Institutional investor

Institutions include asset managers, hedge funds, pension funds, insurers, endowments, banks, family offices and companies holding crypto on their balance sheet. They trade in size, rely on regulated custodians and prime brokers, use OTC desks to avoid moving prices and operate under strict compliance, accounting and reporting rules.

Institutional adoption has been a long-running theme in crypto. Milestones include CME bitcoin futures in 2017, companies adding bitcoin to their treasuries from 2020, and US spot bitcoin and ether ETFs in 2024, which gave pension funds and wealth managers a familiar way to gain exposure. Regulatory clarity, bank custody and tokenisation of traditional assets are seen as further steps.

Institutional money can stabilise markets and add legitimacy, but it also ties crypto more closely to traditional finance. Assets held through ETFs and custodians are not in self-custody, correlation with stock markets can rise and large redemptions can amplify selloffs.