Institutions Are Still Diamond-Handing: Survey Shows 74% Expecting the Line to Go Up, But Only After a Regulatory Hug

A fresh survey confirms that the recent crypto winter was more of a chilly dip than a permafrost event for the suits. Despite the portfolio puke since October, the big-money players aren't running for the hills; they're mostly just adjusting their risk-on sunglasses.

The data, hot off the presses from a January poll of 351 institutional investors by Coinbase and EY-Parthenon, shows a whopping 73% plan to pump more fiat into crypto allocations come 2026. Even more telling, 74% are betting their lunch money that crypto prices will embark on a northbound journey over the next twelve months.

The on-ramp is getting a fresh coat of regulatory paint. Two-thirds of the respondents now favor the comfort of regulated vehicles like ETPs, signaling a clear shift from the wild west to the walled garden—they want their crypto with guardrails and a prospectus. Over three-quarters pointed to market structure as the prime area needing regulators to stop speaking in riddles.

The volatility didn't scare them off; it just made them get more sophisticated with their spreadsheets. Nearly half (49%) admitted the recent turbulence caused them to double down on risk management, liquidity, and not going full degen on position sizing, rather than hitting the sell button.

It's not just about trading JPEGs for profit anymore. The survey found 85% of these players are using or planning to use stablecoins for payments and treasury ops, mainly to settle trades and manage cash without the heartburn of traditional banking speeds.

Regulation isn't the enemy here; it's the promised catalyst. A solid 83% believe that if the proposed GENIUS Act passes in the US, it would make financial institutions far more likely to cozy up to stablecoins, with 69% expecting it to be the tide that lifts all crypto boats.

Tokenization of real-world stuff is also blinking on their radar. 63% of investors showed interest in getting exposure to tokenized RWAs, and 61% expect this digitization of everything to seriously shake up how markets are built in the next few years.