Sovereign Wealth Funds Quietly Hoard Bitcoin as Retail Traders Flee—Coinbase Exec Spills the Beans

Institutional sharks circle while retail investors dump their bags—classic Wall Street playbook, now with extra blockchain flavor. Sovereign wealth funds are accumulating Bitcoin under the radar, says a Coinbase executive, just as mom-and-pop traders capitulate. Guess who’ll be left holding the bag when the music stops? (Spoiler: not the guys in suits.) Bonus jab: Nothing says ’stable store of value’ like a 20% intraday swing before lunch.

Sovereign Wealth funds turn to Bitcoin amid retail investor exit

In a recent interview on CNBC, the Coinbase executive compared  Bitcoin to gold and noted that several institutional buyers bought BTC as a hedge against currency inflation and macroeconomic uncertainty. The Coinbase executive said:

“Bitcoin is trading on its CORE characteristics, which are similar to gold. You’ve got scarcity, immutability, and non-sovereign asset portability. So it’s trading the way people who believe in Bitcoin would like it to trade.”

The executive also mentioned that after thorough analysis, there is a very short list of assets that share the characteristics of gold, and BTC is on that list.

Authorities and financial organizations are increasingly adopting Bitcoin to safeguard their buying power and the value of their treasuries in the face of macroeconomic shocks and geopolitical tensions.

Countries such as El Salvador and Bhutan have embraced national Bitcoin reserves, actively purchasing Bitcoin to bolster their reserves.

Local governments and state-level authorities have also adopted pro-Bitcoin policies and proposed legislation to accumulate Bitcoin to protect the purchasing power of treasuries from depreciating fiat currencies.

Michael Saylor and Strategy played a pivotal role in popularizing the corporate BTC treasury model, which has now been embraced by many companies, such as MARA, MetaPlanet, and Semler Scientific.

Saylor also converted the business software and intelligence firm into a Bitcoin holding firm, effectively resembling a BTC hedge fund.

More than 13,000 institutions now hold direct stakes in Strategy, and about 55 million beneficiaries have indirect financial exposure to the firm, Saylor reported on April 20.

Regulatory clarity and institutional adoption boost Bitcoin’s appeal

Regulatory clarity could further support this institutional shift. Many in crypto welcomed Paul Atkins as SEC Chairman, a well-known crypto booster, who pledges a “rational, coherent, principle-based” process in regulating digital assets. 

Michael Saylor, a steady BTC permabull, has shared his take on the newly appointed chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC), Paul Atkins.

In his tweet, Saylor shared a video excerpt showing President Donald Trump and Atkins giving a speech as he swore in during a White House ceremony officiated by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. A top priority of his chairmanship with the SEC, Atkins said, would be establishing a firm regulatory foundation for digital assets through a “rational, coherent and principle approach.”

As Saylor shared that video with millions of his followers on the X platform, he added a caption: “SEC Chairman Paul Atkins will be good for Bitcoin.”

Atkins is known to be a big crypto supporter. He was elected a co-chair of the Token Alliance — a famous group that lobbied for cryptocurrencies. Atkins was also among the advisors of the currently defunct crypto exchange FTX, which filed for bankruptcy in November 2022.

The leading crypto, Bitcoin, recently outpaced Google in market capitalization, making it one of the top five assets in the world. Now sitting above Amazon and silver, the supply‑capped digital currency underscores just how meteoric its growth has been since its debut.

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