STS Digital CEO Maxime Seiler said digital-asset prices have diverged from institutional adoption, with institutions continuing to build on crypto technology even as token prices have underperformed. “We're in crypto winter price-wise where we're in institutional summer,” Seiler told The Block's Kelvin Sparks at the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium 2026.
Seiler said institutions are adopting the underlying technology rather than necessarily directing capital into tokens, contributing to a gap between adoption and asset prices. “As institutions come in and adopt the technology, money doesn't flow necessarily into the tokens today,” Seiler said. “It's the technology that is being adopted.” Bitcoin was trading above $77,000 early Friday, up 8% over 24 hours but still about 38% below its $126,000 all-time high.
Ethereum exchanged hands for around $2,400, 52% below its $4,946 peak, while Solana at $90.93 remains roughly 69% below its $293 high, The Block's crypto prices page shows.
Bitcoin price.
Seiler also pointed to the decline in bitcoin futures basis as evidence of the crypto market's maturation.
