Coinbase’s head of institutional strategy, John D’Agostino, says large 
investors are not retreating from Bitcoin’s latest selloff, even after the 
asset fell below $60,000 for the first time since October 2024. Speaking on 
CNBC’s Squawk Box on June 8, D’Agostino said institutional investors, family 
offices and sovereign-linked buyers are treating the drawdown as an 
opportunity to accumulate rather than a reason to exit. The remarks came 
during a discussion about whether Bitcoin’s decline toward the $59,000 area 
could hold as support, with CNBC’s Joe Kernen noting concerns that a deeper 
break could open the door to a much larger move lower. D’Agostino declined to 
make a direct price call, saying he does not want to offer investment advice, 
but pointed to the behavior of long-term allocators he speaks with through 
Coinbase’s institutional business. “What I can tell you is I have the luxury 
of speaking to institutional investors. They’ve put months and years into 
looking at this asset class. So when they do that and it’s cheaper, they like 
it,” D’Agostino said. He added that some investors have defined price targets, 
while others are focused on long-term accumulation. According to D’Agostino, 
recent conversations in the Middle East suggest that major buyers are 
comfortable with the decline. Related Reading: Bitcoin’s Worst Week Of 2026 Is 
Happening Right Now — QCP Explains Why The Bottom Isn’t In Yet “I just got off 
a plane from the Middle East. And I can tell you that the family offices in 
the UAE and the government and sovereign funds that I’m putting the effort 
into buying this asset class are not unhappy at being able to buy it at a 
discount.” Coinbase Exec Points To Stronger Bitcoin Infrastructure 
D’Agostino’s core argument was not that Bitcoin’s price had necessarily found 
a floor, but that the institutional market around the asset is materially 
stronger than in prior drawdowns. He said Coinbase is seeing the 
“institutional piping” that supports Bitcoin and other crypto assets continue 
to develop through both bullish and bearish market environments. Compared with 
previous CNBC appearances during stronger price conditions, he said the market 
now has a “shockingly stronger level of infrastructure.” That infrastructure, 
he argued, is what many institutional investors are focused on when assessing 
whether Bitcoin is becoming a more durable long-term allocation. He also 
pointed to spot ETFs as evidence that retail and institutional demand has not 
collapsed alongside price. D’Agostino said there is still roughly $100 billion 
of Bitcoin ETF exposure, describing the products as “very, very new.” Despite 
Bitcoin being down almost 50% from its peak, he said retail interest has seen 
only about a 15% drawdown. “So I think both retail and institutional are 
signaling this is a long term asset you want to hold,” he said. Macro 
Pressure, Leverage And Market Structure Asked to explain the selloff, 
D’Agostino said Kernen had identified the main consensus factors: risk-off 
positioning, investors selling liquid assets to fund other opportunities, 
higher-for-longer interest rates, weaker support for the debasement trade and 
uncertainty around regulatory clarity. He did not frame those pressures as 
irrelevant, but argued that volatility is a feature of long-duration 
commodity-like assets. Related Reading: Bitcoin Crash To $30,000? China Mining 
Giant Says Strategy Can Survive “Volatility is a funny thing, right? If I told 
you a year ago, we’d be 100 days into a war with Iran with the Strait of 
Hormuz being closed and no clear sight of line to it being open. Would you 
think that crude would still be trading under 100 bucks a barrel?” D’Agostino 
said. He said his background leads him to think of Bitcoin as a commodity- 
style asset, where volatility can come and go while long-term demand remains 
intact. He also pointed to pending policy work in Washington, saying that 
market structure and tax reform may be unexciting topics but could be 
important for institutional adoption. “We have seven bills circulating that 
will do great things for the institutional piping that supports Bitcoin and 
other crypto assets,” he said. On leverage, D’Agostino said he is not aware of 
any large institutional Bitcoin holders that are “horrifically over levered” 
at levels close enough to create a specific forced-selling threshold. He 
contrasted that with retail traders on offshore exchanges, where extreme 
leverage can result in rapid liquidations during liquidity shocks. “For some 
of the larger entities that hold Bitcoin with leverage, they seem to have an 
endless ability to go into the market and bring in more capital to support 
their buying activities,” he said. D’Agostino closed by saying he is not 
seeing institutional panic. Instead, he said large allocators are evaluating 
the cheapest ways to raise new capital and increase exposure to an asset they 
“loved at $125k,” “liked at $100k” and “love even more at $65k.” At press 
time, BTC traded at $63,345. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from 
TradingView.com

Coinbase’s head of institutional strategy, John D’Agostino, says large investors are not retreating from Bitcoin’s latest selloff, even after the asset fell below $60,000 for the first time since October 2024. Speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box on June 8, D’Agostino said institutional investors, family offices and sovereign-linked buyers are treating the drawdown as an opportunity &#8230;

Bitcoin At A Discount? Coinbase Exec Says Institutions And Govts Are Buying

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first on Crypto Briefing.

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Bitcoin At A Discount? Coinbase Exec Says Institutions And Govts Are Buying

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