Institutional FOMO is Back: 73% of Suits Plan to Go Deeper Down the Rabbit Hole in 2026

A new survey cooked up by Coinbase and EY-Parthenon reveals that while retail might be doomscrolling, the big money is quietly polishing its diamond hands. Polling 351 institutional respondents in January, a chunky 74% are betting their lunch money that crypto prices will head north over the next year.

Even more telling, a matching 73% crew says they plan to pump their crypto allocations in 2026—proving that institutional FOMO operates on a much slower, more bureaucratic clock than your average degen. “People are still interested in crypto, they want tighter risk controls, but they want to maintain their allocation,” observes David Duong from Coinbase, in what might be the most institutional way ever to say "they're not selling."

For these players, the on-ramp of choice is now clearly the regulated highway, with two-thirds pointing to ETFs and similar products as their preferred entry point. It seems the main thing nudging more suits into the space is, predictably, more rules—because nothing says 'adoption' like a thick stack of compliance paperwork.

Stablecoins are also getting the corporate nod, with a whopping 85% of the surveyed whales already using or planning to use them for payments and treasury stuff. It appears the ultimate use case for crypto, for now, is helping large organizations move money without the traditional banking speed of a sedated sloth.

*This is not investment advice, but reading a survey certainly isn't either.