Author|jk
Introduction: Who Is Laying the Groundwork for the Next Bull Run?
The crypto bull market of 2024-2025 was, in essence, a story of institutionalization. The force that drove Bitcoin past $100,000 was not retail FOMO sentiment, but the net inflows into BlackRock's IBIT ETF and the ongoing bond financing for coin purchases by Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy). The underlying logic of that bull run was inseparable from the accumulation quietly completed by institutions during the 2022-2023 bear market.
History seems to be repeating itself now, but the details are markedly different. In Q1 of 2026, Bitcoin retraced over 25% from its highs, Ethereum fell even deeper, and market sentiment turned cold again. Yet, against this backdrop, a cohort of institutions moved in the opposite direction to the price trend: corporate treasuries are adding, sovereign wealth funds are adding, bank-affiliated ETFs are listing, and traditional European financial institutions are entering the stablecoin space. All of this points to the same question: If the next major rally is still to be driven by institutional capital, then who exactly is buying during this bear market accumulation phase?
Odaily reporters conducted an in-depth investigation into the crypto market fund inflows in Q1.
Conclusion first: Despite a brutal market pullback in Q1, institutional capital continued to flow into the crypto market. While Bitcoin fell over 25% from around $88,000 to the mid-$60,000s, and Ethereum plunged as much as 35%, Strategy still counter-trend accumulated over $10 billion worth of Bitcoin, sovereign wealth funds like Mubadala also bought the dip, and approximately 26 single-asset crypto ETFs were issued or filed for under the SEC's new universal listing rule framework.
The buying in Q1 2026 showed a clear divergence: Some hedge funds slashed their holdings significantly (Brevan Howard cut IBIT holdings by 85%), while corporate treasuries, university endowments, ETF issuers, and the Abu Dhabi sovereign fund seized the opportunity to buy the dip. In venture capital, while the number of deals plummeted 49%, the quarterly fundraising total remained around $5 to $6.8 billion, with three deals (BVNK, Kalshi, Polymarket) accounting for nearly half of that total. Externally, the SEC's new rule in September 2025 compressed the ETF approval cycle from 240 days to 75 days; on March 17, 2026, a joint SEC-CFTC statement classified staking rewards as non-securities, triggering a wave of密集 staking-type ETF issuances.
Part One: Active Institutional Buyers and Capital Deployment
New Crypto ETF Launches (Jan-Apr 2026)
New crypto ETF product launches were密集 this quarter. Bitwise launched the Chainlink ETF (CLNK) on NYSE Arca on Jan 14 with $2.5 million in seed capital. Canary Capital launched two products on Jan 13: the Litecoin Spot ETF (LTCC, cumulative AUM ~$9.7M, the first US spot LTC product) and the HBAR ETF (the first US spot Hedera product); the company followed up in February with a staking SUI ETF including staking rewards. Grayscale also launched a SUI Staking ETF in February. 21Shares launched the SUI ETF (TSUI, AUM ~$12.5M) on Nasdaq on Feb 24, and the Polkadot ETF (TDOT, fee 0.30%, the first US spot DOT product, AUM ~$11M in its first week) on March 6.
Old money also released some ETFs. BlackRock launched the iShares Ethereum Staking Trust (ETHB) on March 12, becoming the first major institutional ETH staking ETF, with ~82% of staking rewards distributed directly to holders. Morgan Stanley launched the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (MSBT) on April 8, the first US bank-affiliated spot BTC ETF, with a fee of 0.14%, attracting $34M on its first day and reaching a cumulative size of $133M after 8 days. Additionally, ProShares launched the CoinDesk 20 Crypto Index ETF (KRYP) on NYSE Arca between Jan-Feb; NEOS launched the Enhanced Bitcoin High Yield ETF (XBCI) around Jan 29; Bitwise launched the Proficio Currency Depreciation ETF (BPRO, a BTC and precious metals组合); Nomura/Laser Digital launched the Bitcoin Diversified Yield Fund (BDYF, a tokenized yield product) on Jan 22; 21Shares launched the Strategy Yield ETP (STRC, BTC-backed) in Zurich on Feb 25; Hashdex expanded NCIQ in Q1 to cover BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL, and XLM.
In summary, New Money, meaning ETFs for smaller market cap coins, are being launched, but the ETFs from more established Old Money are still concentrated in high-market cap, established coins.
