Author: Nancy, PANews
Bitcoin broke through the $97,000 mark today, setting a new record high. As the price of Bitcoin continues to soar, the call for countries to include Bitcoin in their national reserve assets has grown louder globally, and many institutions are also accelerating their pace of Bitcoin accumulation.
In this article, PANews takes stock of the Bitcoin holdings of various major 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, etc.) that have publicly disclosed holding over 2.728 million Bitcoins, accounting for nearly 13% of the total Bitcoin supply. This trend further indicates that institutional investors have gradually replaced retail investors as the dominant force in this bull market.
ETFs: Assets worth over $116.89 billion, IBIT holdings account for over 38%
Bitcoin spot ETFs have become an important investment channel for institutions. According to BitcoinTreasuries.com data, as of November 21, Bitcoin spot ETFs hold over 1.231 million Bitcoins, currently worth over $116.89 billion, accounting for more than 5.8% of the total Bitcoin supply. Meanwhile, data from The Block shows that since their launch earlier this year, the cumulative trading volume of U.S. Bitcoin spot ETFs has exceeded $520 billion.
In terms of asset size, the top three Bitcoin spot ETFs are currently BlackRock's IBIT, Grayscale's GBTC, and Fidelity's FBTC.
Among them, BlackRock's IBIT, with 475,000 Bitcoins, has become the ETF with the largest holdings, with a holding value of about $45.05 billion, accounting for about 38.6% of the total ETF holdings. Fintel's statistics show that IBIT has 698 institutional holders, with a total shareholding of nearly 160 million shares, including Millennium Management, Goldman Sachs, IMC, Aristeia, Capula Management, Schonfeld, Morgan Stanley, and Graham Capital Management.
Grayscale's GBTC holds over 218,000 Bitcoins, worth over $20.71 billion. Fintel's statistics show that GBTC has 647 institutional holders, holding a total of 444.59 million shares. GBTC's shareholders include trust funds under HorizonKinetics, Goldman Sachs, Multicoin Capital, LPL Financial, Greenwich Wealth Management, Colony Group, and HighTower Advisors.
Fidelity's FBTC follows closely with 194,000 Bitcoins, worth $18.42 billion. Fintel's statistics show that FBTC has 246 institutional holders, with a total shareholding of over 5.1688 million shares, including Millennium Management, Capula Management, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors, DE Shaw & Co., Hina International Group, Jane Street, Hbk Investments LP, Goldman Sachs, and Pine Ridge Advisers.
Countries: Holding nearly 530,000 Bitcoins, the U.S., China, and the U.K. account for nearly half
Several countries around the world have become important Bitcoin holders. As previously reported by PANews, more and more governments are currently re-evaluating the asset value of Bitcoin, and some are even publicly advocating for the inclusion of Bitcoin in national reserve assets.
According to the statistics from BitcoinTreasuries.com, as of November 21, the 9 known countries collectively hold over 529,000 Bitcoins (worth about $50.24 billion), accounting for 2.5% of the total Bitcoin supply. Among these countries, the United States, China, and the United Kingdom are the main forces, holding 207,000, 194,000, and 61,000 Bitcoins respectively, accounting for 46.2% of the total holdings of these countries. However, the Bitcoins held by these countries are mostly obtained through law enforcement actions, while only Bhutan and El Salvador have obtained Bitcoins through mining or direct purchase.
Countries holding BitcoinsPublic Companies: Holding over $42.22 billion worth, MicroStrategy accounts for nearly 80%
Public companies are becoming an important force in Bitcoin allocation. According to BitcoinTreasuries.com data, as of November 21, 43 publicly traded companies directly hold nearly 445,000 Bitcoins, currently worth about $42.22 billion, including MicroStrategy, Marathon Digital, Riot Platforms, Tesla, Hut 8, and Coinbase Global.
For example, MicroStrategy owns over 331,000 Bitcoins (worth over $31.43 billion), accounting for nearly 74.4% of the total Bitcoin holdings of public companies. At the current Bitcoin price of around $97,000, MicroStrategy's holdings have a paper gain of over $14.6 billion. Leveraging its Bitcoin investment strategy, MicroStrategy has risen to become one of the top 100 publicly traded companies in the U.S. by market capitalization, and its stock price has soared. According to Tradingview data, its stock MSTR had a trading volume of $33.27 billion on November 20, second only to Nvidia. MicroStrategy has not stopped buying Bitcoin, and the company recently announced that it will increase the size of its zero-coupon convertible senior notes offering to $2.6 billion, with a portion of the net proceeds to be used to purchase Bitcoin, and it also disclosed plans to raise additional funds through stock sales to buy Bitcoin, with $15.3 billion in capacity still unused.
Bitcoin miner Marathon Digital holds nearly 26,000 Bitcoins, currently worth about $2.46 billion. Marathon Digital's Bitcoins mainly come from mining and fund purchases, with its Q3 financial report showing that it produced 2,070 Bitcoins and purchased 6,210 Bitcoins in the quarter. Marathon Digital is also issuing $850 million in convertible notes, which can be expanded to $1 billion, to be used for debt repurchases and Bitcoin acquisitions.
After announcing the purchase of $1.5 billion in Bitcoin in 2021, Tesla sold 4,320 Bitcoins in March 2021 and 29,160 Bitcoins in 2022, selling about 75% of its Bitcoin holdings. Tesla still holds 9,720 Bitcoins, currently worth over $920 million, but this only accounts for less than 0.7% of Tesla's total assets ($119.8 billion) and only 0.046% of the total Bitcoin supply.
Top 10 publicly traded companies holding BitcoinsPrivate Companies: Holding over $34.81 billion worth
Many private crypto companies also hold a significant amount of Bitcoins. According to BitcoinTreasuries.com data, as of November 21, 12 private companies, including Block.one, Tether, Xapo Bank, BitMEX, and Mt. Gox, collectively hold about 367,000 Bitcoins, currently worth over $34.81 billion, accounting for 1.7% of the total Bitcoin supply.
For example, Block.one holds 140,000 Bitcoins, worth over $13.28 billion, with its Bitcoins mainly coming from ICO fundraising. After announcing in 2022 that it would use Bitcoin as part of its asset reserves, Tether now holds over 82,000 Bitcoins, worth over $7.82 billion; Xapo Bank holds nearly 34,000 Bitcoins, worth over $3.69 billion, and this institution became the first bank in the UK to offer interest-bearing Bitcoin and fiat currency bank accounts this year.
Publicly disclosed Bitcoin-holding private companiesBitcoin Miners: Holding less than 0.3% of the total Bitcoin supply
Crypto mining companies are also important Bitcoin holders. According to BitcoinTreasuries.com data, as of November 21, 14 Bitcoin mining companies collectively hold over 61,000 Bitcoins, currently worth $5.84 billion, accounting for less than 0.3% of the total Bitcoin supply. Among them, the aforementioned Marathon Digital is the largest Bitcoin holder among mining companies, far exceeding other similar companies; Riot Platforms follows closely with about 10,000 Bitcoins, but its latest quarterly report shows that the company has suffered significant losses, with the vast majority of its revenue coming from Bitcoin mining; Hut 8 ranks third with 9,109 Bitcoins, and after receiving a $150 million investment in June, the company is committed to building AI-related infrastructure, purchasing a large number of mining machines from Bitmain, and collaborating to launch new mining machines.
