A new Bitwise survey pushes back on the idea that big institutions are quick to dump crypto when markets crash. The crypto asset manager says none of the 15 major institutions it interviewed cut their crypto holdings during the roughly 50% market drop between Q4 2025 and Q2 2026. Some even bought more as prices fell.
The survey indicates these institutions are not treating Bitcoin as a short-term trade. Every firm with crypto exposure held Bitcoin, and for most, it was their first, largest, and longest-held digital asset.
Many saw BTC as a store of value and compared it to gold, including as a way to protect against fiat money losing its worth.
Bitwise also found that most institutions kept their crypto allocations fairly small, usually about 1% to 2% of their investable assets, although across the group, the range stretched from 0.5% to 13%.
The survey shows that institutional demand might be stronger than the price charts alone suggest. Several institutions used the downturn to add to their positions, meaning at least some long-term investors saw the lower prices as a chance to buy and not a reason to bail.
That said, the survey doesn’t prove that institutional buying will stop Bitcoin from falling again or ensure a rebound, especially considering it only covers 15 institutions, and the respondents weren’t named.
What’s interesting, however, is that Bitwise said not one of the institutions pointed to falling prices as a reason to sell. Instead, the reasons they might sell were things like the investment case falling apart, a regulatory about-face, or a credibility crisis across the entire industry.
This means a future crypto sell-off could still cause serious trouble if it happened alongside a complete breakdown of the main reasons big financial players choose to hold Bitcoin in the first place.
Bitwise found that Ethereum and Solana were usually held in smaller amounts and for shorter periods.
The investment strategies depended a lot on whether growing network usage would actually turn into real financial value for the underlying tokens. Some investors mentioned they would sell off their holdings if meaningful growth doesn’t show up over the next few years.
Bitcoin, on the other hand, already had a more settled role as the go-to crypto asset for institutions.
As such, if the pattern Bitwise found holds, institutional buying could give Bitcoin an additional source of demand during future sell-offs.
Spot ETFs have made it easier for institutions to get into crypto, too. Nearly every institution in the survey is either using them or planning to, citing the lighter operational load and the familiar investment format.
Nevertheless, the survey makes no promise that institutions will buy every dip going forward.
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});For retail Bitcoin traders, the survey is particularly useful as an inside look at how institutions behave, rather than a signal that the next Bitcoin pullback will automatically be bought.
Traders should keep in mind that institutional conviction isn’t the same as a guaranteed price floor. Bitwise’s research shows how 15 institutions acted during one specific downturn, but it doesn’t mean Bitcoin can’t drop sharply again.
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