Author｜jk, Odaily Planet Daily

Introduction: Who is Laying the Groundwork for the Next Bull Market?

The crypto bull market from 2024 to 2025 is essentially an institutional story. What will drive Bitcoin to break through $100,000 at that time is not the FOMO sentiment of retail investors, but the net inflow from ETFs after the launch of BlackRock's IBIT and the ongoing rolling of bonds for purchasing. The underlying logic of that bull market is inseparable from the quiet accumulation by institutions during the 2022 to 2023 bear market.

Now, history seems to be repeating itself, but the details are completely different. In the first quarter of 2026, Bitcoin retreated over 25% from its peak, and Ethereum saw a deeper decline of 35%, as market sentiment turned cold again. However, against this backdrop, a batch of institutional actions run counter to price trends: corporate treasuries are accumulating, sovereign wealth funds are increasing their holdings, bank-affiliated ETFs are launching, and traditional European financial institutions are entering the stablecoin space. All of this points to the same question: If the next big market trend will still be driven by institutional funds, then during this bear market's layout phase, who exactly is buying?

Odaily reporters conducted an in-depth investigation into the capital inflows in the crypto market for the first quarter.

The conclusion first: Even though the market experienced a severe correction in the first quarter, institutional funds continued to flow into the crypto market. Bitcoin fell over 25% from about $88,000 to the mid-$60,000s, and Ethereum dropped 35%, while Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) still managed to increase its holdings of Bitcoin by over $10 billion, with sovereign wealth funds like Mubadala also taking advantage of the dip to accumulate. Meanwhile, about 26 single-asset crypto ETFs completed issuance or submitted applications under the new universal listing rules of the SEC in the United States.

Funds bought in the first quarter exhibit a clear division: some hedge funds have significantly reduced holdings (Brevan Howard slashed its IBIT position by 85%), while corporate treasuries, university endowments, ETF issuers, and the Abu Dhabi sovereign fund seized the opportunity to bottom-fish. In venture capital, while the number of transactions plummeted by 49%, the total funding for the quarter still maintained at around $5 billion to $6.8 billion, with three transactions (BVNK, Kalshi, Polymarket) accounting for half of the total. On the external front, in September 2025, the SEC's new regulations will compress the ETF approval cycle from 240 days to 75 days; on March 17, 2026, the SEC and CFTC jointly announced that staking rewards would be classified as non-securities, thus initiating a wave of concentrated issuance of staking-type ETFs.

Part One: Active Institutional Buyers and Fund Deployment

New Crypto ETFs (January to April 2026)

This quarter saw a surge of newly launched crypto ETF products. Bitwise introduced the Chainlink ETF (CLNK) on January 14 on the NYSE Arca, with seed funding of $2.5 million. Canary Capital launched two products on January 13: the Litecoin Spot ETF (LTCC, cumulative AUM of approximately $9.7 million, the first spot LTC product in the U.S.) and the HBAR ETF (the first spot Hedera product in the U.S.); the company also launched a staking SUI ETF in February which includes staking returns. Grayscale also launched the SUI Staking ETF in February. 21Shares launched the SUI ETF (TSUI, AUM approximately $12.5 million) on NASDAQ on February 24 and the Polkadot ETF (TDOT, fee rate 0.30%, the first spot DOT product in the U.S., with an AUM of approximately $11 million in its first week) on March 6.

Old money has also released some ETFs. BlackRock launched the iShares Ethereum Staking Trust (ETHB) on March 12, becoming the first ETH staking ETF from a mainstream institution, with about 82% of the staking returns directly allocated to holders. Morgan Stanley launched the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (MSBT) on April 8, the first bank-affiliated spot BTC ETF in the U.S., with a fee rate of 0.14%, raising $34 million on its first day and reaching a cumulative scale of $133 million after 8 days. Additionally, ProShares launched the CoinDesk 20 Crypto Index ETF (KRYP) in January-February, listed on NYSE Arca; NEOS launched an Enhanced Bitcoin High Yield ETF (XBCI) around January 29; Bitwise introduced a Proficio Currency Depreciation ETF (BPRO, a combination of BTC and precious metals); Nomura/Laser Digital launched the Bitcoin Diversified Income Fund (BDYF, a tokenized income product) on January 22; 21Shares launched a Strategy Income ETP (STRC) based on BTC as the underlying asset on February 25; Hashdex expanded its NCIQ coverage to include BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL, and XLM in Q1.

