River Report: Individuals Still Dominate Bitcoin Ownership, but Institutions Closing In
Despite accelerating institutional adoption, most bitcoin remains in the hands of individual holders, according to new research from U.S.-based financial services firm River.
The study, published Aug. 25, breaks down ownership of the circulating supply into several categories using public filings, custodial address tagging, and historical blockchain analysis. River’s estimates show:
- Individuals control around 65.9% of supply (≈13.83M BTC) across self-hosted wallets and exchange accounts.
- ETFs and funds hold 7.8% (≈1.63M BTC) on behalf of investors.
- Businesses, including public companies with disclosed treasuries, own 6.2% (≈1.30M BTC).
- Governments account for 1.5% (≈306K BTC).
Additional slices of supply include:
- Lost bitcoin, about 7.6% (≈1.58M BTC) inferred from long-dormant coins.
- Satoshi/Patoshi holdings, estimated at 4.6% (≈968K BTC) from early-era mining.
- Unmined supply, roughly 5.2% (≈1.09M BTC), still to be issued before the 21 million hard cap.
River stressed that its methodology has limits, since custodians pool client assets and wallet classifications are imperfect. Still, the snapshot highlights how ownership patterns are shifting.
Bottom line: while individuals remain the dominant holders of bitcoin, the growing share of ETFs, businesses, and sovereign addresses suggests institutions are steadily tightening their grip on the asset class.
