Institutions had ‘diamond hands’ during bitcoin's 50% plunge, Bitwise's Matt Hougan says

“The wildest thing about my $1 million prediction is that it's not wild at all,” said the digital asset fund manager's CIO. What to know : Institutional investors have largely held onto their bitcoin ETF positions despite a roughly 50 percent price drop since October 2025, according to Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan. Hougan argues that because bitcoin remains a non-consensus asset, institutions willing to allocate to it face career risk and therefore tend to have unusually high conviction, making their capital "very sticky" even in volatile markets. Citing this resilience, Hougan reaffirmed his long-term outlook that bitcoin could reach $1 million if the global store-of-value market continues to expand.