Bitcoin Magazine

Bitwise Sees a Bottom in Bitcoin’s Worst Vibes Yet: ‘Darkest Before the Dawn’ 

Bitcoin closed the second quarter of 2026 mired in its deepest and longest downturn since the last bear market, according to Bitwise Asset Management’s newly released Q3 2026 Crypto Market Review. 

Yet the $9 billion crypto asset manager frames the pain as a setup rather than a collapse, arguing the industry has never been sturdier beneath the surface.

Bitcoin fell 13.4% in Q2 and is down 32.9% for the year, dropping below $60,000 in June for the first time since 2024 and landing roughly 52% under its October peak of $126,080. That extends what Bitwise calls “crypto winter” to nine months and marks the third straight quarter of negative returns for the broader Bitwise 10 Large Cap Crypto Index, its longest losing streak since 2022. 

Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan does not sugarcoat it, writing that “the vibes in crypto are among the worst I’ve seen in my eight years in this industry.”

Even so, bitcoin held up far better than most of its peers. Its 32.9% year-to-date decline was the shallowest drawdown among major large-cap tokens, easily beating Ethereum’s 46.9% slide, Solana’s 40.6% and Cardano’s 56.5%. 

Bitcoin now commands a 64.2% share of the roughly $1.88 trillion total crypto market and carries a 77.4% weight inside the Bitwise 10 index, cementing its status as the sector’s relative safe haven even in a broad selloff.

Bitcoin ETF outflows hit a record

The quarter’s most jarring statistic came from the exchange-traded product complex that has anchored bitcoin’s institutional era. U.S. spot bitcoin ETPs bled $4.9 billion in Q2, their worst quarter since launching in January 2024, according to Bitwise. 

Assets under management still stand at $72.4 billion, with $53.4 billion in cumulative net flows since inception, but the reversal underscored how quickly professional sentiment can sour. 

Filings show investment advisors hold about 43% of professionally owned ETP shares and hedge fund managers another 28%, with Jane Street ($1.8 billion) and Millennium ($1.0 billion) the largest reported holders.

Structural demand nonetheless continued to outstrip new issuance. Bitwise noted in their report that spot ETPs and public companies have together bought roughly 3.6 times the bitcoin mined since the ETFs debuted — about 1.55 million BTC of demand against just 455,416 BTC of new supply.

Treasury companies keep buying, but Strategy blinks

Public-company bitcoin treasuries grew to 1.28 million BTC, up 11.3% quarter over quarter and equal to 6.11% of the 21 million cap, even as the number of firms holding bitcoin slipped by three to 184. Companies added 130,467 BTC in Q2. Strategy remains the runaway leader at 846,842 BTC, trailed by XXI (43,514), Metaplanet (40,177), MARA Holdings (35,303) and Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company (30,021).

The most symbolically loaded move belonged to Strategy, which sold bitcoin for the first time since 2022 — offloading $218 million late in the quarter to fund dividend obligations while keeping holdings valued at $52.3 billion and a $2.55 billion cash reserve. Falling prices punished the equity harshly: Strategy’s stock (MSTR) dropped 30.3% in Q2 and 42.8% year to date, making it one of the worst performers among crypto equities.

The report also touched on several developments that are reshaping bitcoin’s market plumbing. The CFTC approved the first bitcoin perpetual futures at a U.S.-regulated exchange, Kalshi, pulling crypto’s dominant derivative onshore. 

Charles Schwab launched retail spot BTC trading, and E*Trade extended access to its 8.6 million users. On the regulatory front, the market-structure CLARITY Act stalled in the Senate over ethics provisions, with prediction markets pricing its 2026 passage odds at just around 20%, down from 75% in May. 

Bitwise argues that if CLARITY passes it would likely mark the bottom, and if it fails the industry keeps building under friendly regulators.

Hougan’s core argument is one of cycle-over-cycle progress. Bitcoin’s seasonality data offers modest near-term hope, with July historically averaging a 10.7% gain. 

And the firm’s portfolio work still shows a 5% bitcoin allocation adding to a traditional 60/40 mix in 100% of three-year rolling windows since 2014.

“The market is quoting bear-market prices on an industry that is twice the size it was at the last cycle’s bottom,” Hougan writes — a foundation, he says, that “determines what grows in the spring.”

