ARK Invest: Institutional Bitcoin Demand Absorbing Early Whales’ Sell-Off Pressure

Wall Street's new crypto cavalry rides in—just as the OGs cash out.

Institutional investors are quietly mopping up Bitcoin supply while retail traders panic-sell, according to ARK Invest's latest analysis. The firm's data suggests a silent regime change in BTC ownership dynamics.

Grayscale's trust outflows? Hedge funds' dark pool accumulation. Miner capitulation? Pension funds' dollar-cost averaging opportunity. The market's playing a high-stakes game of hot potato—with BlackRock and Fidelity waiting to catch.

Meanwhile, crypto's 'diamond hands' narrative gets a reality check: every ATH creates new paper hands. But hey—at least the banking sector finally found something riskier than their subprime CDOs to park capital in.

Institutional demand absorbs the flow

At launch, ETF holdings were zero BTC; however, they quickly grew to 1,125,507 BTC on January 1, 2025. This number reached approximately 1,332,379 BTC by November 15, 2025. Public company holdings have also soared. The number of companies with Bitcoin, such as those with digital asset treasury strategies, ROSE from 271,996 BTC at the beginning of 2024 to 598,995 BTC by January 2025.

Meanwhile, in mid-November 2025, holdings more than doubled again to roughly 1,056,367 BTC. ETFs and corporate treasuries had combined to control an estimated 2,388,746 BTC. This constitutes at least one of the biggest concentrations of institutional Bitcoin ownership in the asset’s history.

ARK analysis has suggested that from January 2024 to November 15, 2025, the ETFs and public companies received approximately 1,466,102 BTC after accounting for inflows and vaulted supply.

Year-to-date movements are similar, with a net balance of approximately 428,721 BTC flowing from long-held to institutional buyers. This is a structural transfer of ownership, with early adopters handing over supply to institutions entering bitcoin as a formal asset class.

Institutions drive new market structure

ARK concludes that this change might shape the future of how Bitcoin behaves. Institutional demand responds to overall economic and monetary scenarios. 

If US dollar liquidity improves—for instance, if the Federal Reserve ends quantitative tightening and begins cutting interest rates—institutions may seek to increase their holdings of US dollars. 

Those conditions, ARK says, may increasingly become the case as inflation cools and policymakers seek to shore up growth. Institutions might ramp up their build-up toward late 2025 and into 2026.

In the case of Bitcoin, this will mean additional price support during corrections and greater liquidity in rallies. So as more corporate treasuries, ETFs, and asset managers enter the space, Bitcoin may be held more tightly — while whales take their profits too.

Claim your free seat in an exclusive crypto trading community - limited to 1,000 members.