Institutional Crypto Reserves: The New Standard for Asset Diversification

The perception of digital assets, led by Bitcoin, is shifting quickly across the corporate environment. What once was viewed as purely speculative is becoming a component of progressive treasury strategies. This shift, which only recently seemed radical, is now shaping a new standard in corporate finance. For many companies, the question isn’t whether to include digital assets in corporate reserves but how to do it most effectively.

Corporate Bitcoin Reserves: A Rapid Expansion Phase 

Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, pioneered the corporate Bitcoin reserve model and has actively accumulated BTC since 2020. Beginning in 2024, this playbook began to gain traction across the corporate landscape, with Japan’s Metaplanet emerging as the most prominent follower. As of August 2025, it ranks  No. 7 among the largest public Bitcoin holders. 

According to BitcoinTreasuries.net, as of August 21, 2025, 172 public companies and 57 private firms had already established Bitcoin reserves. The pace of accumulation has accelerated markedly:

Notably, interest in BTC in 2025 spans multiple sectors. According to River, the largest buyers have been: 

• Financial and investment firms (35.7%)
• Technology firms (16.8%)
• Professional and consulting firms (16.5%)
• Real estate companies (9.7%)
• Nonprofit organizations (8.8%)
• Consumer and industrial enterprises (5.7%)
• Healthcare companies (3.7%)
• Energy, agriculture, and transportation companies (3.1%)

In total, corporate treasuries manage more than 6% of the total Bitcoin supply.

Government Bitcoin Reserves: A Gradual Adoption Phase 

Interest in crypto reserves is also growing among government institutions. The process is still in its early stages, but meaningful changes began around the U.S. presidential election in the fall of 2024. Donald Trump leaned on themes tied to broad crypto adoption and, in particular, the creation of a national Bitcoin reserve during his campaign.

It’s worth noting that after his victory, he kept those campaign promises. On March 7, 2025, he signed an executive order establishing a U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. The fund consists entirely of BTC previously confiscated by government agencies in criminal and civil cases. By various estimates, the U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve manages about 200,000 BTC.

Following the creation of the Federal Reserve in the U.S., the idea of using BTC as a reserve asset at the level of individual states gained traction. In early May, New Hampshire approved the first official state Bitcoin reserve, and similar bills were later passed in Texas and Arizona. 

Developments in the U.S. spurred interest in the first cryptocurrency from the leadership of the Czech National Bank, while the European Central Bank rejected the possibility of creating Bitcoin reserves in EU member states. Pakistan’s authorities have been more open to financial innovation and formally announced plans to create a national strategic Bitcoin reserve. El Salvador’s Bitcoin reserves also merit attention. The country was the first to recognize BTC as legal tender, and it ultimately changed its policy toward the cryptocurrency under pressure from the International Monetary Fund. 

As a result, the adoption of crypto reserves at the governmental level remains limited to initiatives by individual countries, and Bitcoin is the main reserve asset under consideration. Mostly, although not exclusively. In the U.S., alongside the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, the federal U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile was also created, which consists of cryptocurrencies other than BTC. 

Reserve Crypto Assets Beyond Bitcoin 

Beyond Bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies are used as reserve assets. The practice is still less common because altcoins are highly volatile and crypto investments in general carry elevated risk.

Among the most popular digital assets:

• ETH 
• XRP 
• BNB 
• SOL 
• LTC, and others 

Unsurprisingly, Ethereum is the most popular altcoin in this context. According to The Block, as of August 21, 2025, 69 organizations had created Ethereum treasuries, and their combined holdings exceeded 4 million ETH. The largest public Ethereum investor is BitMine Immersion Technologies, which holds more than 1.52 million ETH. The company previously focused on Bitcoin mining and hosting services, operating high-tech data centers with liquid immersion cooling, and in 2025, it fully pivoted to building Ethereum reserves.

Solana is also used as a reserve asset, although it trails Ethereum by a wide margin. According to CoinGecko, five public companies use the token as a treasury asset, with a combined total of 3.7 million SOL under management. The largest holder is Upexi, a U.S. public company that originally developed and sold consumer products under a DTC (Direct to Consumer) model. In 2025, it shifted to managing crypto assets with a focus on Solana.

XRP is another widely used crypto asset. Finder reports that eight companies use it as a reserve asset, although public sources don’t provide precise figures for the amount of XRP they hold. The largest holder is VivoPower, an international provider of sustainable energy solutions that created a 100 million dollar XRP treasury in early June 2025. Singapore-based Trident Digital Tech Holdings, which provides commercial and technology-focused digital B2B solutions, plans to launch an XRP treasury of at least 500 million dollars by the end of 2025.

Precise data on Litecoin is also unavailable, but at least two confirmed cases show LTC being used as a reserve asset:

1. In August 2025, MEI Pharma, a pharmaceutical company, became the first publicly traded company in the U.S. to officially adopt Litecoin as its primary reserve asset, purchasing 929,548 LTC valued at about 110.4 million.
2. Digital infrastructure firm Luxxfolio Holdings has also claimed to be the first publicly listed creator of a Litecoin treasury. Assets under management totaled 20,084 LTC as of July 17, 2025, and the company plans to accumulate 1 million LTC by the end of 2026.

Some companies prefer not to concentrate on a single asset and instead build diversified crypto treasuries. On August 20, 2025, The Crypto Company announced a Multi-Asset Crypto Treasury that includes BTC, ETH, XRP, and AVAX. The company hasn’t disclosed the size of its crypto reserves. 

What’s Driving Corporate and Government Crypto Reserves and What Comes Next 

You may have noticed that almost all the examples above are from 2025, and only a few relate to earlier periods.

The reason the trend is taking shape in 2025 is straightforward: a fundamental shift in attitudes toward crypto alongside greater regulatory clarity in the United States, the European Union, Hong Kong, Singapore, the UAE, and many other jurisdictions.

The reasons for building crypto reserves are equally clear: 

1. Hedging against traditional risks. Cryptocurrencies are used to protect against domestic currency depreciation and instability in conventional financial markets.
2. Asset diversification. Adding cryptocurrencies to corporate reserves can make a company more resilient to market shocks by introducing an asset that’s weakly correlated with traditional instruments.
3. Greater reserve liquidity. Cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin, are highly liquid and trade around the clock at a global scale.
4. Additional yield. Some cryptocurrencies, such as ETH and SOL, can be staked, and BTC can be deployed in DeFi lending protocols.
5. Strategic positioning. Companies that invest in crypto signal a commitment to innovation and a willingness to work with advanced financial technologies, which helps attract new investors. 

Crypto investments also offer potential capital appreciation, especially over the long term. Shares of public companies that accumulate crypto reserves give investors exchange-traded exposure to the digital assets held on corporate balance sheets without requiring direct ownership. 

Is this trend temporary? It’s doubtful, at least with respect to Bitcoin, since the growth prospects of the first cryptocurrency are virtually unlimited. 

The pattern that became clear in 2025 points to a deep shift in how digital assets are perceived. The scale is already significant enough that corporate reserves have become a market driver. The trend is reinforced by rising institutional adoption, especially after the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs and the legalization of crypto investing within 401(k) retirement plans, which opened the door for crypto to enter the portfolios of the most conservative investors. 

Taken together, the formation of institutional crypto reserves isn’t an experiment pursued by a handful of enthusiasts. It’s an emerging standard for portfolio diversification, and its relevance will grow in step with broader crypto adoption.