Notable ETF Applications (Pending approval as of April 23)
Morgan Stanley submitted S-1 applications for spot BTC (MSBT, already listed in April), Solana, and ETH trusts in early January. Goldman Sachs submitted an application for a Bitcoin Premium Income/Options Strategy ETF on April 14. Hyperliquid (HYPE) attracted competing applications from four institutions: Grayscale (GHYP, March 20), Bitwise (BHYP, April 10), 21Shares (THYP, April 14), and VanEck (VHYP) are currently not approved for listing. Grayscale, VanEck, 21Shares, Bitwise, and Canary all submitted applications for ADA spot ETFs, and CME's ADA futures contract also went live on Feb 9. Truth Social (Yorkville) submitted applications for a BTC+ETH combo ETF and a Cronos Yield Enhanced ETF on Feb 13. Bitwise submitted 11 crypto strategy ETFs (covering AAVE, UNI, ZEC, TAO, etc.). REX-Osprey/Defiance submitted applications for 27 crypto ETFs, including staking products and 3x leveraged products.
For now, the Hyperliquid ETF remains the most anticipated.
ETF Fund Flows (Q1 2026)
Spot BTC ETF flows were volatile: Net outflows of ~$1.6B in January (crypto.com data showed the third consecutive month of net outflows), but as buying returned in March-April, the quarter ultimately narrowed to a net positive value. BlackRock's IBIT remained the flagship product, with net inflows of ~$8.4B in Q1, but AUM shrank from ~$78B to ~$54B due to price decline. Ethereum ETFs set a record of 19 consecutive days of positive inflows in early January. XRP ETFs saw net inflows of $1.07B for the quarter, with 43 consecutive days of positive inflows, significantly outperforming BTC products during the same period. Solana ETFs (BSOL, FSOL) combined AUM surpassed $1B in April; Goldman Sachs disclosed holding $108M in SOL ETF positions.
Net inflows positive for the full quarter
Public Company Bitcoin Treasury Purchases
Strategy (MSTR) continued high-intensity accumulation this quarter. As of April 20, 2026, Strategy累计 held 815,061 BTC, with an average price of $75,527 and a cost basis of ~$61.6B. Japanese listed company Metaplanet (3350.T) disclosed on Jan 1, 2026, purchasing 4,279 BTC at an average price of $104,638, totaling over $380M; it added a total of 5,075 BTC in Q1, disclosing on April 2累计 holdings of 40,177 BTC, with Q1 purchase costs around $400M.
Strive (ASST) purchased 123 BTC on Jan 13 at $91,561 each, totaling $11.3M; subsequently completed an all-stock merger with Semler Scientific, with the merged company holding 12,798 BTC, ranking 11th among corporate treasuries; the merger was completed on Jan 16. By mid-March, Strive held ~13,628 BTC累计 through PIPE and the Semler merger. DDC Enterprise (NYSEAM) added ~600 BTC in January alone, holding累计 2,383 BTC worth $182M by March 19.
BSTR Holdings (led by Adam Back, operated by Cantor SPAC) announced plans to go public with 30,021 BTC (worth $2.14B). Twenty One Capital (XXI) held 43,514 BTC (worth over $3.1B) as of April 2, making it the second-largest Bitcoin holder among public companies. Hyperscale Data (GPUS) held 663 BTC as of April 21, entering with $50.3M, targeting a treasury size of $100M.
Ethereum & Staking-Related Corporate Treasuries
BitMine Immersion (BMNR) is currently the largest Ethereum corporate treasury, staking 74,880 ETH (~$219M) via the MAVAN platform in Q1; purchased 101,627 ETH (over $230M) in the week of April 20, 2026, its largest weekly purchase in 2026 so far. As of April 20, the company累计 held ~5M ETH, with ~3.33M staked, AUM ~$12.9B. SharpLink Gaming (SBET) is the second-largest Ethereum treasury, holding ~867K ETH (worth $1.7B - $2.3B), nearly 100% staked, disclosed on March 10.
Major Sellers
Bitcoin miners were net sellers overall in Q1. MARA Holdings sold 15,133 BTC for $1.1B between March 4-25 to repurchase convertible notes; Riot Platforms sold 3,778 BTC for $290M; Nakamoto Holdings sold 284 BTC; Genius Group liquidated its entire 84 BTC holdings on April 1. The Kingdom of Bhutan (Druk Holdings) transferred ~$42M worth of BTC in small amounts throughout the year. Strategy alone accounted for 94% of the net Bitcoin accumulation by all public companies in March.
Bank & Asset Manager Moves
Morgan Stanley not only filed ETF applications; the bank applied to the OCC for a National Trust Bank Charter for digital trust banking in February 2026 and announced opening BTC/ETH/SOL trading to retail clients via E*Trade/Zerohash.
UBS announced on Jan 23 offering BTC/ETH trading services to Swiss private bank clients, covering its $7T wealth management business.
Citigroup announced the launch of institutional-grade BTC custody infrastructure at the Strategy World conference on Feb 26. Standard Chartered launched institutional BTC/ETH custody services in Hong Kong in January and is reportedly in talks to acquire full ownership of its Zodia Custody unit (April 8).
BBVA (Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria) recommended high-net-worth clients allocate 3-7% to crypto assets.
