Digital asset fund manager survey - February 2026

Investor positioning signals flight to quality amid crypto market correction

• Bitcoin has regained relative strength and increased in popularity despite the recent market correction, while interest in smaller altcoins continues to weaken, particularly outside the top four.

• Digital asset portfolio weightings have fallen sharply to 0.3 percent, the lowest since October 2023, reflecting both selling and price declines and underscoring the volatility of the asset class.

• Investors are rotating toward Bitcoin and Ethereum at the expense of most altcoins, signalling a flight to perceived quality following the recent correction, with the largest declines seen in smaller tokens.

• Investment motivations have shifted toward diversification and client demand, now representing 67 percent of responses, highlighting the continued maturation of digital assets, even as regulation and volatility remain key concerns.

Bitcoin has recovered some lost ground and, despite the recent sharp market correction, its popularity has increased. Our fund flows data show continued inflows into Bitcoin ETPs, but less than 2024. By contrast, Ethereum and Solana recorded much stronger year on year inflows, despite the survey indicating declining popularity. Flows also point to weakening interest across most altcoins, particularly outside the top four, consistent with the survey findings.

Digital asset weighting in portfolios has declined from 1.8% in October 2025 to just 0.3% in January 2026. We believe this is due to a combination of investors selling and price depreciation since October. It suggests digital assets are a very volatile component of investor portfolios. It marks the lowest weighting in portfolios since October 2022, when negative sentiment towards the asset class was at a low point.

We have seen increasing allocations to Bitcoin and Ethereum at the expense of most altcoins, suggesting the recent correction has pushed investors into the relative safety of the largest assets. 

Minor declines were seen in prior favourite Solana, although the largest declines were seen in smaller altcoins.

Diversification and client demand remain the primary motivations for investing, and have increased substantially since the last survey, and now comprise 68% of the rationale for adding digital assets to portfolios. This was just 36% only 2 years ago while speculation represented the largest portion of this survey question 2 years ago and has now fallen to 16%, highlighting the how quickly the asset class is maturing and established an identity based on fundamentals.

Among those who have not yet invested, volatility remains the primary reason, this puzzles us given Bitcoin’s 30d volatility having averaged just 32% this year so far lower than gold. 

Corporate restrictions and regulation along with other concerns of the past have fallen. Although reputational risk has risen sharply recently, perhaps due to fear of ridicule given recent price falls.

Regulation concerns remain top of the list, this doesn’t surprise us given the ongoing gyrations surrounding the Clarity Act in the US.

Quantum risks remain an ongoing concern in client meetings, although we have seen protocol design concern fall in the survey.

The rise of ETPs globally looks to have had a longer-term positive impact on crypto asset investing as custody concerns continue to fall.

An increasing number of survey participants see the US Federal Reserve as having made a policy error, although the majority sit and the fence believing it is inconclusive for now. 

ABOUT OUR SURVEY: The January 2026 Survey drew 21 responses from investors who cover ~US$574bn of assets under management.

If you would like to regularly contribute to the survey, please follow this link – survey window opens for 4 weeks at the end of every calendar quarter.