15 Institutions Held Bitcoin Through a 50% Drop
Bitwise spoke with pension funds, sovereign funds, and university endowments that held or added to their Bitcoin positions. Many still see BTC as a long-term store of value, including through spot Bitcoin ETFs.
Key Takeaways
- Bitwise spoke with 15 major institutions that did not reduce their crypto positions during a roughly 50% drop between October 2025 and April 2026.
- Several parties actually bought more Bitcoin, while no respondent mentioned selling because of the lower prices.
- Institutions often see Bitcoin as a long-term store of value, usually alongside gold, and are increasingly using or considering spot Bitcoin ETFs.
Bitwise spoke with 15 major institutions that did not reduce their crypto positions when the market fell about 50% between October 2025 and April 2026. Several parties actually bought more Bitcoin. According to the fund, that shows some professional investors still mainly see the coin as a long-term position, even after a steep pullback.
Institutions Stayed Put
The group interviewed included university endowments, pension funds, sovereign funds, family offices, and publicly traded companies. Bitwise does not name names, but it does say the assets under management ranged from hundreds of millions to tens of billions of dollars. All of the parties that held crypto kept Bitcoin.
None of the respondents said falling prices were a reason to sell. Instead, they said they would only exit if the underlying case for crypto broke down, for example because of a major shift in regulation or a sector-wide shock. Some had already lived through a 50% drop before, including in 2022.
Bitcoin as a Core Position
According to Bitwise, many institutions see Bitcoin as a store of value, often alongside gold. Ethereum and Solana were held more selectively, more like a tech bet that only stays in place if real usage shows up within a few years. The positions stayed small, usually between 1% and 2% of investable assets, with a range of 0.5% to 13%.
Almost all of the respondents use or are considering spot Bitcoin ETFs. Those funds hold the coin directly and trade on the stock market like a share. That makes the step smaller for traditional investors, especially now that Bitcoin is showing up more often alongside stocks and other investment products in portfolios. The inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs also show that institutional demand does not come only from direct purchases, but can also enter through listed funds.
Why This Matters
For European crypto followers, the key point is that institutional demand for Bitcoin does not automatically disappear during sharp price drops. Research also suggests that Bitcoin is moving more closely with major stock indexes after important institutional milestones. That could mean that, for part of the market, the coin is being treated less like a standalone niche position and more like a built-in financial instrument.