Overall, new money (New Money), meaning that ETFs for smaller market cap cryptocurrencies are being launched, but the ETFs released by more established old money remain focused on high market cap older cryptocurrencies.

Notable ETF Applications (Pending Approval as of April 23)

Morgan Stanley submitted an S-1 application for a spot BTC ETF (MSBT, launched in April), Solana, and ETH trusts at the beginning of January. Goldman Sachs submitted an application for a Bitcoin Premium Yield/Options Strategy ETF on April 14. Hyperliquid (HYPE) attracted four institutions vying to apply: Grayscale (GHYP, March 20), Bitwise (BHYP, April 10), 21Shares (THYP, April 14), and VanEck (VHYP) have yet to receive approval for listing. Grayscale, VanEck, 21Shares, Bitwise, and Canary have all submitted applications for an ADA spot ETF, and CME's ADA futures contract launched on February 9. Truth Social (Yorkville) submitted applications for a BTC+ETH combination ETF and a Cronos yield enhancement ETF on February 13. Bitwise submitted 11 crypto strategy ETF applications (covering AAVE, UNI, ZEC, TAO, etc.). REX-Osprey/Defiance submitted 27 crypto ETF applications, including staking products and 3x leveraged products.

Currently, Hyperliquid's ETF is still the most anticipated.

ETF Fund Flow (Q1 2026)

Spot BTC ETF fund flows have shown noticeable fluctuations: January saw a net outflow of about $1.6 billion (crypto.com indicates this as the third consecutive month of net outflows), but as buying returned in March to April, the quarter ultimately narrowed to a net positive value. BlackRock's IBIT remains the flagship product, with a net inflow of about $8.4 billion in Q1, but affected by the price decline, AUM shrank from about $78 billion to approximately $54 billion. Ethereum ETFs set a record for 19 consecutive days of net inflows at the beginning of January. XRP ETF saw a total net inflow of $1.07 billion for the entire quarter, with 43 consecutive days of positive inflows, far outperforming BTC-related products in the same period. Solana ETFs (BSOL, FSOL) combined AUM surpassed $1 billion in April; Goldman Sachs disclosed a $108 million SOL ETF position.

Net inflow for the entire quarter was positive

Company Bitcoin Treasury Purchase Records

Strategy (MSTR) continued high-intensity accumulation this quarter. As of April 20, 2026, Strategy held a total of 815,061 BTC, with an average price of $75,527, costing about $61.6 billion. Japanese listed company Metaplanet (3350.T) disclosed on January 1, 2026, that it purchased 4,279 BTC at an average price of $104,638, totaling over $380 million; in the first quarter, it accumulated a total of 5,075 BTC, and upon disclosure on April 2, it had a total of 40,177 BTC, with a purchase cost of about $400 million.

Strive (ASST) purchased 123 BTC on January 13 at an average price of $91,561, totaling $11.3 million; it then completed an all-stock merger with Semler Scientific, and after the merger, the two companies held a combined 12,798 BTC, becoming the 11th largest corporate treasury, completing the merger on January 16. By mid-March, Strive held approximately 13,628 BTC through PIPE and the Semler merger. DDC Enterprise (NYSEAM) increased its holdings by approximately 600 BTC in January, totaling 2,383 BTC by March 19, with a total value of $182 million.

BSTR Holdings (led by Adam Back, operated by Cantor SPAC) announced that it would advance its listing with 30,021 BTC (valued at $2.14 billion). Twenty One Capital (XXI) held 43,514 BTC (valued at over $3.1 billion) as of April 2, making it the second largest Bitcoin holder among listed companies. Hyperscale Data (GPUS) held 663 BTC on April 21, entering the market for $50.3 million, with a target treasury size of $100 million.

