Over the past decade, a large amount of Bitcoin (BTC) has been transferred into centralized exchanges, public and private companies, governments, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and derivative token projects like WBTC. With about 100 days left in 2024, following the launch of a spot Bitcoin ETF in January, this analysis will dive into the 10 entities holding the most BTC.

Top 10 holder Bitcoin

According to data from Cryptoquant, centralized cryptocurrency exchanges currently hold around 2,581,607.09 BTC, the highest level since November 2018. Despite the recent decline, the amount of BTC held on exchanges is still significantly higher than it was during the 2015-2017 period. On January 1, 2017, Cryptoquant recorded only 1.17 million BTC stored on these platforms. Since 2020, BTC accumulation has increased sharply, mainly due to ETFs, DeFi projects, governments, and private and publicly listed companies.

A deep dive into the top 10 entities, based on a study of unspent Coinbase rewards from 2009-2012, incorporating on-chain data from Timechainindex.com, excluding unspent block rewards and unidentified individuals, referred to as “Individual X,” focusing on centralized exchanges (CEXs), governments, corporations, and exchange-traded products (ETPs), shows that as of September 22, 2024, Coinbase is the largest holder of BTC. The leading US exchange currently manages 1,051,650.41 BTC, worth approximately $66.4 billion, distributed among 145,491 addresses.

Binance, one of the largest exchanges, came in second with 765,072.92 BTC in 120,528 addresses. Bitfinex came in third with 359,687.52 BTC in 2,161 wallets. Blackrock was the fourth largest BTC holder with 357,550.21 BTC in 760 addresses, but this BTC was stored through Coinbase Custody.

Microstrategy claims to hold 252,220 BTC, but according to on-chain data, only 213,996.14 BTC are recorded in 501 addresses. Kraken is sixth with 237,900.9 BTC in 78,023 wallets. Grayscale's GBTC fund is seventh with 220,439.82 BTC, also held by Coinbase Custody. The US government is eighth with 204,302.34 BTC in 125 different wallets. Fidelity's FBTC fund, which uses its own custody solution, holds 178,191.25 BTC in 562 wallets. Finally, the WBTC project, with ERC20 tokens backed 1:1 by BTC, is the tenth entity holding Bitcoin, with funds in 948 wallets.

The distribution among the top 10 Bitcoin holders reflects growing institutional interest in the digital asset, while also showing that many users still rely on centralized trading platforms to transact and store Bitcoin. As Bitcoin is integrated into a range of sectors, from governments to publicly listed companies, we are seeing a shift from individual ownership to larger, more centralized holdings. This trend could shape Bitcoin’s liquidity and accessibility in the future, especially as ETFs and institutional custody solutions expand.

It is important to note that while Coinbase holds two-thirds of all Bitcoin in U.S. ETFs and the three largest exchanges manage the largest amounts of BTC, the vast majority of these assets are held by retail investors and high-net-worth individuals. CEX platforms only provide storage and trading services, but they retain control of these assets. If the exchanges’ cold wallets are compromised, users will lose control of their assets, and the exchanges may have to pay compensation or face bankruptcy.

For this reason, non-custodial wallet solutions have been promoted for over a decade to ensure that users have full control over their assets. While exchanges are convenient for trading, history has shown that many have been hacked, and hacks continue to occur. To be safe, users should only keep what they can afford to lose on exchanges and store the rest in non-custodial wallets, to avoid the risk of attacks that could result in the loss of millions of digital assets.

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