Bitcoin is trading below $62,000 today.

This post Bitwise Sees a Bottom in Bitcoin’s Worst Vibes Yet: ‘Darkest Before the Dawn’  first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

The Solana ETF story keeps getting harder to ignore. Bitwise’s filing gives the market another reason to treat SOL as the next major test case for crypto funds beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum.

The useful way to read this is not as a guaranteed price signal, but as a fresh piece of information in a market that is trying to sort real developments from noise. For SOL holders, the institutional-product narrative creates a different kind of attention. It does not replace network fundamentals, but it can change who is watching the asset and how it is discussed in portfolio conversations.

For more details, visit the official SEC platform.

TL;DR

• Bitwise’s Solana-related filing is now part of the formal regulatory conversation.
• The filing keeps SOL in the race to become the next major crypto ETF asset.
• It adds another issuer signal behind institutional demand for Solana exposure.

Why another filing matters

One filing can look speculative. Multiple issuers circling the same asset suggests a category is forming. That is why these Solana ETF developments matter even before approval odds are clear.

For SOL holders, the institutional-product narrative creates a different kind of attention. It does not replace network fundamentals, but it can change who is watching the asset and how it is discussed in portfolio conversations.

The Market Read

Keep this as a clean ETF-race angle and avoid predicting approval.

That is the balance readers need to keep in mind. Crypto markets are quick to turn every update into a single-direction trade, but most durable stories are more layered than that. They matter because they change positioning, incentives, infrastructure, or regulation over time.

What Comes Into Focus Now

From here, the important thing is follow-through. If the source data, company update, filing, or on-chain record continues to move in the same direction, this can become part of a larger trend. If it stalls, it is still useful as a snapshot of where attention is sitting today.

For traders and readers, the cleaner takeaway is to separate the confirmed development from the speculation around it. The confirmed part is what deserves coverage. The speculation is what needs caution.

For Solana readers specifically, the story is useful because it gives a clearer frame for the next few sessions. It tells them what to watch, which part of the market is reacting, and where the first obvious risk sits. That is more valuable than simply saying a token, company, or regulator has made a move. The useful work is in connecting the update to liquidity, positioning, adoption, enforcement, or user behaviour without pretending that any single headline controls the whole market.

The practical question now is whether this remains an isolated update or becomes part of a chain of follow-through. A second filing, another wallet move, fresh dashboard data, a new governance vote, or a stronger market reaction can all turn a clean single-day story into a broader narrative. Without that follow-through, it still matters, but more as a marker of where attention was concentrated on July 8 than as a complete trend on its own.

That distinction is especially important in a market where headlines can travel faster than context. A source-backed update gives readers something firmer to work with, but it does not remove liquidity risk, execution risk, or the chance that traders fade the initial reaction once the first wave of attention passes.

In that sense, the headline is only the starting point. The better read is to watch how builders, exchanges, funds, wallets, regulators, or large holders respond after the first announcement has moved through the feed.

This report is based on information from sec.gov.

This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.

Source: SEC

The Solana ETF story keeps getting harder to ignore. Bitwise’s filing gives the market another reason to treat SOL as the next major test case for crypto funds beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum.

The useful way to read this is not as a guaranteed price signal, but as a fresh piece of information in a market that is trying to sort real developments from noise. For SOL holders, the institutional-product narrative creates a different kind of attention. It does not replace network fundamentals, but it can change who is watching the asset and how it is discussed in portfolio conversations.

For more details, visit the official SEC platform.

TL;DR

• Bitwise’s Solana-related filing is now part of the formal regulatory conversation.
• The filing keeps SOL in the race to become the next major crypto ETF asset.
• It adds another issuer signal behind institutional demand for Solana exposure.

Why another filing matters

One filing can look speculative. Multiple issuers circling the same asset suggests a category is forming. That is why these Solana ETF developments matter even before approval odds are clear.

For SOL holders, the institutional-product narrative creates a different kind of attention. It does not replace network fundamentals, but it can change who is watching the asset and how it is discussed in portfolio conversations.

The Market Read

Keep this as a clean ETF-race angle and avoid predicting approval.

