The crypto market is splitting in two.

Institutional and retail investors are taking increasingly different paths, with institutional players anchoring themselves in bitcoin

and Ethereum’s ether {{ETH}} while retail investors pour into altcoins and memecoins, according to a mid-year report from crypto trading firm Wintermute.

Analyzing over-the-counter spot trading volumes, institutional trading volumes with the two largest tokens held steady at 67%, likely backed by ETF inflows and structured accumulation vehicles, the report said. Meanwhile, retail investors dropped their BTC and ETH exposure from 46% to 37%, shifting capital toward newer, more speculative tokens.

“This divergence isn’t a temporary thing; It’s the sign that we are…