Latest Bitcoin Ownership Distribution: Individuals, Funds, Businesses, and Governments at a Glance

Key Takeaways

• As of August 25, 2025, River estimates that individuals hold about 65.9% of Bitcoin (around 13.83 million coins).

• Funds and ETFs control about 7.8%; businesses hold 6.2%, and governments own 1.5%.

• River notes that the distribution data is based on public filings, address tagging, and prior research. In other words, it is an estimate, not an on-chain census.

Individuals Remain the Largest Holder Group

River’s research indicates that individuals still own the majority of Bitcoin.

River, a U.S.-based Bitcoin financial services firm, released this research on August 25 in a post on X. The study groups Bitcoin supply into several categories and shows the market share of each, using public filings, custodial address tagging, and earlier blockchain research.

River estimates that individuals control about 65.9% of circulating Bitcoin, or 13.83 million coins. This category includes self-custodied wallets as well as exchange accounts that River classifies as individual holdings.

Institutional Holdings Expanding Rapidly

On the institutional side, River divides holders into businesses, ETFs, and funds.

• Businesses: A global category covering corporate treasuries and companies reporting Bitcoin holdings, accounting for about 6.2%, or 1.30 million BTC.

• ETFs and Funds: Including spot ETFs and other investment vehicles that custody Bitcoin for clients, controlling about 7.8%, or 1.63 million BTC.

• Governments: Estimated at about 1.5%, or 306,000 BTC, based on sovereign addresses tracked from public sources.

Special Categories of Holdings

• Lost Bitcoin: About 7.6%, or 1.58 million BTC. River says this is inferred from age heuristics, meaning coins that haven’t moved for many years and are likely unrecoverable.

• Satoshi/Patoshi Holdings: Estimated at about 4.6%, or 968,000 BTC, based on prior research into early mining patterns.

• Unmined Supply: About 5.2%, or 1.09 million BTC, yet to be mined before the hard cap of 21 million is reached.

Age heuristics : is a method of observing the 'dormant time' of coins within Bitcoin addresses. River uses the characteristic of Bitcoin remaining unmoved for a long time to infer that these coins may be lost.

In simple terms, River’s research attempts to map current Bitcoin ownership, not to predict future prices.

The figures are not definitive, because:

• Custodians often aggregate assets from many clients
• Some wallets may be misclassified
• True ownership can remain opaque

Source of data: Here

Conclusion

River concludes that although individuals still dominate Bitcoin ownership, the institutional share is steadily expanding as ETFs grow and more businesses add Bitcoin to their balance sheets.

(More Bitcoin Reserve Articles)

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