Bitwise: 69% of Bitcoin supply is held by individuals, with institutional holdings lagging behind

According to a report by Beincrypto, Bitwise Asset Management has stated that the majority of Bitcoin's total supply is controlled by individual holders. Out of the circulating supply of 21 million Bitcoins, 69.4% are held by private investors. Given this high degree of concentration of Bitcoin ownership among individuals, large institutions and governments may face challenges in acquiring significant amounts of Bitcoin. In a recent post on Platform X, Bitwise outlined the distribution of Bitcoin's total supply. Besides individual holders, approximately 7.5% of Bitcoin is considered to be lost. Funds and ETPs control about 6.1% of Bitcoin, while wallets associated with Bitcoin’s anonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, hold 4.6%. Additionally, governments and corporations together only possess 5.8% of Bitcoin.

Bitwise emphasizes that if companies and governments wish to acquire Bitcoin, they primarily need to purchase it from individuals willing to sell. Hunter Horsley, CEO of Bitwise, also noted that despite ongoing purchases by corporations and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), Bitcoin's price still faces downward pressure. He highlighted that the bulk of Bitcoin's value remains in the hands of individual holders.

At the same time, only 5.7% of Bitcoin remains to be mined. Furthermore, the supply of Bitcoin on the OTC market is also minimal. A cryptocurrency analyst pointed out that there are only about 140,000 Bitcoins left in the OTC market. He stated: "Even for institutions, there's almost no Bitcoin available to buy." He explained that last month, ETFs jointly purchased 50,000 Bitcoins, yet the price trend remained stable. This suggests that institutions are acquiring Bitcoin from the OTC market rather than exchanges to avoid triggering price increases. However, as the OTC supply dwindles, this strategy may no longer be viable.