{"id":919769,"date":"2026-07-14T15:11:51","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T20:11:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/14\/who-actually-owns-bitcoin-not-wall-street-or-institutions-individuals-hold-66-bitwise-says\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T15:11:51","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T20:11:51","slug":"who-actually-owns-bitcoin-not-wall-street-or-institutions-individuals-hold-66-bitwise-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/14\/who-actually-owns-bitcoin-not-wall-street-or-institutions-individuals-hold-66-bitwise-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Actually Owns Bitcoin? Not Wall Street or Institutions \u2014 Individuals Hold 66%, Bitwise Says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Individual investors hold 66.1% of bitcoin\u2019s total supply, dwarfing the 7.8% held by businesses and the 7.2% sitting in funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), according to asset manager Bitwise. <\/strong><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<h2><span>Key Takeaways<\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span>Bitwise data shows individuals control 66.1% of BTC supply, versus 7.8% for businesses and 7.2% for funds.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>Institutional share has grown since U.S. spot ETFs launched in January 2024, yet retail dominance holds.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>U.S. bitcoin and ether ETFs just snapped an 8-week outflow streak that drained $9.46 billion from the funds.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Retail Still Owns This Market<\/h2>\n<p>The breakdown, shared Monday by Bitwise and circulated by <span>crypto<\/span> 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 <span>bitcoin ETFs<\/span>, mapped known wallets associated with exchanges, custodians and large holders to build the picture.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.news.bitcoin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/who-actually-owns-bitcoin-not-wall-street-or-institutions-individuals-hold-66-bitwise-says_nwmk.jpg\" alt=\"Bitwise data showing who actually owns Bitcoin.\" width=\"1672\" height=\"941\"  ><\/p>\n<p>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 <span>bitcoin<\/span> 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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<h2>The Institutions\u2019 Slice Is Bigger Than Before, but Still Thin<\/h2>\n<p>Institutional holdings have grown meaningfully since spot <span>bitcoin ETFs<\/span> debuted in the United States in January 2024, and the category\u2019s footprint keeps expanding through corporate treasury programs and government stockpiles. Some of those positions are enormous in isolation; the <a href=\"http:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/inside-the-top-12-bitcoin-addresses-who-holds-1-35-million-btc\/\">largest bitcoin addresses<\/a> tracked onchain include exchange cold wallets and government stashes holding hundreds of thousands of <span>BTC<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>Yet the flows behind that 7.2% fund share remain <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bitcoin.com\/get-started\/what-is-volatility\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">volatile<\/a>. U.S. spot <a href=\"https:\/\/www.binance.com\/en\/price\/bitcoin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">bitcoin<\/a> and ether ETFs <a href=\"http:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/bitcoin-and-ether-etfs-snap-8-week-outflow-run-with-combined-inflows-of-282-million\/\">snapped an eight-week<\/a> outflow streak last week (the longest run of redemptions since the products launched) with $282 million in combined inflows. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.binance.com\/en\/price\/bitcoin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bitcoin<\/a> funds took in $197.4 million and ether funds $84.4 million, a modest reversal after the prior streak <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theblock.co\/post\/407957\/bitcoin-ether-etfs-snap-eight-week-outflow-streaks-with-282-million-combined-inflow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">drained about $9.46 billion<\/a> from the two product classes.<\/p>\n<p>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).<\/p>\n<h2>Why the Split Matters Now<\/h2>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>For the industry\u2019s decentralization argument, the data is ammunition. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.binance.com\/en\/price\/bitcoin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bitcoin<\/a>\u2019s ownership remains dispersed across tens of millions of individuals seventeen years into its existence, even as regulated products make institutional access trivial.<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019s two-thirds majority really is. But for now, Bitwise\u2019s data clearly shows that the OGs still rule the roost.<\/p>\n<div><a aria-label=\"Read Now: Inside the Top 12 Bitcoin Addresses: Who Holds 1.35 Million BTC\" href=\"http:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/inside-the-top-12-bitcoin-addresses-who-holds-1-35-million-btc\/\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Twelve addresses on bitcoin&#8217;s rich list hold a combined 1,347,380 BTC, worth roughly $85.2 billion at current prices near $63,265.\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a aria-label=\"Read Now: Inside the Top 12 Bitcoin Addresses: Who Holds 1.35 Million BTC\" href=\"http:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/inside-the-top-12-bitcoin-addresses-who-holds-1-35-million-btc\/\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<h3>Inside the Top 12 Bitcoin Addresses: Who Holds 1.35 Million BTC<\/h3>\n<p>Twelve addresses on bitcoin&#8217;s rich list hold a combined 1,347,380 BTC, worth roughly $85.2 billion at current prices near $63,265.\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a aria-label=\"Read Now: Inside the Top 12 Bitcoin Addresses: Who Holds 1.35 Million BTC\" href=\"http:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/inside-the-top-12-bitcoin-addresses-who-holds-1-35-million-btc\/\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<h3>Inside the Top 12 Bitcoin Addresses: Who Holds 1.35 Million BTC<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p>Twelve addresses on bitcoin&#8217;s rich list hold a combined 1,347,380 BTC, worth roughly $85.2 billion at current prices near $63,265.\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/bitwise-individuals-66-percent-bitcoin-supply\/\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><br \/>\n Shiraz Jagati<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Individual investors hold 66.1% of bitcoin\u2019s total supply, dwarfing the 7.8% held by businesses and the 7.2% sitting in funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), according to asset manager Bitwise. Key Takeaways Bitwise data shows individuals control 66.1% of BTC supply, versus 7.8% for businesses and 7.2% for funds. Institutional share has grown since U.S. spot<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":919770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3281,4041],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-919769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-actually","category-bitcoin"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=919769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/919770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=919769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=919769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=919769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}