That is the balance readers need to keep in mind. Crypto markets are quick to turn every update into a single-direction trade, but most durable stories are more layered than that. They matter because they change positioning, incentives, infrastructure, or regulation over time.

What Comes Into Focus Now

From here, the important thing is follow-through. If the source data, company update, filing, or on-chain record continues to move in the same direction, this can become part of a larger trend. If it stalls, it is still useful as a snapshot of where attention is sitting today.

For traders and readers, the cleaner takeaway is to separate the confirmed development from the speculation around it. The confirmed part is what deserves coverage. The speculation is what needs caution.

For Solana readers specifically, the story is useful because it gives a clearer frame for the next few sessions. It tells them what to watch, which part of the market is reacting, and where the first obvious risk sits. That is more valuable than simply saying a token, company, or regulator has made a move. The useful work is in connecting the update to liquidity, positioning, adoption, enforcement, or user behaviour without pretending that any single headline controls the whole market.

The practical question now is whether this remains an isolated update or becomes part of a chain of follow-through. A second filing, another wallet move, fresh dashboard data, a new governance vote, or a stronger market reaction can all turn a clean single-day story into a broader narrative. Without that follow-through, it still matters, but more as a marker of where attention was concentrated on July 8 than as a complete trend on its own.

That distinction is especially important in a market where headlines can travel faster than context. A source-backed update gives readers something firmer to work with, but it does not remove liquidity risk, execution risk, or the chance that traders fade the initial reaction once the first wave of attention passes.

In that sense, the headline is only the starting point. The better read is to watch how builders, exchanges, funds, wallets, regulators, or large holders respond after the first announcement has moved through the feed.

This report is based on information from sec.gov.

This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.

Source: SEC

Solana’s ETF story keeps gaining weight. The latest Bitwise-linked filing puts SOL more firmly into the institutional product conversation, even if approval is still a separate and much harder question.

The useful way to read this is not as a guaranteed price signal, but as a fresh piece of information in a market that is trying to sort real developments from noise. For Solana, that matters because it keeps moving the asset out of the purely crypto-native lane. The more firms that file, the more serious the market has to be about SOL as a potential institutional allocation product.

For more details, visit the official SEC platform.

TL;DR

• A Bitwise-linked Solana ETF filing has entered the regulatory queue.
• The filing adds to the growing race to bring SOL exposure into US fund wrappers.
• Solana is increasingly being treated as the next serious test for crypto ETFs beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Why the filing matters

ETF filings are not approvals, but they are signals. They show that issuers believe there is enough demand, enough legal argument, and enough market infrastructure to justify pushing the product forward.

For Solana, that matters because it keeps moving the asset out of the purely crypto-native lane. The more firms that file, the more serious the market has to be about SOL as a potential institutional allocation product.

The Market Read

Avoid saying approval is likely; focus on the queue and issuer interest.

That is the balance readers need to keep in mind. Crypto markets are quick to turn every update into a single-direction trade, but most durable stories are more layered than that. They matter because they change positioning, incentives, infrastructure, or regulation over time.

What Comes Into Focus Now

From here, the important thing is follow-through. If the source data, company update, filing, or on-chain record continues to move in the same direction, this can become part of a larger trend. If it stalls, it is still useful as a snapshot of where attention is sitting today.

For traders and readers, the cleaner takeaway is to separate the confirmed development from the speculation around it. The confirmed part is what deserves coverage. The speculation is what needs caution.

For Solana readers specifically, the story is useful because it gives a clearer frame for the next few sessions. It tells them what to watch, which part of the market is reacting, and where the first obvious risk sits. That is more valuable than simply saying a token, company, or regulator has made a move. The useful work is in connecting the update to liquidity, positioning, adoption, enforcement, or user behaviour without pretending that any single headline controls the whole market.

The practical question now is whether this remains an isolated update or becomes part of a chain of follow-through. A second filing, another wallet move, fresh dashboard data, a new governance vote, or a stronger market reaction can all turn a clean single-day story into a broader narrative. Without that follow-through, it still matters, but more as a marker of where attention was concentrated on July 8 than as a complete trend on its own.

That distinction is especially important in a market where headlines can travel faster than context. A source-backed update gives readers something firmer to work with, but it does not remove liquidity risk, execution risk, or the chance that traders fade the initial reaction once the first wave of attention passes.