Ethereum and Staking-Related Corporate Treasuries

BitMine Immersion (BMNR) is currently the largest Ethereum corporate treasury, staking 74,880 ETH (approximately $219 million) in the first quarter through the MAVAN platform; in the week of April 20, 2026, it purchased 101,627 ETH (over $230 million), the largest weekly purchase so far in 2026. As of April 20, this company held approximately 5 million ETH, of which about 3.33 million have been staked, with an AUM of approximately $12.9 billion. SharpLink Gaming (SBET) is the second largest Ethereum treasury, holding about 867,000 ETH (valued between $1.7 billion and $2.3 billion), with nearly 100% staked, disclosed on March 10.

Main Sellers

Bitcoin mining companies were overall net sellers in the first quarter. MARA Holdings sold 15,133 BTC between March 4 and 25 for $1.1 billion to repurchase convertible notes; Riot Platforms sold 3,778 BTC for $290 million; Nakamoto Holdings sold 284 BTC; Genius Group liquidated all its 84 BTC on April 1. The Kingdom of Bhutan (Druk Holdings) has gradually transferred about $42 million in BTC over the year in small amounts. Strategy alone accounted for 94% of all listed companies' net Bitcoin purchases in March.

Banks and Asset Management Institutions' Moves

Morgan Stanley not only submitted ETF applications but also applied to the OCC in February 2026 for a national charter for a digital trust bank and announced the opening of BTC/ETH/SOL trading to retail customers via E*Trade/Zerohash.

UBS announced on January 23 that it would provide BTC/ETH trading services for its private banking clients, covering its $70 trillion wealth management business.

Citi Group unveiled plans for institutional-level BTC custody infrastructure at the Strategy World Conference on February 26. Standard Chartered launched institutional BTC/ETH custody services in Hong Kong in January and is reportedly negotiating the acquisition of full ownership of its Zodia Custody (April 8).

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) recommended its high-net-worth clients allocate 3% to 7% of their portfolios to crypto assets.

12 European banks (BBVA, BNP Paribas, ING, Unicredit, Belfius, Danske Bank, Svenska Handelsbanken, CaixaBank, DZ Bank, DekaBank, LBBW, Banca Sella) formed the Qivalis Euro stablecoin consortium based on the Fireblocks platform, in compliance with the MiCA regulatory framework (April 21).

Vanguard opened third-party crypto ETFs to its 50 million brokerage clients across its $11 trillion platform. Fidelity offers a 1% BTC allocation option in its 401(k) retirement plans, reportedly attracting about $800 million in funding.

Nomura Securities, Daiwa Securities, and SMBC Nikko Securities have all announced plans to launch cryptocurrency exchanges in Japan by the end of 2026.

13F Filings (Q4 2025 Holdings, Disclosed in February 2026)

Goldman's crypto ETF holdings total about $2.36 billion, covering BTC ($1.06 billion), ETH ($1 billion), XRP ($152 million), SOL ($109 million), but BTC and ETH positions were reduced by 39% and 27% respectively.

Mubadala (Abu Dhabi Sovereign Wealth Fund) increased its IBIT holdings by 46% to 12.7 million shares (approximately $631 million), counter-cyclically accumulating the equivalent of about 2,300 BTC during the market downturn.

Al Warda Investments (under the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority) increased its IBIT holdings to 8.2 million shares (approximately $437 million), boosting the total crypto exposure of Abu Dhabi sovereign capital to over $1 billion.

Millennium increased its IBIT holdings by about 67% (an increase of around 8,100 BTC, becoming the largest overall holder).

Jane Street increased its IBIT holdings by over 50% to 20 million shares.

Harvard University reduced its IBIT holdings by 21.5%, but established an ETH position for the first time (3.87 million shares of ETHA, valued at $86.8 million). Dartmouth College became the fourth Ivy League school to enter the space.

On the sell side: Brevan Howard drastically cut its IBIT holdings by 85% (from 37.5 million shares to 5.5 million shares, equivalent to a reduction of about 17,700 BTC); Farallon reduced by 70% (about 2,800 BTC); Tudor sold approximately 1,300 BTC; the hedge fund DeShoah halved its IBIT holdings; Sculptor nearly liquidated its FBTC (cutting about 90%).

