Author: Nancy, PANews
Bitcoin has strongly broken through the $97,000 mark today, once again setting a new historical record. With the continuous surge in bitcoin prices, the global calls for including bitcoin in national reserve assets are rising, and at the same time, many institutions are accelerating their pace of increasing bitcoin holdings.
This article by PANews summarizes the bitcoin holdings of various institutions based on the latest data from BitcoinTreasuries.com. As of November 21, there are 93 entities (ETFs, countries, publicly traded companies, and private companies) worldwide that publicly hold over 2.728 million bitcoins, accounting for nearly 13% of the total bitcoin supply. This trend further indicates that in this bull market, institutional investors have gradually replaced retail investors as the dominant force in the market.
ETFs: asset value exceeds $110 billion, IBIT holds over 38%
Bitcoin spot ETFs have become an important holding channel for institutions. According to data from BitcoinTreasuries.com, as of November 21, the number of bitcoins held by bitcoin spot ETFs exceeds 1.231 million, with a current value of over $116.89 billion, accounting for over 5.8% of the total bitcoin supply. Meanwhile, The Block data shows that since its launch at the beginning of this year, the cumulative trading volume of U.S. bitcoin spot ETFs has surpassed $520 billion.
In terms of asset size, the top three bitcoin spot ETFs are BlackRock's IBIT, Grayscale's GBTC, and Fidelity's FBTC.
Among them, BlackRock's IBIT holds 475,000 bitcoins, making it the largest ETF by holdings, with a holding value of about $45.05 billion, accounting for approximately 38.6% of all ETF holdings. Fintel statistics show that IBIT has 698 institutional holders, with a total holding amount of nearly 160 million shares, including Millennium Management, Goldman Sachs, IMC, Aristeia, Capula Management, Schonfeld, Morgan Stanley, and Graham Capital Management, among others.
Grayscale's GBTC holds over 218,000 bitcoins, valued at over $20.71 billion. According to Fintel statistics, there are 647 institutions holding GBTC, with a total of 44.459 million shares. GBTC's shareholders include trust funds under Horizon Kinetics, Goldman Sachs, Multicoin Capital, LPL Financial, Greenwich Wealth Management, Colony Group, and HighTower Advisors, among others.
Fidelity's FBTC follows closely with 194,000 bitcoins, with a holding value of $18.42 billion. Fintel statistics show that FBTC has 246 institutional holders, with total holdings exceeding 5,168.8 shares, and shareholders include Millennium Management, Capula Management, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors, DE Shaw & Co., HNA International Group, Jane Street, Hbk Investments LP, Goldman Sachs, and Pine Ridge Advisers, among others.
Countries: collectively hold nearly 530,000 bitcoins, with the U.S., China, and the U.K. accounting for nearly half
Multiple countries around the world have become significant holders of bitcoin. PANews previously reported that more and more governments are re-evaluating the asset value of bitcoin, with many publicly advocating for bitcoin to be included in national reserve assets.
According to statistics from BitcoinTreasuries.com, as of November 21, nine known countries collectively hold over 529,000 bitcoins (worth approximately $50.24 billion), accounting for 2.5% of the total bitcoin supply. Among these countries, the U.S., China, and the U.K. are the main forces, holding 207,000, 194,000, and 61,000 bitcoins, respectively, with the three accounting for 46.2% of the total holdings of these countries. However, most of the bitcoins held by these countries were obtained through law enforcement actions, whereas only Bhutan and El Salvador obtained bitcoin through mining or purchasing with real money.
Countries holding bitcoin
Publicly traded companies: holding value exceeds $42.2 billion, with MicroStrategy accounting for nearly 80%
Publicly traded companies are becoming an important force in bitcoin allocation. According to data from BitcoinTreasuries.com, as of November 21, 43 publicly traded companies directly hold nearly 445,000 bitcoins, currently valued at about $42.22 billion, including MicroStrategy, Marathon Digital, Riot Platforms, Tesla, Hut 8, and Coinbase Global, among others.
For example, MicroStrategy holds over 331,000 bitcoins (worth over $31.43 billion), accounting for nearly 74.4% of the total bitcoin holdings of publicly traded companies. Based on the current price of bitcoin at about $97,000, MicroStrategy's unrealized profit from its holdings exceeds $14.6 billion. With its bitcoin investment strategy, MicroStrategy has entered the top 100 publicly traded companies by market capitalization in the U.S., and its stock price has soared. Tradingview data shows that its stock MSTR had a trading volume of $33.27 billion yesterday (November 20), second only to Nvidia. Currently, MicroStrategy has not stopped purchasing bitcoin, as the institution recently announced it would increase the issuance of zero-interest convertible senior notes to $2.6 billion, with a portion of the net proceeds to be used for purchasing bitcoin. Additionally, it disclosed that there is still an unused quota of $15.3 billion for raising funds to purchase bitcoin through stock issuance and sales.
Bitcoin mining company Marathon Digital holds nearly 26,000 bitcoins, currently valued at about $2.46 billion. Marathon Digital's bitcoins mainly come from mining and fund purchases, with its third-quarter report showing it produced 2,070 bitcoins and purchased 6,210 bitcoins during that quarter. Marathon Digital is also issuing $850 million in convertible notes, with the option to expand to $1 billion, to repurchase debt and acquire bitcoins.
Tesla announced in 2021 that it purchased $1.5 billion in bitcoin, and only sold 4,320 bitcoins in March 2021, followed by selling 29,160 bitcoins in 2022, totaling about 75% of its bitcoin holdings. Currently, Tesla still holds 9,720 bitcoins, currently valued at over $920 million, but this accounts for less than 0.7% of Tesla's total assets ($119.8 billion) and only 0.046% of the total bitcoin supply.
Top ten publicly traded companies holding bitcoin
Private companies: reserve value exceeds $34.81 billion
Many private crypto institutions also hold a significant amount of bitcoin. According to data from BitcoinTreasuries.com, as of November 21, 12 private companies including Block.one, Tether, Xapo Bank, BitMEX, and Mt. Gox collectively hold about 367,000 bitcoins, currently valued at over $34.81 billion, accounting for 1.7% of the total bitcoin supply.
For instance, Block.one holds 140,000 bitcoins, valued at over $13.28 billion, with most of its bitcoins sourced from ICO fundraising. Tether has held over 82,000 bitcoins since announcing in 2022 that it would include bitcoin as part of its asset reserves, valued at over $7.82 billion; crypto bank Xapo Bank holds nearly 34,000 bitcoins, valued at over $3.69 billion, and this year became the first bank in the U.K. to launch interest-bearing bitcoin and fiat currency bank accounts.
Publicly disclosed private companies holding bitcoin
Bitcoin mining companies: holding accounts for less than 0.3% of the total bitcoin supply
Crypto mining companies are also important bitcoin holders. According to data from BitcoinTreasuries.com, as of November 21, 14 bitcoin mining companies collectively hold over 61,000 bitcoins, currently valued at $5.84 billion, accounting for less than 0.3% of the total bitcoin supply. Among them, Marathon Digital, mentioned earlier, holds the most bitcoins among bitcoin mining companies, far exceeding other similar companies; followed closely by Riot Platforms with about 10,000 bitcoins, but according to its latest quarterly report, the company has incurred significant losses, with most of its revenue coming from bitcoin mining; Hut 8 ranks third with 9,109 bitcoins, and after receiving $150 million in investments in June this year, the company is committed to building AI-related infrastructure and has purchased a large number of mining machines from Bitmain, as well as collaborating to launch new mining machines.