In that sense, the headline is only the starting point. The better read is to watch how builders, exchanges, funds, wallets, regulators, or large holders respond after the first announcement has moved through the feed.

This report is based on information from sec.gov.

This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.

Source: SEC

Solana’s ETF story keeps gaining weight. The latest Bitwise-linked filing puts SOL more firmly into the institutional product conversation, even if approval is still a separate and much harder question.

The useful way to read this is not as a guaranteed price signal, but as a fresh piece of information in a market that is trying to sort real developments from noise. For Solana, that matters because it keeps moving the asset out of the purely crypto-native lane. The more firms that file, the more serious the market has to be about SOL as a potential institutional allocation product.

For more details, visit the official SEC platform.

TL;DR

• A Bitwise-linked Solana ETF filing has entered the regulatory queue.
• The filing adds to the growing race to bring SOL exposure into US fund wrappers.
• Solana is increasingly being treated as the next serious test for crypto ETFs beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Why the filing matters

ETF filings are not approvals, but they are signals. They show that issuers believe there is enough demand, enough legal argument, and enough market infrastructure to justify pushing the product forward.

For Solana, that matters because it keeps moving the asset out of the purely crypto-native lane. The more firms that file, the more serious the market has to be about SOL as a potential institutional allocation product.

The Market Read

Avoid saying approval is likely; focus on the queue and issuer interest.

That is the balance readers need to keep in mind. Crypto markets are quick to turn every update into a single-direction trade, but most durable stories are more layered than that. They matter because they change positioning, incentives, infrastructure, or regulation over time.

What Comes Into Focus Now

From here, the important thing is follow-through. If the source data, company update, filing, or on-chain record continues to move in the same direction, this can become part of a larger trend. If it stalls, it is still useful as a snapshot of where attention is sitting today.

For traders and readers, the cleaner takeaway is to separate the confirmed development from the speculation around it. The confirmed part is what deserves coverage. The speculation is what needs caution.

For Solana readers specifically, the story is useful because it gives a clearer frame for the next few sessions. It tells them what to watch, which part of the market is reacting, and where the first obvious risk sits. That is more valuable than simply saying a token, company, or regulator has made a move. The useful work is in connecting the update to liquidity, positioning, adoption, enforcement, or user behaviour without pretending that any single headline controls the whole market.

The practical question now is whether this remains an isolated update or becomes part of a chain of follow-through. A second filing, another wallet move, fresh dashboard data, a new governance vote, or a stronger market reaction can all turn a clean single-day story into a broader narrative. Without that follow-through, it still matters, but more as a marker of where attention was concentrated on July 8 than as a complete trend on its own.

That distinction is especially important in a market where headlines can travel faster than context. A source-backed update gives readers something firmer to work with, but it does not remove liquidity risk, execution risk, or the chance that traders fade the initial reaction once the first wave of attention passes.

In that sense, the headline is only the starting point. The better read is to watch how builders, exchanges, funds, wallets, regulators, or large holders respond after the first announcement has moved through the feed.

This report is based on information from sec.gov.

This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.

Source: SEC

The Solana ETF race is starting to look less like a one-off experiment and more like a developing category. Bitwise’s trust registration in Delaware is another sign of that, even if it is an early-stage filing rather than a final approval event.

In ETF terms, these early legal and structural steps matter because they tell you who intends to stay in the race.

For more details, visit the official Bitwise platform.

TL;DR

• Bitwise registered a Solana trust entity in Delaware.
• The move is a familiar preparatory step in the road toward a spot ETF push.
• It shows the Solana ETF narrative is broadening beyond one or two issuers.

Why This Step Still Matters

A Delaware trust filing does not put a product on shelves tomorrow, but it does tend to appear before more formal ETF pushes. That is why markets watch it closely when the asset involved is one like Solana, which sits just beyond the first approved crypto fund tier.

For issuers, these steps are also a way of signalling seriousness to the market and to competitors.

The Bigger Read On Solana

What makes this interesting is not just Bitwise. It is the pattern. More firms are clearly willing to test whether institutional appetite for crypto funds extends beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum.

If that trend continues, Solana’s role inside the mainstream product conversation keeps getting harder to dismiss.

This report is based on information from Bitwise.

This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.

Source: Bitwise