Sovereign Wealth Funds and Governments

Besides Mubadala and Al Warda, the Luxembourg sovereign wealth fund FSIL maintains a 1% Bitcoin allocation (approximately 8.5 million euros), becoming the first eurozone sovereign wealth fund with BTC. El Salvador continues its "buying 1 BTC daily" strategy (currently holding 7,547 BTC, totaling about $635 million), and added a $50 million gold reserve on January 29. The Czech National Bank (which purchased in November 2025 and continued into 2026) remains the only central bank globally holding Bitcoin.

The U.S. strategic Bitcoin reserves have seen no increase to date. CoinDesk confirmed on March 6 that Trump’s executive order has "progressed slowly"; the reserves still hold only about 328,372 seized BTC. Patrick Witt, a member of the White House Digital Assets Committee, reiterated the commitment, but no actual purchasing actions have occurred. Among U.S. states, only Texas injected $5 million into IBIT in November 2025 (with another $5 million remaining unused). New Hampshire and Arizona have relevant legislation, but no funds have been deployed yet. Reports about CalPERS planning to allocate 1% (approximately $500 million) to BTC continue to circulate, but CalPERS has not confirmed this officially.

Family Offices

Two surveys reveal contrasting trends: J.P. Morgan Private Bank’s 2026 family office report indicates that among 333 surveyed institutions (with an average net asset of $1.6 billion), 89% reported having no Bitcoin allocation, with AI investments being the primary focus. The BNY Mellon Wealth/NOIA survey shows that 74% of ultra-high-net-worth family offices are investing in or exploring crypto assets (significantly up from 53% last year), with typical allocation ratios of 2-5%, around 5% for Asian institutions, and about 2-4% for U.S. and European institutions.

Part Two: Summary of Crypto Venture Capital Financing in Q1 2026

Crypto VC financing in Q1 2026 presents a paradox: while the total capital remains relatively robust (down 8% to 16% year-on-year), the number of transactions plummeted by 49%. The most comprehensive statistics come from Crypto-Fundraising.info (April 1), which recorded a total of 222 transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, with a total funding amount of $6.81 billion; excluding M&A, pure VC financing accounted for 183 transactions, totaling $4.77 billion. DefiLlama/DL News (April 4, only tracking VC) identified 53 transactions exceeding $10 million, totaling about $5 billion. J.P. Morgan estimates that total inflows into digital assets in Q1 were approximately $11 billion, about one-third of the amount for the same period in 2025. Galaxy Research's regularly published quarterly crypto VC report had not been released as of April 23, but the benchmark data for Q4 2025 ($8.5 billion/425 transactions) is available for comparison.

Core Data

Compared to Q1 2025 (VC financing of $5.37 billion across 358 transactions) and Q4 2025 ($8.5 billion across 425 transactions), Q1 2026 saw total VC financing of about $4.77 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 11% and a quarter-on-quarter decrease of 44%; the number of transactions was 183, a year-on-year drop of 49% and a quarter-on-quarter decline of 57%. Notably, the average single VC financing amount increased significantly by 76% year-on-year to $35.9 million (median $8 million), reflecting a pronounced polarization: the seed stage was the most active in terms of transaction count (37 transactions, totaling $252 million), while the average size of four Series C financings reached an impressive $108.8 million. The Pre-Seed stage averaged only $1.75 million, with the middle-tier market nearly shrinking.

Three Transactions Consumed Half the Quarter

This quarter's financing exhibited a high degree of concentration and serious delay. In just the month of March, $4.43 billion was financed (accounting for 65% of the total quarter), while February concluded with a dismal $686 million.

Only the following three transactions cumulatively reached $3.4 billion, roughly half of the total disclosed financing for the quarter: BVNK (payment sector acquisition, $1.8 billion, March 17), Kalshi (prediction market platform, growth round led by Coatue, valuation $22 billion, $1 billion, March 19), and Intercontinental Exchange's strategic investment in Polymarket ($600 million, March 27).

