Institutional Investors Are Buying This Top Cryptocurrency Hand-Over-Fist, According to Coinbase

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) is in a bear market now on paper; it's still 47% down from its all-time high near $126,000 set in October 2025. But John D'Agostino, head of institutional strategy at Coinbase Global, (NASDAQ: COIN) told CNBC on June 8 that the most sophisticated buyers he speaks with are running the opposite playbook and looking to accumulate it anyway.

In short, the highly conservative investors you'd most expect to be displeased by the asset's major drawdown and underperformance relative to stocks are buying it quite aggressively. Here's what's happening and why it's bullish for Bitcoin.

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Who is actually doing the buying

On CNBC, D'Agostino said that family offices in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as well as sovereign wealth funds, are gobbling up Bitcoin through its drawdown. This meshes with the broader trend of financial institutions being willing to buy the dip even as other investors are hesitant or discouraged.

For instance, Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Investment Company, which is a $330 billion sovereign wealth fund, has been a buyer. As of March 31, it held $566 million of BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust, marking a 16% quarter-over-quarter increase and its fourth straight quarter of accumulation.

D'Agostino also said that U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) still hold roughly $100 billion in exposure, which checks out. Money that flowed into those ETFs is largely sitting tight through this downturn despite occasional days like June 2, which saw $519 million in net outflows.

Why these groups buy differently

Sovereign funds and family offices, in theory, are supposed to operate on time horizons measured in decades. That makes Bitcoin a candidate for the kind of long-lived investments they're looking for.

The asset's supply policies are what make it a good fit for their purposes. It has a fixed maximum supply of 21 million BTC that can ever exist, and a constantly decreasing drip of new supply generated from its mining process, with ETFs, governments, and corporate treasuries warehousing more of the remaining float each year. As long as that process continues, even if it's at a crawl, the coin's price will be biased to the upside over the very long term, which is why institutional investors are interested in buying it when it's comparatively cheaper than it was recently.

For investors, the question is whether their time horizon matches that of the financial institutions now setting the marginal bid for this asset. If you can't hold Bitcoin for at least five years, there's not much point in buying it, as the volatility may make your investment worth less than you paid for it precisely when you're looking to cash out. On the other hand, if you're as patient as these institutions are, you can ride the tailwinds created by their consistent buying pressure, potentially for many years on end.

Alex Carchidi has positions in Bitcoin and iShares Bitcoin Trust. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin and iShares Bitcoin Trust. The Motley Fool recommends Coinbase Global. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.