Who Actually Owns Bitcoin? Not Wall Street or Institutions — Individuals Hold 66%, Bitwise Says

Retail Still Owns This Market

The breakdown, shared Monday by Bitwise and circulated by crypto media, is based on public wallet data, onchain analysis and disclosures from publicly traded companies and fund managers. The digital asset manager, which runs one of the U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs, mapped known wallets associated with exchanges, custodians and large holders to build the picture.

The result cuts against the dominant narrative of recent years and despite relentless coverage of corporate treasuries, sovereign accumulation and Wall Street ETF launches, roughly two-thirds of all bitcoin still sits with individuals. Businesses hold 7.8% and investment vehicles 7.2%, meaning the entire institutional complex controls a combined 15% of the supply.

The remainder, roughly 19%, spans governments, miners, unaccounted wallets and other categories. That said, Bitwise acknowledged the methodology has blind spots noting that multi-signature wallets and pooled custody arrangements can obscure who actually owns the coins behind an address.

The Institutions’ Slice Is Bigger Than Before, but Still Thin

Institutional holdings have grown meaningfully since spot bitcoin ETFs debuted in the United States in January 2024, and the category’s footprint keeps expanding through corporate treasury programs and government stockpiles. Some of those positions are enormous in isolation; the largest bitcoin addresses tracked onchain include exchange cold wallets and government stashes holding hundreds of thousands of BTC.

Yet the flows behind that 7.2% fund share remain volatile. U.S. spot bitcoin and ether ETFs snapped an eight-week outflow streak last week (the longest run of redemptions since the products launched) with $282 million in combined inflows. Bitcoin funds took in $197.4 million and ether funds $84.4 million, a modest reversal after the prior streak drained about $9.46 billion from the two product classes.

ETF money moves with sentiment, macro data and quarterly rebalancing. The individual majority, by contrast, has historically been stickier (a base of holders that onchain analysts credit with absorbing supply through notable slumps).

Why the Split Matters Now

In a market this deep into a drawdown, who holds the coins shapes how the next leg plays out because a retail-dominated supply base means the marginal seller is more likely a household than a fund desk, and it blunts the common critique that Wall Street has quietly taken over the network.

For the industry’s decentralization argument, the data is ammunition. Bitcoin’s ownership remains dispersed across tens of millions of individuals seventeen years into its existence, even as regulated products make institutional access trivial.

The number to watch from here is the fund share because if ETFs fire back up with any sort of gusto, the 7.2% slice could grind higher and test how durable retail’s two-thirds majority really is. But for now, Bitwise’s data clearly shows that the OGs still rule the roost.