13 Jun, 2025
3 minutes
Bitcoin, the world's first and most valuable cryptocurrency, started as a niche experiment that grew into a worldwide financial asset. Because it has a finite supply of 21 million coins and is increasingly in demand, Bitcoin ownership is an aspirational status symbol of influence and power in the digital era. In 2025, questions like "Who owns the most Bitcoin?" are more crucial than ever - not only for investors and analysts but also for governments, institutions, and individual users looking to understand market dynamics.
This article talks about the main Bitcoin owners in 2025, i.e., individuals, private and public institutions, and government agencies - and why ownership concentration matters in this decentralized network.
Whereas Bitcoin itself is decentralized in nature - no owner, admin, or central control - it is an asset nevertheless that belongs to whoever holds a private key. So when we query "who owns bitcoin now?", we are really referring to the cohorts of individuals, institutions, corporations, and governments that hold large amounts of BTC in their wallets.
Bitcoin ownership is defined in terms of wallet addresses, which are pseudonymous but can be followed on the blockchain. There are exchange addresses, long-term holder addresses, and short-term trader addresses, and then there are a few very large addresses that wind up with a disproportionate amount of BTC. These large holders - typically referred to as Bitcoin whales - have tremendous market power by virtue of the sheer amounts that they hold.
From pseudonymous actors like Satoshi Nakamoto to publicly traded companies like MicroStrategy and giant BlackRock ETF products, BTC ownership cuts across industries and geographies. Understanding who owns most Bitcoin gives us a clearer picture of just how decentralized or concentrated Bitcoin really is - and who can move the market with one trade.
If we're talking about who owns the most Bitcoin in the world, it's always whales that come out. Bitcoin whales are individuals or institutions that hold 10,000 BTC or more in one or multiple wallets. These large holders are typically closely watched by market participants because their transactions generate price action. Whales can be early adopters, institutional investors, cryptocurrency exchanges, hedge funds, and high-net-worth individuals.
Not all whales are public, but some of them are public figures:
The largest whale known is Satoshi Nakamoto, who mined nearly 1 million BTC in Bitcoin's early days.
The Winklevoss twins, one of the first Bitcoin investors, reportedly hold as many as 70,000 BTC.
Tim Draper, who bought nearly 30,000 BTC at the 2014 U.S. government auction, remains one of the most iconic whale investors.
Strategy, as a company, is now officially a whale, holding over 580,000 BTC.
Whales do have an option - some do hold for extended durations with minimal activity (the so-called "hodlers"), and some do actively trade. When whale addresses move large amounts of bitcoin, it does create market interest and even short-term volatility.
The whales muddle Bitcoin's case for decentralization. Although no whale is able to meaningfully modify the Bitcoin protocol, they can influence the market sentiment, liquidity, and price direction.
In addition to public companies who own most of Bitcoin, private companies also hold significant portions of Bitcoin - typically for treasury diversification, long-term investment, or strategic ownership of crypto-centric ecosystems.
Block.one, the operator of the EOS blockchain, is one of the largest private holders of Bitcoin, with an estimated reserve of 164,000 BTC. The company was reported to have begun stockpiling BTC early and views it as a core financial asset in its corporate portfolio.
While inactive since its historic hack, Mt. Gox's corporate entity has 44,899 BTC in the control of the trustees. This is earmarked for creditor repayment and is in the process of being wound up.
The firm that released the world's biggest stablecoin, USDT, Tether Holdings has approximately 82,454 BTC. The bitcoin is used in conjunction with Tether's reserve to support it and enable the market of stablecoins to be more transparent and reliable. Tether's growing BTC reserve renders it a tech giant and a huge BTC to USDT market player.
The financial services firm, which is behind the NYDIG platform launch, holds about 10,889 BTC. The company views Bitcoin as an investment and as a foundation for digital asset infrastructure.
These private institutions play the important role of maintaining the Bitcoin ecosystem - either integrating it into financial products or holding it as a strategic treasury reserve. Collectively, they have increasing conviction in Bitcoin as an economic hedge and long-term store of value.
Though Bitcoin was established to bypass conventional institutions, governments have amassed big positions in BTC through seizure, direct purchase, strategic buying, or confiscation.
The US government is the biggest known sovereign who owns Bitcoin, with over 200,000 BTC seized under legal proceedings of illegal activities like Silk Road, Bitfinex hacks, and other enforcement actions. The funds are typically held by the U.S. Marshals Service and auctioned off periodically. Still, in 2025, much of it remains in the government's possession, indirectly but meaningfully exposing the US to Bitcoin's price fluctuations.
