On-chain analysis firm Ecoinometrics recently released a report on the amount of Bitcoin supply held by governments and companies. The report determined that nearly 8% of Bitcoin’s supply is owned by ETF-like products, private companies, governments, and public companies.
The firm published the data released by BitcoinTreasuries.net that has compiled the data of institutions holding large amounts of Bitcoin.
Supply distribution
The total supply of Bitcoin held by the institutions was 1,661,696 BTC, which is equivalent to 7.9% of the total supply of Bitcoins. The categories are as follows:
- 4.1% (862,679 BTC): ETFs and similar investment products
- 1.6% (341,383 BTC): Private/Unlisted company
- 1.2% (264,486 BTC): Government
- 0.9% (43,200 BTC): Public/Listed companies
Among the semi-ETF products, Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) of Grayscale Inc. of the United States stands out, holding 654,885 BTC. This is equivalent to 3.4% of the current BTC distribution volume.
In terms of government holdings, Bulgaria is at the top with 213,519 BTC, followed by Ukraine with 46,351 BTC. El Salvador, which realized the world’s first legal currency conversion of Bitcoin on September 7, holds 550 BTC.
Bulgaria, which holds over 200,000 BTC, did not purchase to own such large amounts of Bitcoin. The Bitcoins were, rather, seized by the country during a criminal investigation.
Unsurprisingly, MicroStrategy, Inc. holds the most amount of BTC among the listed companies totaling 108,991 BTC. Tesla holds the second-highest position at 43,200 BTC.
However, Ecoinometrics pointed out that the only ‘trustworthy categories’ are data on investment products and listed companies since they are required to be reported.
In the case of unlisted companies, it is not necessary to disclose the amount held, and the actual state of holding by the government is not transparent. Therefore, there is no way to know the amount of bitcoin seized by law enforcement agencies.