The encryption market is being divided into two.
Institutional and retail investors are taking increasingly different paths, and institutional players are anchored in Bitcoin
and the ethereum ether Eth While retail investors arrive in Altcoins and Memecoins, according to a mid -year report by the Wintermute cryptography firm.
Analyze free sales spot volumes, institutional trade volumes with the two largest tokens remained stable at 67%, probably backed by ETF tickets and structured accumulation vehicles, according to the report. Meanwhile, retail investors eliminated their exposure from BTC and ETH from 46% to 37%, changing capital towards newer and more speculative tokens.
“This divergence is not a temporary thing; it is the sign that we are experiencing a more mature, sophisticated and specialized cryptographic market,” said Evgeny Gaevoy, CEO and founder of Wintermute.
“Investors no longer pursue the same trend,” he added. “Institutions are treating cryptography as a macro asset, while retail merchants continue to gravitate towards innovation.”
In general, traditional finance (Tradfi) The companies were the fastest growing cohort in the OTC negotiation volumes, growing 32% year after year. This growth was being promoted by regulatory developments such as the United States genius law and the deployment of the current Mica, which have given the greatest more confidence to participating, according to the report.
Retail corridors also saw a strong activity, with an increase of 21% in the volume during the same period. Meanwhile, crypto-native companies withdrew, 5%less.
The volume of OTC options increased by 412% compared to the first half of 2024, since institutions adopted derivatives for coverage and performance generation, the report said. Meanwhile, difference contracts (CFD) Duplicate in variety, offering access to less liquid tokens in a more efficient way of capital.
Wintermute said that his own OTC desktop saw the spots of spots grow more than double the rhythm of centralized exchanges, which indicates a change towards a more discreet and large volume trade favored by traditional finances.
The firm pointed out that Memecoin’s activity has been fragmented more. While the general retail trade in Memecoins decreased, the number of tokens negotiated by individual users doubled, indicating a broad appetite for microcapasa assets in the long tail of the market.
With that, inherited names like Dogecoin
And Shiba Inu lost ground to a growing list of niche tokens like Bonk, Dogwifhat WIF And Popcat, the report said.
Looking towards the second half of 2025, winter analysts said they monitor ETF presentations from Dogecoin Spot with a expected final regulatory decision for October.
“The result could significantly affect the retail market and establish a precedent for other alternative assets,” the report said.