12 European banks (BBVA, BNP Paribas, ING, UniCredit, KBC, Danske Bank, Handelsbanken, CaixaBank, DZ Bank, DekaBank, Landesbank Rheinland-Pfalz, Banca Sella) formed the Qivalis Euro stablecoin consortium based on the Fireblocks platform, compliant with the MiCA regulatory framework (April 21).
Vanguard Group opened third-party crypto ETFs to its 50M brokerage clients on its $11T platform. Fidelity offers a 1% BTC allocation option in its 401(k) pension plans, reportedly attracting ~$800M.
Nomura Securities, Daiwa Securities, and SMBC Nikko Securities all announced plans to launch cryptocurrency exchanges in Japan by the end of 2026.
13F Disclosures (Q4 2025 Holdings, Disclosed Feb 2026)
Goldman Sachs' crypto ETF holdings totaled ~$2.36B, covering BTC ($1.06B), ETH ($1.0B), XRP ($152M), SOL ($109M), but BTC and ETH positions were cut by 39% and 27% QoQ respectively.
Mubadala (Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund) increased its IBIT holdings by 46% to 12.7M shares (~$631M), counter-trend accumulating the equivalent of ~2,300 BTC during the market downturn.
Al Warda Investments (under ADIA) increased its IBIT holdings to 8.2M shares (~$437M), pushing Abu Dhabi sovereign capital's total crypto exposure above $1B.
Millennium increased its IBIT holdings by ~67% (adding the equivalent of ~8,100 BTC, becoming the largest holder overall).
Jane Street increased its IBIT holdings by over 50% to 20M shares.
Harvard University reduced its IBIT holdings by 21.5% but established its first ETH position (3.87M shares of ETHA, worth $86.8M). Dartmouth College became the fourth Ivy League school to enter.
On the selling side: Brevan Howard slashed its IBIT holdings by 85% (from 37.5M shares to 5.5M shares, equivalent to selling ~17,700 BTC); Farallon cut by 70% (~2,800 BTC equivalent); Tudor reduced by ~1,300 BTC equivalent; D.E. Shaw hedge fund halved its IBIT holdings; Sculptor nearly liquidated its FBTC position (cut ~90%).
Sovereign Wealth Funds & Governments
Besides Mubadala and Al Warda, the Luxembourg sovereign wealth fund FSIL maintained a 1% Bitcoin allocation (~€8.5M), becoming the first Eurozone sovereign wealth fund to hold BTC. El Salvador continued its "buy 1 BTC daily" strategy (now holds 7,547 BTC,合计 ~$635M), and added $50M in gold reserves on Jan 29. The Czech National Bank (purchased Nov 2025, continued into 2026) remains the only central bank in the world holding Bitcoin.
Zero additions to the US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve to date. CoinDesk confirmed on March 6 that the Trump executive order was "making slow progress"; the reserve still only holds ~328,372 seized BTC. White House Digital Asset Committee member Patrick Witt reiterated the pledge, but actual purchases have not yet occurred. Among US states, only Texas injected $5M into IBIT in November 2025 (another $5M remains unused). New Hampshire and Arizona have relevant legislation but have not deployed funds. Reports about CalPERS planning to allocate 1% (~$500M) to BTC continue to circulate, but CalPERS has not officially confirmed.
Family Offices
Two surveys revealed opposite trends: The J.P. Morgan Private Bank 2026 Family Office Report showed that among 333 surveyed institutions (average net worth $1.6B), 89% reported having no Bitcoin allocation whatsoever, with AI investment being the top focus. The BNY Mellon Wealth/NOIA survey showed that 74% of ultra-high-net-worth family offices are investing in or exploring crypto assets (significantly up from 53% the previous year), with typical allocations of 2-5%, ~5% for Asian institutions, and ~2-4% for US and European institutions.
Part Two: Q1 2026 Crypto Venture Capital Funding Summary
Crypto VC funding in Q1 2026 presented a paradox: capital volume remained relatively robust (down 8-16% YoY), but the number of deals plummeted 49%. The most comprehensive statistics come from Crypto-Fundraising.info (April 1), recording 222 deals including M&A, with a total funding amount of $6.81B; excluding M&A, pure VC funding was 183 deals, totaling $4.77B. DefiLlama/DL News (April 4, VC only) tracked 53 deals over $10M,合计 ~$5B. J.P. Morgan estimated total digital asset inflows of ~$11B in Q1, about one-third of the Q1 2025 level. Galaxy Research's quarterly crypto VC report, regularly published, had not been released as of April 23, but its Q4 2025 benchmark data ($8.5B/425 deals) provides a QoQ reference.
