Experts from the blockchain platform Arkham Intelligence have published a study on the distribution of BTC among the largest holders, assessing the concentration of assets among individuals, companies, exchanges, and government agencies.
According to Arkham data, the largest Bitcoin holder remains the anonymous creator of the original cryptocurrency, Satoshi Nakamoto. Analysts estimate that wallets linked to him hold approximately 1.1 million BTC, making him the largest individual owner.
Among publicly identified wallets, the Binance cold wallet leads the pack, holding approximately 250,000 BTC. Overall, the top four largest addresses belong to centralized exchanges.
Fifth place goes to an address containing bitcoins seized after the Bitfinex exchange hack in 2016 and now under the control of US authorities. Sixth place goes to a wallet managing the reserves of Tether, the issuer of the USDT stablecoin.
In the institutional segment, Coinbase remains the largest corporate holder with 993,000 BTC held in addresses. It is followed by investment giant BlackRock (761,000 BTC), Strategy (over 714,000 BTC), Binance (approximately 661,000 BTC), and Fidelity Investments with 448,000 BTC.
Among the states, the largest confirmed holders are:
USA – 328,000 BTC;
UK – 61,000 BTC;
El Salvador – 7500 BTC;
United Arab Emirates – 6800 BTC;
Kingdom of Bhutan – 5600 BTC;
Russia – 1000 BTC.
Arkham noted that some of the government’s Bitcoin reserves may remain undisclosed, as not all addresses are officially verified. Furthermore, there are numerous anonymous wallets containing billions of dollars in assets, many of which remain inactive for long periods of time, which may indicate a long-term storage strategy.
Analysts emphasized that the concentration of Bitcoin among a limited number of holders remains high. Institutional participation is growing, changing the market structure compared to previous cycles, when retail investors dominated.
By 2026, BTC distribution will continue to shift toward large funds and investment structures, while the share of retail holders will gradually decline. Experts believe this could impact market volatility and dynamics.
Arkham previously reported that the Bhutanese government has been selling Bitcoin for the third week in a row. The latest sale of 100 BTC raised nearly $6.8 million.
