Institutions focus on BTC, ETH, while the fragmentation of the Memecoins Doge, Shib meets
The cryptoma market splits into two parts.
Institutional and private investors always go different ways, with institutional actors in Bitcoin
and Ethereum's ether {{ETH}} Anchoring, while private investors are investing in old coins and memecoins, a MID Year report from the crypto trade company Wintermute.
When analyzing the out-of-the-counter spot trade volume, the institutional trading volume in the two largest tokens remained stable at 67 %, which is probably supported by ETF inflows and structured accumulation vehicles, the report. Meanwhile, private investors reduced their BTC and ETH exposure from 46 % to 37 % and relocated capital to more recent, speculative tokens.
“This divergence is not a temporary phenomenon; it is a sign that we experience a more mature, more demanding and specialized cryptom market,” said Evgeny Gaevoy, CEO and founder of Wintermute.
“Investors no longer pursue the same trend,” he added. “Institutions consider crypto as a macroeconomic asset, while private investors continue to prefer innovations.”
Overall, there were traditional financial companies (Tradfi) The fastest growing group in the OTC trading volume and recorded growth of 32 % in the year. According to the report, this growth was fueled by regulatory developments such as the US Genius Act and the ongoing implementation of Mica in the EU, which gave larger companies more confidence in participation.
Retail broker also recorded a strong activity with a volume rise of 21 % in the same period. Meanwhile, crypto-native companies reduced their activities and declined by 5 %.
The OTC option volume rose by 412 %compared to the first half of 2024, since institutional investors increasingly used derivatives for hedging and generation of earnings, as the report emphasized. At the same time, the variety of contracts for difference doubled (CFDs)that enable more capital-efficient access to less liquid tokens.
Wintermute stated that its own OTC desk recorded the growth of the spot trade volumes, which was more than twice as fast as with centralized stock exchanges, which indicates relocation to discrete trading with great volume, as preferred by the traditional financial world.
The company found that the activity in the field of memecins has become more fragmented. Although the total scope of the retail trade declined to Memecoin trade activities, the number of tokens traded by individual users has doubled, which indicates a broader demand for micro-cap assets in the long cock of the market.
This lost established names like Dogecoin
and Shiba Inu in favor of a growing list of niche tokens like Bonk, Dogwifhat {{WIF}} And popcat on the ground, according to the report.
With a view to the second half of 2025, the analysts from Wintermute advised to carefully pursue applications for Spot-Dogecoin ETFs, with a final official decision awaited by October.
“The result could significantly influence the retail market and create a precedent for other alternative assets,” the report said.
