Gemini: Nearly a third of bitcoin’s circulating supply is held by centralized entities
Major institutional and custodial entities hold over 6,145,000 bitcoin, worth more than $600 billion.
An eye-popping 30% of bitcoin’s circulating supply is concentrated in 216 centralized entities, “reflecting both expanding institutional adoption and deepening custodial centralization,” a new report from Gemini and Glassnode found.
The report notes that “the total Bitcoin held across major institutional and custodial entities has surged to 6,145,207 BTC, representing an increase of 924% in supply held by centralized entities over the past decade.”
Patrick Liou, a principal at Gemini, told Sherwood News that within that 30% figure, the two leading categories are centralized exchanges and ETFs/funds.
2025 has been the year of bitcoin treasuries, and Gemini expects growth in bitcoin adoption for public and private companies to be faster this year than ever. The report noted there are 101 public companies with bitcoin treasuries as of publication.
“The investment thesis of bitcoin is resonating with many of these companies, and the positive impacts on share price after bitcoin adoption make the argument even more compelling,” Liou said.
In addition to exchanges, ETFs, and public companies, other centralized members of the category include private companies and governments. The US is the largest sovereign holder, with 207,189 bitcoin.
An interesting data point is that “across nearly all institutional categories — excluding private companies — the top three entities control between 65% to 90% of total holdings.”
This figure underscores the “dominance of early adopters in the Bitcoin treasury space,” according to the report, which adds that “pioneers have shaped the early trajectory of adoption.”
The overall concentration of assets among a few centralized entities is worrisome for some.
“When Satoshi first mined his first bitcoin, it is hard to imagine they would have liked a scenario in which not only bitcoin would be held in an ever-increasing number of centralized entities — but also by the very tradfi entities addressed in the Bitcoin Whitepaper,” Hadley Stern, chief commercial officer of Marinade, told Sherwood.
Stern said bitcoin concentration is a concern among some market observers, especially as it pertains to companies using debt financing to accumulate bitcoin.
“The fear is that if there is significant enough market volatility, there could be some form of a margin call that then leads to a forced selling of large amounts of bitcoin and serious price implosion,” Stern added.
On the flip side, he concluded, this can all be viewed as part of a process of increasing bitcoin adoption, and the adoption of crypto assets more broadly.
