to sell, none of the respondents cited falling prices as a reason to exit. Instead, they said they would only consider selling if the case for owning crypto broke, such as a regulatory reversal or an industry-wide scandal.

Several institutions had already weathered earlier 50% drops in the market, including one that occurred in 2022. Most treat Bitcoin as a store of value, often paired with gold. Ethereum and Solana were held more selectively, as technology bets they would drop if real-world use fails to appear within a few years.

Nearly all respondents used or planned to use spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which hold the coin directly and trade like a stock. Public filings showed that not every large holder stood firm; Harvard's endowment, for example, cut its Bitcoin ETF stake by 43% in the first quarter of 2026.