After Bitcoin Crashed, Bitwise Asked 15 Institutions if They Sold: None Did

The Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) bear market may have shaken retail sentiment, but some of the world’s largest investors appear to have treated the downturn very differently.

According to Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley, a survey of 15 large institutional investors found that not one reduced its crypto exposure during the bear market, while several increased their positions.

The group included endowments, corporations, sovereign investors and pension funds.

Why Institutions Bought Into the BTC Bear Market

Horsley said the consistency of the responses stood out, with institutions choosing to maintain or potentially increase 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 on Sunday.

Every institution owned Bitcoin, while some also had exposure to other crypto assets.

He added that much of this institutional adoption remains invisible to retail investors because large investors typically don’t publicly announce their positions.

Bitwise itself saw roughly $1.8 billion in inflows during the first half of 2026 despite the bear market, Horsley said, with preliminary Q3 inflows estimated at around $1 billion.