Who Really Owns the Most Bitcoin (BTC)?

Coinbase, Binance, and BlackRock collectively hold millions of BTC, revealing a central power within the extended cryptocurrency narrative.

The anonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, is still the largest single owner of the cryptocurrency, controlling about 1.1 million BTC. This adds up to about 5.5% of the total available. At current market prices, this budget would be worth about 75 billion dollars, which makes it difficult to catch even the biggest players of companies and institutions.

Despite years of speculation about possible movements from these initially named addresses, Nakamoto’s BTC has remained untouched since the asset’s inception.

Top Bitcoin Managers Revealed

Following Nakamoto in the rankings is US-based exchange Coinbase, which holds 993,069 BTC on-chain, equivalent to 5% of the total. These funds represent a combination of customer deposits and funds held by companies, including working capital held to meet withdrawals. Its competitor, Binance, controls 661,000 BTC under the stock, which comprises 3.15% of the total.

The institutional sector is also applying. Arkham Intelligence data reveals that BlackRock is the largest institutional capital, with 761,801 BTC. This fund is worth about $52 billion. ETF issuers and other asset managers such as Fidelity and Grayscale also maintain significant positions, although some of their holdings are routed through omnibus custodial accounts, making specific allocations less transparent. For example, Fidelity Custody appears to hold 448,000 BTC. Meanwhile, some of Strategy’s corporate holdings, totaling 715,000 BTC, are shown on the chain under Fidelity due to their last resort.

Besides Strategy, other publicly traded entities, including mining firm MARA and Japanese company Metaplanet, have also acquired meaningful stakes. Additionally, private companies gather large owners. Popular stablecoin producer Tether has 96,369 BTC and SpaceX holds 8,300 BTC as of August 2025.

Nations Stockpiling Bitcoin

While organizations like BlackRock and Coinbase have huge amounts, governments like the United States, which leads the list with 328,000 BTC, are not far behind. Much of this came from asset seizures, including coins obtained from the hack of Bitfinex, the Silk Road marketplace, and its hacker James Zhong. Recently, the US government recovered 127,000 BTC from the address of LuBian Hacker.

Next is the United Kingdom with 61,245 BTC, mainly seized by the UK Metropolitan Police from Jian Wen and Zhimin Qian in 2018. Chinese authorities also seized 194,775 BTC from the PlusToken Ponzi scheme in 2020, although it is unclear whether the Chinese government still has these coins.

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Ukraine has also seen significant Bitcoin involvement. Since the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the country received $22.8 million in BTC donations. More than 700,000 Ukrainian government officials have declared that they own Bitcoin, with some holding up to 18,000 BTC, a total of approximately 46,351 BTC.

Germany seized 50,000 BTC from a movie piracy website called Movie2k in January 2024, but these coins were fully sold in July 2024.