While retail Bitcoin holdings are declining in favor of altcoins like XRP, which are likely to be approved as ETFs, institutional BTC allocation is increasing.
According to a recent Bybit analysis, greater institutional adoption spurred by the launch of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and more innovation-friendly US crypto legislation is increasing Bitcoin exposure in cryptocurrency portfolios.
As of May, BTC at $105,238 made up 30.95% of total assets, or over one-third of investor portfolios, up from 25.4% in November 2024.
According to the survey, BTC is the most significant asset that cryptocurrency investors own. At the end of April, the ETH$2,417-to-BTC holding ratio fell to a 2025 low of 0.15, but it later rose to the current 0.27.
This implies that investors hold roughly $4 worth of BTC for every $1 worth of Ether.
Following the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, BTC outperformed all significant global assets, including the stock market, equities, treasuries, and precious metals. According to a March 2025 Cointelegraph report, Bitcoin attracted much interest as a portfolio diversifier asset that can yield extra returns.
Since June 5, corporate Bitcoin holding entities have nearly doubled due to the fresh wave of institutional adoption spurred by BTC’s strong returns. According to BitcoinTreasuries.NET, more than 244 businesses already have BTC on their balance sheets, up from 124 a few weeks ago.
Over 1.39 million Bitcoins, or 6.6% of the entire supply, are held in spot BTC ETFs, while 834,000 Bitcoins, or 3.97% of the total supply, are stored in treasuries of public companies.
As the world’s first cryptocurrency begins to compete with gold’s $22 trillion market capitalization, the increasing institutional acceptance of Bitcoin could put it on track to reach $1.8 million by 2035, according to Joe Burnett, director of market research at Unchained.
During Cointelegraph’s Chainreaction program, Burnett stated, “There are two models I admire when I think about where Bitcoin will be in ten years.” According to the parallel model, Bitcoin will be worth almost $1.8 million by 2035.
35% of SOL has been down since October 2024.
Despite strong momentum, the amount of BTC held by retail traders has decreased by 37% since November 2024 to just 11.6%, or almost half of what institutions hold.
Most likely, retail traders “disposed of the Bitcoin holdings to purchase altcoins,” such as stablecoins and XRP ($2.18).
According to the Bybit study, rising ETF expectations have caused the percentage of XRP held in portfolios to double, from 1.29% in November 2024 to 2.42% as of May:
“The crypto investing industry view is that Ripple spot ETF approval is likely ahead of such approval for Solana spot ETF.”
According to the study, “there has been a partial transfer of capital from SOL to XRP by institutions.”
Meanwhile, holdings in the Solana portfolio fell from 2.72% in November to 1.76% in May.
