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JPMorgan sees 2026 crypto inflows topping the $130 billion hit in 2025
The bank said global capital moving into digital assets hit a record last year and is poised to grow further as institutional investors return.
Jan 15, 2026, 2:59 p.m.
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What to know:
- JPMorgan estimates that nearly $130 billion flowed into digital assets in 2025, about a third more than in 2024.
- Retail investors and corporate treasuries, led by Strategy, drove most of last year’s demand.
- The bank expects institutions to lead the next leg higher in 2026 as regulation improves.
Wall Street investment bank JPMorgan (JPM) said more global capital is likely to flow into digital assets this year than the record $130 billion that accumulated in 2025.
Even though crypto markets fell in the final quarter after nine months of gains, the bank estimates annual inflows rose by a third from 2024, analysts led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou wrote in the Wednesday report.
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The bank aggregates crypto fund flows, positioning implied by Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) futures, venture capital fundraising and digital asset purchases by corporate treasuries.
Global capital moving into digital assets has become a key signal of crypto market momentum, often shaping price trends and liquidity across tokens and related companies. After years marked by sharp swings between retail-driven surges and institutional pullbacks, the direction and makeup of crypto investments are increasingly influenced by regulation, macro conditions and the availability of investment vehicles such as exchange-traded products (ETPs), futures and corporate treasury strategies.
According to the analysts, last year’s surge was largely driven by retail-linked demand, particularly inflows into bitcoin and ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs), alongside buying by digital asset treasuries.
More than half of total inflows, or about $68 billion, came from corporate treasuries, JPMorgan estimates. Strategy (MSTR) accounted for roughly $23 billion of that total, in line with its 2024 purchases, while other companies increased buying to around $45 billion from just $8 billion a year earlier.
Strategy is the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, turning its balance sheet into a proxy bet on the cryptocurrency’s long-term value. The software company’s aggressive accumulation strategy helped normalize bitcoin as a treasury asset for public companies, while also amplifying the firm’s exposure to crypto market swings and tying its stock performance closely to movements in the token’s price.
That momentum faded into the fourth quarter, the report noted, with digital asset treasury purchases slowing materially after October. At the same time, institutional activity signaled by CME bitcoin and ether futures weakened over the course of 2025, suggesting hedge funds and other professional investors pulled back relative to 2024.
Muted venture capital activity was another feature of last year’s market, the report noted. While crypto VC funding rose modestly in dollar terms, deal counts fell and activity skewed toward later-stage rounds, with early-stage investment slowing. The analysts argued that some capital traditionally earmarked for venture deals was diverted toward liquid corporate treasury strategies, reflecting a preference for near-term liquidity over long-duration bets.
Looking ahead, the analysts expect the composition of flows to change. The bank sees signs that crypto flow and positioning indicators are bottoming, setting the stage for a rebound led by institutions in 2026. Additional U.S. regulatory clarity, including potential legislation such as the crypto market structure bill could act as a catalyst for renewed institutional adoption.
Read more: Wall Street broker Benchmark says this could be a pivotal week for digital assets
AI Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy.
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