Bitwise says crypto posts third straight negative quarter as index falls 15.4% in Q2

Crypto recorded a third consecutive quarter of negative returns in Q2 2026, its longest losing streak since 2022, as the Bitwise 10 Large Cap Crypto Index fell 15.4% and eight of its 10 constituents declined. Bitwise said spot Bitcoin ETFs logged their worst quarter of outflows since launch, while onchain activity, trading volume and assets held in decentralized finance protocols also fell and crypto’s correlation with stocks increased, tying digital-asset prices more closely to traditional risk markets. Despite weaker prices, Bitwise said stablecoin settlement volume reached 2.3 times Visa’s volume, tokenized real-world assets rose 50.3% in the first half of 2026 to $32.89 billion, and prediction market trading volume hit a record $43.2 billion in Q2. The firm also said the crypto industry is about twice the size it was at the 2022 market bottom, with Ethereum transaction activity up about 13 times since then, DeFi total value locked up more than 60% and stablecoin assets under management roughly doubled, even as it warned stronger network activity and wider institutional participation may not prevent further short-term price weakness.