Individual investors hold 66% of bitcoin, Bitwise finds
Bitwise reports individual investors own 66.1% of bitcoin; businesses 7.8%, funds and ETFs 7.2%, leaving about 15% held by institutions.
Bitwise released a breakdown of bitcoin ownership on Monday based on public wallet data, on-chain analysis and disclosures from publicly traded companies and fund managers. The firm mapped known addresses tied to exchanges, custodians and large holders and classified holdings into categories including individuals, businesses, funds, governments and miners.
Bitwise’s analysis shows individual investors hold 66.1% of bitcoin’s total supply. Businesses control 7.8% and funds and ETFs account for 7.2%, leaving roughly 15% in institutional hands. The remaining roughly 19% spans governments, miners and wallets Bitwise could not fully attribute.
The report identifies methodological limits. Multi-signature wallets, pooled custody arrangements and large exchange cold wallets can obscure who actually owns the coins behind an address. Some of the biggest addresses on the chain represent custodial holdings or government reserves rather than single private owners.
Bitwise’s list of top addresses shows the 12 largest together hold about 1,347,380 BTC, which at recent prices near $63,265 equals roughly $85.2 billion.
Institutional exposure has grown since U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs launched in January 2024, and corporate treasury purchases and government accumulations added large, concentrated positions. U.S. spot bitcoin and ether ETFs ended an eight-week outflow streak last week with combined inflows of $282 million, split about $197.4 million into bitcoin funds and $84.4 million into ether funds, after prior outflows of roughly $9.46 billion.
On-chain analysts describe retail holders as a stickier base that can absorb selling pressure during downturns, while ETF and fund flows tend to move faster in response to market sentiment, macro data and quarterly rebalancing.
Bitcoin was created in 2009 and ownership remains distributed across tens of millions of individuals. While regulated products have made institutional access easier, Bitwise’s breakdown shows individual investors continue to hold the largest share of the network’s supply.
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