Bitcoin’s Role in a Traditional Portfolio
San Francisco • Mar 3, 2026
What influence has bitcoin had on a diversified portfolio’s risk-adjusted returns?
In this newly updated study, the Bitwise research team evaluates the historical impact of adding bitcoin to a traditional 60/40 stocks/bonds portfolio. Drawing on comprehensive data from over a decade of bitcoin returns, the study examines a wide variety of rebalancing strategies, allocation sizes, and holding periods.
The findings are remarkable.
Assuming quarterly rebalancing, bitcoin would have contributed positively to a diversified portfolio’s returns in 76% of one-year periods, 94% of two-year periods, and 100% of three-year periods since 2014. The study also highlights bitcoin’s counterintuitive influence on portfolio risk metrics and addresses three key questions investors should ask when considering a bitcoin allocation.
Read White PaperBitwise Asset Management is a global asset manager specializing in crypto and onchain finance with a nine-year track record and more than $14 billion in client assets. The firm’s suite of over 70 investment products—spanning ETFs, option income strategies, model portfolios, DeFi vaults, tokenized funds, and staking—helps investors access opportunities across the financial frontier. Bitwise serves more than 5,500 private wealth teams, RIAs, family offices, and institutional investors, as well as 21 banks and broker-dealers. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in New York and London.