Core Data
Compared to Q1 2025 (VC funding $5.37B, 358 deals) and Q4 2025 ($8.5B, 425 deals), Q1 2026 VC funding was ~$4.77B, down 11% YoY and down 44% QoQ; the number of deals was 183, down 49% YoY and 57% QoQ. Notably, the average VC deal size surged 76% YoY to $35.9M (median $8M), reflecting significant polarization: Seed stage was the most active by deal count (37 deals, $252M total), while four Series C rounds averaged $108.8M. Pre-Seed stage averaged only $1.75M, and the mid-market nearly萎缩.
Three Deals Ate Half the Quarter
Fundraising this quarter was extremely concentrated and heavily back-loaded. March alone generated $4.43B in funding (65% of the quarter), while February ended bleakly at $686M.
Just the following three deals合计 reached $3.4B, accounting for nearly half of the total disclosed funding for the quarter: payments M&A target BVNK ($1.8B, March 17), prediction market platform Kalshi (growth round led by Coatue, valuation $22B, $1.0B, March 19), and Intercontinental Exchange's strategic investment in Polymarket ($600M, March 27).
The battle for prediction market leadership is already white-hot in the funding arena.
Other notable large financings include: Rain ($250M Series C, stablecoin payments, led by Iconiq/Dragonfly/Galaxy, valuation ~$1.95B, Jan 9); BitGo completed its IPO on NYSE, raising $213M (Jan 22); XBTO strategic funding $217M (March 25); Flying Tulip token issuance $206M (FDV $1B); Whop received a $200M investment from Tether (Feb 25); BlackOpal LatAm RWA funding $200M (Jan 8); Kraken/Payward completed a $200M secondary market transaction led by Deutsche Börse, valuation $13.3B; LMAX Group received a $150M investment from Ripple (Jan 15); Alpaca completed a $150M Series D; Bluesky received a $100M Series B led by Bain Capital Crypto (March 19); Anchorage Digital received a $100M investment from Tether, valuation over $4B (Feb).
Sector Distribution: Payments & Prediction Markets Outpace DeFi
The star sectors of the 2021 bull cycle—chain gaming, NFTs, L1 infrastructure—have almost vanished from the top of the funding rankings.
- Payments/Stablecoins topped with $2.39B (35% share, 17 deals);
- Prediction Markets followed with $1.72B (25.2%, 11 deals);
- Finance/CeFi ranked third with $835M (12.2%, 25 deals).
- RWA (Real World Assets) raised $284M (4.2%, 7 deals)
- Trading Markets/Platforms $255M (3.7%, 2 deals)
- Infrastructure/L1-L2 funding $184M (2.7%, 12 deals)
- DeFi only $89M (1.3%, 5 deals)
- NFTs/Chain Gaming/Metaverse were almost negligible.
The top three sectors combined absorbed 72% of the quarter's disclosed capital.
Active Investment Firms
Coinbase Ventures led institutional investors by participation count with 12 deals, more than double the second place. Followed by: Tether (8 deals), Animoca Brands (7 deals), CMT Digital (6 deals), and a16z crypto, Castle Island, Big Brain, Galaxy Digital (5 deals each) tied.
Most active funds in March
Traditional financial institutions entered the infrastructure sector with rare intensity: Franklin Templeton participated in 4 deals, Intercontinental Exchange invested in Polymarket, Deutsche Börse took a stake in Kraken, Citadel Securities, Bain Capital, Sequoia Capital, and Alibaba also participated in Q1 funding rounds. Geographically, the three largest deals (BVNK, Kalshi, Polymarket) and the BitGo IPO were from the US, showing the US capital share in crypto VC continued at ~55% from Q4 2025 levels.
Conclusion: Institutional Capital Forms a Barbell Structure
In early 2026, the institutional crypto investment landscape is undergoing a two-way分化.
On the buyer side, institutions with long-term conviction, such as Strategy, BitMine, Metaplanet, Mubadala, and the BlackRock ETF ecosystem, used the market downturn to increase their bets, while tactical hedge funds (Brevan Howard, Tudor, Farallon) and most Bitcoin miners turned into net sellers. Strategy alone bought almost more Bitcoin in Q1 than all other public companies combined, and its weekly purchase volume on April 13-19 set the third-largest record in history.
The same polarization is happening in venture capital: super-sized rounds in payments and prediction markets continue to expand, while small and medium-sized projects普遍 face a funding drought. The shift in sector leadership—from DeFi/NFTs/chain gaming to stablecoins, prediction markets, and compliant CeFi infrastructure—signals that the industry's growth engine is gradually shifting from speculative crypto-native narratives towards trading models closer to regulated fintech.
The biggest uncertainty remains the US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve: despite high-profile announcements at the executive level for over a year, actual capital deployment remains zero. If the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act opens a funding path in the second half of the year, it would fundamentally reshape the demand landscape. Until then, it's corporate treasuries and sovereign wealth funds doing the buying, not Washington.
