Bitcoin's Majority Owner: Ordinary Investors, Not Wall Street

Billions are flowing into Bitcoin from Wall Street, but retail investors still control the majority of the available coins. At the same time, several major corporate holders are spending millions just to sustain their positions.

Retail investors hold roughly 13.9 million BTC, representing 66% of the total 21-million-coin cap, based on figures from Bitbo and River assembled by Motley Fool.

Consequently, institutions must vie for a supply that current owners are often reluctant to part with.

Which Entities Own the Most Bitcoin?

By October 9, Bitcoin ETFs had amassed 1.48 million BTC, per Bitbo. Corporate treasuries accounted for an additional 1.66 million, and governments had approximately 518,500.

Combined, these categories represented roughly 17% of Bitcoin's total potential supply.

An estimated 1.6 million BTC are considered irretrievable. A further 968,000 reside in addresses associated with the pseudonymous founder, Satoshi Nakamoto.

But the distribution is slowly changing. According to River, individuals sold a net 696,000 BTC last year. In contrast, companies, investment vehicles, and state entities bought close to one million coins.

Should this pattern persist, institutional buyers might need to pay more to convince current owners to part with their coins.

Corporate Bitcoin Holders Face Rising Cash Pressures

There are also expenses associated with holding Bitcoin for firms that borrowed to buy it.

Strategy (previously MicroStrategy) owns approximately 848,000 BTC. However, its most recent filing revealed that it withdrew $142.5 million from its cash reserve to cover dividends and interest in the week through October 4.

In addition, the firm used $73.7 million to repurchase preferred stock from October 1 to 4. For context, it bought only 334 BTC for $28.7 million during that period.

Metaplanet, based in Japan, adopted a different strategy. Its October 5 filing indicated that it sold 10,000 BTC and bought back 11,000 in the third quarter to show liquidity.

The firm currently holds 44,000 BTC and has capped its Bitcoin exposure at 85% to 90% of its portfolio.

With BTC trading around $83,000, institutional interest stays strong. Yet Strategy's recent expenses illustrate that funding a large Bitcoin stash can conflict with acquiring additional tokens.