Bitcoin investment platform River revealed in research that Bitcoin ownership had changed in 2024. The firm noted that the largest holders of BTC include Satoshi Nakamoto, companies like Strategy (ex. MicroStrategy), Tesla, BlackRock, “Bitcoin Whales,” and governments.
River reported that four Bitcoin addresses contained 100,000 to 1,000,000 BTC for a total of 704,497 bitcoins. They were followed by 93 large owners with 10,000 to 1000,000 BTC for a total of 2,287,472 bitcoins. The aforementioned addresses accounted for about 14% of the total supply of Bitcoin. Exchanges also held at least 12% of the supply on behalf of clients.
Bitcoin ownership experienced a significant shift in 2024
Bitcoin ownership changed massively in 2024.
More in next week’s report on Bitcoin adoption 🟠 pic.twitter.com/sEn96RvY8r
— River (@River) February 18, 2025
River revealed that Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin, held an estimated 968,452 BTC. Nakamoto’s bitcoins are spread across ~20,000 addresses that have remained dormant, except for a few test transactions. The investment platform noted that Satoshi’s BTC, with a current value of ~$94 billion as of December 2024, represented a significant portion of the total supply.
“Independent advisors control $8 trillion in assets, and surveys show 77% of them want to add Bitcoin to their portfolios, aiming for an average allocation of 2-3%.”
–Thomas Fahrer, Co-founder of ApolloSats.
The report showed that public companies collectively owned more than 554,670 BTC, which equaled 2.6% of the total supply. MicroStrategy held 330,645 Bitcoin while Robinhood owned over 140,575 BTC as of the time of publication. Tesla currently has more than 11 500 BTC
The Bitcoin investment firm also acknowledged that Private companies owned roughly 297,000 BTC, which was 1.41% of the total supply at the time of the study. Retail investors sold off 525K BTC, mostly to funds and ETFs.
ETFs and other funds also owned 1,250,000 bitcoins, which was 5.95% of the total Bitcoin supply. BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust was the largest holder, with approximately 530,831 BTC under management.
Governments worldwide held around 307,000 bitcoins, which represented 1.50% of the total supply. The report also noted that governments cut down their Bitcoin reserves by 62,000 BTC. The Kingdom of Bhutan accumulated bitcoins through Bitcoin mining and owned around 12,578 BTC. The study also found that El Salvador owned at least 5,963 BTC.
Research firm expects BTC ownership to skyrocket in 2025
A company called Security also conducted research on crypto ownership and realized that it had doubled in three years since the end of 2021. The company found that 28% of American adults, or about 65 million people, owned cryptocurrencies.
The study revealed that 14% of people without digital assets plan to purchase it in 2025. 67% of current owners also plan to buy even more crypto this year, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin.
More than half of adults familiar with crypto believe that the value of digital assets will increase during Trump’s new regime. 46% also believe that Trump’s new administration will boost mainstream crypto adoption in the U.S. The research firm also disclosed that 40% of people who own cryptocurrency still weren’t confident that the technology is safe and secure.
Younger Generation Xers and old millennials were also more likely to own Bitcoin than older people, while the median age of currency owners in the study was 45.
According to the research, the average crypto owner holds at least two different cryptocurrencies. The owners hold overpriced and underpriced digital assets, and they can make some swaps by selling the high one and buying the discounted one so that the proceeds can accumulate faster.
The firm expects Bitcoin ownership rates to accelerate in 2025. The research found that 14% of non-owners planned to enter the crypto market in 2025, while another 48% were open to doing so. Bitcoin remained the most sought-after cryptocurrency in 2024, where the research indicated that two in three people wanted to purchase Bitcoin as their crypto of choice.
Data also showed that 36% of cryptocurrency owners first bought their tokens in 2020 and 2021, and another third first bought crypto between 2016 and 2018. Less than 10% of current crypto owners first bought their digital assets sometime in the last year. The study also found that current crypto owners were far less supportive than non-owners of government interventions to regulate cryptocurrency markets.
