Who are the top 10 entity holders of Bitcoin?
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Who are the top 10 entity holders of Bitcoin?
Coinbase, Binance, and Bitfinex rank in the top three.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Jamie Redman
Translation: Luffy, Foresight News
Over the past decade, vast amounts of bitcoin have flowed into centralized exchanges, public and private companies, governments, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and derivative token projects like WBTC. This article provides an in-depth analysis of the top ten entities holding the most bitcoin.
Investigating the Top Ten Bitcoin Holders
According to data from Cryptoquant, centralized cryptocurrency exchanges currently hold approximately 2,581,607.09 bitcoins. While exchange-held bitcoin has been on a downward trend since 2022, it remains significantly higher than levels seen during the 2015–2017 period. On January 1, 2017, Cryptoquant recorded only 1.17 million bitcoins stored across these platforms. Beyond exchanges, holdings by ETFs, DeFi projects, governments, and private and publicly traded firms have steadily increased since 2020.
Bitcoin holdings of centralized exchanges
Following our previous investigation into unspent Coinbase block rewards from 2009 to 2012, we decided to conduct a deeper analysis of the top ten institutional holders of bitcoin. As before, this study uses timechainindex.com for on-chain data but excludes unspent block rewards and an unknown individual labeled "X." The focus is on centralized exchanges, governments, corporations, and ETPs. Data shows that as of September 22, 2024, Coinbase is the largest entity holding bitcoin.
Coinbase holds 1,051,650.41 BTC across 145,491 addresses, valued at $66.4 billion. Binance ranks second, with 765,072.92 BTC distributed across 120,528 addresses. Bitfinex is the third-largest holder, storing 359,687.52 BTC in 2,161 wallets. BlackRock comes fourth with 357,550.21 BTC held across 760 addresses. Notably, BlackRock’s bitcoin is custodied by Coinbase Custody.
Data source: timechainindex.com and Microstrategy
Microstrategy claims to hold 252,220 BTC, placing it fifth behind BlackRock. However, our research only accounts for 213,996.14 BTC held across 501 wallets. Kraken ranks sixth with 237,900.9 BTC stored in 78,023 wallets. Grayscale's GBTC is the seventh-largest holder, with 220,439.82 BTC, also custodied by Coinbase Custody.
The U.S. government ranks eighth, holding 204,302.34 BTC across 125 distinct wallets. Fidelity’s FBTC fund uses its own custody solution and holds 178,191.25 BTC across 562 wallets. Rounding out the list at number ten is the WBTC project, which backs bitcoin 1:1 to mint derivative ERC20 tokens, with its BTC reserves spread across 948 wallets.
The distribution of bitcoin among the top ten entities highlights growing institutional interest in the asset. It also indicates that many users continue to rely on CEX platforms for trading and storing their bitcoin. As bitcoin becomes increasingly embedded across sectors—from governments to public companies—it underscores a shift from individual ownership toward larger, more centralized holdings. This trend could impact bitcoin’s future liquidity and accessibility, particularly amid the expanding adoption of ETFs and institutional custody solutions.
CEXs Dominate Top Three—Users Should Be Aware of Risks
It's important to emphasize that while Coinbase Custody holds two-thirds of the bitcoin owned by U.S.-listed ETFs, the top three exchanges collectively manage the largest bitcoin reserves. However, much of this bitcoin belongs to retail investors and high-net-worth individuals. These are customer assets, yet exchanges retain full 100% control over them. In the event of a security breach or theft from their cold wallets, exchanges must either reimburse customers or collapse—leaving users to bear the consequences of poor management.
This is precisely why non-custodial wallet solutions have been recommended for over a decade, as they give users full control over their funds. While exchanges are suitable for trading, numerous platforms have suffered hacks since the emergence of crypto exchanges, and breaches continue to occur. For safety, users are advised to keep only the amount they can afford to lose on exchanges for trading purposes, storing the remainder of their digital assets in non-custodial wallets.
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