The study included 26 fund managers with assets of about $1.3 trillion. For most, crypto is now more a way to diversify risk and meet client demand than an attempt to make quick profits. They accounted for 63% of survey responses.
For comparison: two years ago, this figure was only 36%.
At that time, the main reason for investing in crypto was speculation. Now, it accounts for only 15%.
“Two years ago, speculation was the main motive for buying digital assets. Today, that figure has dropped to 15%,” said CoinShares Head of Research James Butterfill.
Large Funds Are Becoming More Cautious About Crypto
The median share of digital assets in portfolios remained at 1%, and the weighted average was 0.1%. The average is pulled down by large funds, which still allocate only a small portion of their portfolios to crypto.
Even with such a small share, we’re still talking about serious money — about $13 billion in cryptocurrency.
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Bitcoin and Ethereum accounted for 58% of all survey responses. Meanwhile, interest in older altcoins like Cardano and Polkadot is gradually declining, while tokens related to DeFi are, on the contrary, attracting more and more interest. Standouts include Aave, Sui and Tron.
CFRA Research analyst Nathan Schmidt noted in a May 2026 report that the volume of assets Coinbase holds in custody grew to $516 billion — that’s 95% more than a year earlier. According to him, the main drivers of institutional demand were stablecoins and crypto derivatives.
Earlier, results were reported from a Bitwise/VettaFi survey of financial advisors. The survey showed that 99% of advisors already working with crypto plan to maintain or increase the share of digital assets in 2026. At the same time, 64% of respondents have cryptocurrency making up more than 2% of client portfolios.
The CoinShares report confirms that institutional investors at the fund level are acting much like financial advisors — crypto is increasingly seen as part of a long-term strategy, not just a tool for short-term speculation.
Saylor Considers First Bitcoin Sale as Leverage Model Starts to Falter
While large funds are taking a more cautious approach, the model of buying bitcoin with borrowed money has started to show cracks.
On May 5, during Strategy’s Q1 2026 report, Michael Saylor said the company may sell part of its 818,334 BTC to meet dividend obligations. According to Saylor:
“Most likely, we will sell a little bitcoin to pay dividends — just so the market can see that we are able to do it.”
This statement was unexpected, as Saylor had previously stuck to a never-sell principle for years.
Now, Saylor has, for the first time, effectively put Strategy’s bitcoin reserves on par with the company’s other assets. According to him, a possible BTC sale is not an emergency measure, but part of the model itself, which operates through borrowed funds.
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At the end of the first quarter, Strategy posted a record net loss of $12.54 billion. The main reason was an unrealized loss of $14.46 billion due to the decline in bitcoin’s value. Meanwhile, the company’s annual dividend obligations are about $1.5 billion, and current cash reserves will last about a year and a half.
The market is now essentially comparing two approaches to working with crypto.
Strategy is now paying the price for an aggressive leveraged bet on bitcoin, as bitcoin drops by 25% in just one quarter. Meanwhile, fund managers with $1.3 trillion in assets are moving in the opposite direction: reducing crypto allocations, diversifying portfolios, and viewing the market less as a place for speculation.
At the same time, the main obstacle to increasing investment in cryptocurrency is now seen not as regulators, but as internal restrictions within companies and funds themselves.
It seems major investors are becoming noticeably more cautious. And this trend is especially evident when aggressive models stop working as effectively as before.
