Whales Gobble Up Bitcoin as Retail Investors Get Priced Out—17% Holdings Now in ’Normie’ Hands
Bitcoin’s democratization narrative takes a hit as new data shows retail holdings plummeting to just 17%. Institutional players and high-net-worth entities are now driving the market—because nothing says ’decentralized’ like hedge funds stacking sats.
The big money move: While Wall Street quietly accumulates BTC at scale, your average investor is getting squeezed out by volatility and soaring asset prices. Guess the ’digital gold for the people’ story needs a rewrite.
Bonus jab: At least the banks finally found a volatile asset they can manipulate without regulators blinking—meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
Bitcoin Holders Classifications (Source: Santiment)
Large Bitcoin holders dominate
Meanwhile, Santiment’s analysis points to a strong bitcoin concentration among wallets between 10 and 10,000 BTC.
According to the firm, this group controls over 68% of the total supply, equivalent to more than 13.5 million BTC. In dollar terms, their holdings are worth $1.39 trillion.
The group includes early adopters, institutional players, high-net-worth individuals, and centralized exchanges.
Within this cohort, wallets holding 100 to 1,000 BTC own around 23.5% of the supply, while those with 1,000 to 10,000 BTC account for an additional 22.8%.
Meanwhile, crypto exchanges like Binance and Coinbase also hold significant BTC. These exchange wallets have more than 7.4 million BTC, making them key drivers of market liquidity and price action.
