Institutional investors largely maintained or increased their crypto exposure through the latest market downturn, according to a new study from Bitwise Asset Management, with none of the surveyed institutions reducing their allocations even as prices fell sharply.

Bitwise interviewed senior investment professionals responsible for crypto allocations at 15 large institutions, including pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, foundations and family offices. None of the participants reduced its allocation during the roughly 50% crypto market drawdown between Q4 2025 and Q2 2026, while several increased their exposure. For long-horizon allocators such as pension funds and endowments, whose mandates are typically measured in years, the findings offer a documented account of how institutional positions behaved through the drawdown itself.

Bitcoin emerged as the common asset across institutional portfolios. Every institution in the study that owned crypto held bitcoin, which for nearly all was their first, largest and longest-held crypto position. Investors frequently framed bitcoin as a store of value, comparing it with gold as a hedge against fiat currency debasement — a framing that places bitcoin within a template institutions already apply to traditional portfolios.

Ethereum and Solana were treated differently. Institutions holding those assets generally maintained smaller positions with shorter investment horizons, and some said they would exit if adoption failed to translate into meaningful value for the underlying tokens over the next several years. Those stated conditions give observers a concrete benchmark for tracking whether altcoin adoption ultimately flows through to token value.

Crypto allocations ranged from 0.5% to 13% of investable assets, although most institutions allocated between 1% and 2% — even at the top of that range, crypto remained a minority position relative to traditional holdings. Exposure was spread across spot ETFs, direct ownership, venture investments and hedge funds.

Spot ETFs have also become a major access point. Nearly every institution interviewed either uses them or plans to, citing lower costs and reduced operational complexity — a combination that matters for institutions without dedicated digital asset teams, since ETF exposure can be managed through fund infrastructure many already use.

Bitwise noted that some institutions use structures that do not appear in 13F filings, meaning public filings may understate overall institutional crypto exposure. For anyone tracking institutional adoption through filings alone, that gap could yield an incomplete picture.

Matt Hougan, Bitwise's chief investment officer, said no institution interviewed identified falling prices as a reason it would sell. Instead, participants pointed to factors such as a breakdown in their investment thesis, a regulatory reversal, or an industry-wide credibility crisis.

The study is based on interviews with 15 institutions and does not represent a broad statistical survey of institutional investors. Bitwise said the findings support its expectation that a majority of institutional investors will hold crypto within five years — a timeline that gives that expectation a concrete checkpoint.

Source: CryptoBriefing