Understanding how many people truly own Bitcoin has long been a challenge for researchers and investors. While Bitcoin’s blockchain offers full transparency of transaction history, accurately estimating the number of actual users—or more precisely, entities—is far from straightforward. This article explores advanced methods for measuring Bitcoin ownership, reveals key statistics on entity distribution, and highlights the most significant exchanges holding large BTC reserves.
Why Address Counting Is Misleading
A common but flawed approach to gauging Bitcoin adoption is counting the number of unique addresses with non-zero balances. However, this metric is inherently unreliable due to two major factors:
- One-to-many relationships: A single user or organization can control multiple addresses.
- Many-to-one relationships: One address—especially exchange wallets—can hold funds from thousands of users.
Therefore, address counts vastly overestimate individual ownership and fail to reflect real-world usage patterns.
👉 Discover how blockchain analytics reveal true crypto ownership trends.
Toward a Better Metric: Counting Entities, Not Addresses
To overcome these limitations, advanced on-chain analysis platforms like Glassnode use clustering algorithms and data science techniques to group related addresses into single economic entities. This method maps multiple addresses to the entity controlling them, offering a more accurate picture of network participation.
It's important to note: this approach identifies entities, not individual users. An entity could be a person, an exchange, a custodial wallet provider, or an institutional investor. While we can consolidate addresses into entities, we cannot split shared addresses (like exchange wallets) into individual owners.
Key Entity-Based Metrics
These refined metrics offer deeper insights into Bitcoin’s ecosystem:
- New Entities: The number of unique entities appearing for the first time in transactions.
- Net Entity Growth: New entities minus those that have emptied their balances (“disappeared”).
- Active Entities: Entities involved in sending or receiving BTC within a given period.
- Whales: Entities holding 1,000 BTC or more (excluding known exchanges).
These indicators are dynamic—refined over time as new clustering data becomes available—but stabilized to minimize volatility (typically <1%).
How Many Entities Own Bitcoin?
As of January 2025, approximately 23.1 million entities held Bitcoin, compared to around 28.4 million addresses with non-zero balances—a difference of about 18.5%. This gap highlights how traditional address counts inflate perceived adoption.
The growth trend remains strong and consistent:
- In 2019, daily new addresses exceeded 355,000, while new entities averaged just over 100,000—about 28% of the address count.
- Over time, the ratio of new entities to new addresses has fluctuated, revealing shifts in user behavior.
Notably, in early 2018, a sharp drop in the entity-to-address ratio indicated increased activity from existing users rather than new entrants—suggesting market maturation during a volatile period.
Bitcoin Adoption Is Healthy and Sustained
Analyzing net growth reveals a crucial insight: Bitcoin’s entity net growth has been consistently positive throughout its history. There were only 21 days where the number of "disappeared" entities exceeded new ones—mostly during major market corrections.
In contrast, address-based net growth shows far greater volatility, with frequent swings between positive and negative values. This instability underscores why entity-based analysis provides a clearer signal of genuine adoption.
👉 See how long-term trends shape Bitcoin's real-world usage.
Who Are the Bitcoin Whales?
A "whale" is defined here as an entity holding at least 1,000 BTC. When analyzed by entity (rather than address), whale counts become more accurate and meaningful.
While both address- and entity-based whale counts follow similar trends, the entity metric smooths out noise caused by wallet fragmentation. This allows for better assessment of large-scale holder behavior across market cycles.
As of January 2025:
- Around 75 entities held 10,000 BTC or more.
- 7 entities held over 100,000 BTC each—all identified as major cryptocurrency exchanges.
These top seven exchanges collectively control approximately 2.35 million BTC, representing roughly 13% of the total circulating supply.
The Top 7 Exchanges Holding Massive BTC Reserves
All entities holding over 100,000 BTC are centralized exchanges managing vast user funds. Here's a breakdown:
- Coinbase – 983,800 BTC
- Huobi – 369,100 BTC
- Binance – 240,700 BTC
- Bitfinex – 214,600 BTC
- Bitstamp – 165,400 BTC
- Kraken – 132,100 BTC
- Bittrex – 118,100 BTC
These platforms act as critical infrastructure in the crypto economy, influencing liquidity and market sentiment through their on-chain movements.
Distribution Patterns: Power Laws in Bitcoin Ownership
Bitcoin ownership follows a classic power-law distribution, both in terms of entity size (number of addresses controlled) and balance held.
Entity Size Distribution
- About 96% of entities consist of just one address.
- The largest clusters—like Coinbase—can encompass millions of addresses under one economic umbrella.
This confirms that while most entities are small or individual users, a tiny fraction represents complex organizations with extensive address management systems.
Balance Distribution
- The majority of entities hold less than 1 BTC.
- Entities with over 100,000 BTC are exclusively exchanges.
- A small number of whales dominate large portions of the supply, reinforcing centralization concerns despite Bitcoin’s decentralized nature.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: What’s the difference between a Bitcoin address and an entity?
An address is a cryptographic identifier used to send and receive BTC. An entity refers to a single economic actor—like a person or company—that may control multiple addresses. Entity analysis groups related addresses to estimate real ownership.
Q: Can we know how many individuals own Bitcoin?
Not precisely. While we can estimate entities, distinguishing between individuals and organizations—or splitting shared wallets—is currently impossible without off-chain data.
Q: Why do exchanges dominate large BTC holdings?
Exchanges aggregate deposits from millions of users into centralized wallets. Even though individuals own the underlying coins, they appear on-chain as holdings of a single exchange-controlled entity.
Q: Does a rising number of entities mean growing adoption?
Yes. Unlike volatile address counts, steady net entity growth signals sustained organic adoption and long-term network health.
Q: How reliable are entity estimates?
Estimates improve over time with better clustering algorithms. While not perfect, they’re significantly more accurate than raw address counts and widely used by analysts and institutions.
Q: Could lost coins affect entity counts?
Yes. When an entity permanently loses access to keys (e.g., forgotten wallets), it may still appear active until funds move. However, prolonged inactivity helps identify dormant or lost holdings.
Final Thoughts: Measuring True Adoption
While we may never know the exact number of individual Bitcoin holders, tracking entities offers the best available proxy for real economic participation. With over 23 million entities holding BTC and net growth remaining consistently positive, the network continues to expand in a healthy, sustainable manner.
Understanding who holds Bitcoin—especially large exchanges and whales—provides valuable context for market analysis, risk assessment, and investment strategy.
👉 Explore real-time blockchain data to track entity movements and market shifts.