El Salvador made history in 2021 by adopting Bitcoin as a legal tender and continues to purchase BTC as part of the country's reserves. As of 2025, the country holds approximately 5,963 BTC through government purchases and geothermal power-based mining operations. President Nayib Bukele's administration has been vocal and adamant about making the country a crypto hub.
Bhutan covertly mined and bought Bitcoin under government-supported programs. Bhutan currently has 12,578 BTC, which it amassed through collaborations and state-sponsored mining efforts using the country's abundant hydroelectric reserves.
While China banned Bitcoin trading and mining, China's government owns approximately 15,000 BTC, which is largely recovered from the Plustoken Ponzi scheme. The coins were never publicly auctioned or transferred and hang in the balance in the future amidst China's regulatory stance.
Government holdings are a curious contradiction - even while some states legislate against or resist Bitcoin, simultaneously they become owners of enormous BTC balances, somewhat involuntarily. This makes the global discussion more difficult regarding whether Bitcoin has any merit and a future role in sovereign finance.
Not every investor buys and holds BTC directly. There are those who invest indirectly through financial instruments or custodial services that give them exposure to the price of Bitcoin.
As of 2025, Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) have grown exponentially. Leading products like BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), and Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund allow institutional and retail buyers to gain exposure to Bitcoin without private keys or custodial wallets.
Together, all ETFs hold over 1.25 million BTC, or 5.90% of circulating supply.
BlackRock's ETF alone holds over 530,000 BTC, making it one of the largest holders globally.
IRAs and pension plans also provide Bitcoin, with custodians offering exposure through trusts, funds, and managed accounts. The trend puts BTC in long-term savings plans for millions of people, especially in the US and Europe.
Exchanges like Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken hold enormous amounts of Bitcoin in users' names. While the BTCs are technically users' property, the websites control private keys. Exchanges are thus some of the largest custodians of BTC in the world.
Indirect ownership makes market entry easier for institutional investors but with compromises like third-party risk and loss of control of funds.
The maximum Bitcoin supply is capped at 21 million BTC, a foundational feature that makes Bitcoin deflationary by design. But not all of these coins are actively circulating.
Experts estimate that at least 1.6 million BTC have been lost forever due to forgotten keys, destroyed hardware wallets, or inaccessible storage. These coins are effectively removed from the supply, increasing scarcity.
Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, mined roughly 968,452 BTC in the early years. These coins remain untouched, and the community considers them permanently out of circulation unless proven otherwise.
Accounting for lost coins and Satoshi's holdings, the effective circulating supply in 2025 is around 18-18.5 million BTC. This makes each remaining coin even more valuable as adoption rises. The finite, verifiable, and divisible supply is the main reason Bitcoin is compared to digital gold and why it appreciates in value over time.
The question "Who owns the most Bitcoin in 2025?" says much more than balance - it tells us about how value is digitally possessed by individuals, corporations, funds, and states. As decentralized as Bitcoin theoretically is, its ownership is incredibly concentrated. The innovation of ETFs and corporate treasury holding provided additional legitimacy but concentration.
As there is growing acceptance of Bitcoin and increasingly new players entering the scene, we might witness a shift in this equilibrium - with more long-term holders and less control by a small group of mega-whales. But as of yet, the whales remain influential.
One thing is sure: with only 21 million BTC that will ever exist, whoever owns bitcoin today has actual power - not over the network itself, but over the capital, influence, and future liquidity of digital gold. And no matter your size, control of your own keys is the best expression of owning Bitcoin.
The largest individual holder is Satoshi Nakamoto, who's thought to hold 968,452 BTC mined in the early days of the network. The largest institutional holders are MicroStrategy, with more than 580,000 BTC on its books in 2025. In the ETF space, BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust has the largest holding with more than 530,000 BTC under management.
The U.S. government holds more Bitcoins than any other government worldwide, having confiscated over 200,000 BTC in law enforcement operations. El Salvador, Bhutan, and China are the other large government Bitcoin holders, each holding sizable but smaller reserves.
As of 2025, the current owner to date is Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin's mysterious founder, with nearly 1 million BTC in thousands of inactive addresses. No government, institution, or corporation has ever achieved that level of ownership.
The ownership is divided among whales (institutional and private investors who hold over 10,000 BTC), corporate entities like MicroStrategy, ETFs, and governments. Satoshi alone and ETFs and public institutions collectively hold over 2 million BTC and hence are the most dominant force in the market today.