The competition among prediction market leaders is intensifying in the fundraising space.

Other notable large fundings include: Rain ($250 million Series C, stablecoin payment space, led by Iconiq/Dragonfly/Galaxy, valuation around $1.95 billion, January 9); BitGo completed an IPO on the NYSE, raising $213 million (January 22); XBTO raised $217 million in strategic financing (March 25); Flying Tulip raised $206 million in token issuance (FDV $1 billion); Whop received $200 million from Tether (February 25); BlackOpal secured $200 million in LatAm RWA financing (January 8); Kraken/Payward completed a $200 million secondary market transaction led by Deutsche Börse, valued at $13.3 billion; LMAX Group raised $150 million from Ripple (January 15); Alpaca completed $150 million Series D; Bluesky raised $100 million in Series B led by Bain Capital Crypto (March 19); Anchorage Digital raised $100 million from Tether, valued at over $4 billion (February).

Segmentation: Payments and Prediction Markets Surpass DeFi

Star tracks from the 2021 bull market cycle—chain games, NFTs, L1 infrastructure—have nearly vanished from the financing leaderboard.

• Payment/stablecoin sector topped with $2.39 billion (35%, 17 transactions);
• Prediction markets followed with $1.72 billion (25.2%, 11 transactions);
• Finance/CeFi was in third place with $835 million (12.2%, 25 transactions).
• RWA (real-world assets) raised $284 million (4.2%, 7 transactions)
• Trading markets/platforms raised $255 million (3.7%, 2 transactions)
• Infrastructure/L1-L2 financing stood at $184 million (2.7%, 12 transactions)
• DeFi only managed to raise $89 million (1.3%, 5 transactions)
• NFT/Chain games/Metaverse were almost negligible.

The top three sectors absorbed 72% of the disclosed funding for the entire quarter.

Active Investment Institutions

Coinbase Ventures led the list of institutional investors with 12 participations, surpassing the second place by over double. Next in line were: Tether (8), Animoca Brands (7), CMT Digital (6), and a16z crypto, Castle Island, Big Brain, Galaxy Digital (5 each) in a tie.

Most active funds in March

Traditional financial institutions have entered the infrastructure space with rare intensity: Franklin Templeton participated in 4 rounds, Intercontinental Exchange invested in Polymarket, Deutsche Börse took a stake in Kraken, while Castle Securities, Bain Capital, Sequoia Capital, and Alibaba also participated in related financing rounds in Q1. Geographically, the three largest financings (BVNK, Kalshi, Polymarket) and the BitGo IPO all originated from the U.S., indicating that U.S. capital’s share in crypto VC remains around 55%, consistent with Q4 2025.

Conclusion: Institutional Funds Exhibit a Barbell Structure

In early 2026, the institutional crypto investment landscape is experiencing a bifurcation.

On the buy side, institutions with a long-term holding conviction, such as Strategy, BitMine, Metaplanet, Mubadala, and BlackRock ETF systems, are increasing their positions while tactical hedge funds (Brevan Howard, Tudor, Farallon) and the majority of Bitcoin mining companies have turned into net sellers. Only Strategy’s Bitcoin purchases in Q1 nearly exceeded the total of all other listed companies, with its weekly buying during April 13-19 setting the third-largest record ever.

On the venture capital side, the same polarizing pattern is unfolding: super-large financings in payments and prediction markets are continuing to expand, while small and medium-sized projects generally face a funding drought. The shift in sector leadership—from DeFi/NFT/chain games to stablecoins, prediction markets, and compliant CeFi infrastructure—signals that the industry's growth engine is gradually shifting from speculative crypto-native narratives to trading models closer to regulated fintech.

The current biggest uncertainty comes from the U.S. strategic Bitcoin reserves: despite a year of high-profile declarations at the administrative level, actual capital deployment remains at zero. If the National Defense Authorization Act opens up a funding disbursement pathway in the second half of 2026, it will fundamentally reshape market demand dynamics. Until then, the real buyers are corporate treasuries and sovereign wealth funds, not Washington.

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