Bitcoin was created as peer-to-peer money without banks. Today, however, a growing share of all coins is held by large institutions. According to a report by Gemini and Glassnode from June 2025, more than 30% of bitcoin's circulating supply is held by just 216 centralised entities – around 6.1 million BTC. In 2015, it was only about 600,000 BTC, an increase of 924% (source [1]).
Who holds the coins
- Exchanges: 27 centralised exchanges hold about 3.015 million BTC – by far the largest share.
- ETFs and funds: 40 exchange-traded funds together hold about 1.34 million BTC.
- Public companies: 101 listed companies hold about 765,300 BTC (source [2]).
Within most categories, a few players dominate: the top three control between 65% and 90% of their group's holdings (source [3]).
Why it matters
Coins held by exchanges and ETFs are stored by a few custodians. That creates counterparty risks and gives large players more weight in the market. On the other hand, the report sees a positive effect: rallies have become more sustained and orderly, with fewer extreme spikes (source [4]).
Decentralisation remains possible
Holding many coins does not give anyone control over bitcoin's rules – those are enforced by the nodes of the network. For individual users, self-custody remains the simplest counterweight to concentration: whoever holds their own keys does not depend on any institution.
Sources
