As of 2024, public companies collectively owned 592,112 BTC, according to recent findings.
Ryan Rasmussen, the head of research at Bitwise, noted that this figure represents double the Bitcoin accumulated by institutions in the preceding five years altogether.
Accumulation Trends
On January 1, 2024, public firms possessed 272,777 BTC.
There were two major spikes in accumulation observed in 2020 and 2021. During the first year of the COVID pandemic, institutions approached a 100,000 BTC total. This number surged dramatically the following year, with holdings exceeding 200,000 BTC.
Nonetheless, the momentum faced a brief setback as publicly traded companies liquidated part of their Bitcoin reserves, nearly falling below the 200,000 BTC mark. The accumulation trend picked up again in 2023, experiencing substantial growth last year.
Notably, Rasmussen emphasized that this total would be “significantly smaller” without the contributions from Strategy. Led by Michael Saylor, the company holds more than 499,000 BTC in its treasury as of March after acquiring 257,095 BTC last year through 16 purchases.
As of March 6, public companies collectively held Bitcoin worth $52 billion, representing 3% of the total supply of the leading cryptocurrency.
A Major Increase
The total Bitcoin held by institutional investors also experienced considerable growth in 2024.
Data shows that by December 31, 2024, private firms, ETP managers, governments, and publicly listed companies held 2,802,135 BTC, a significant increase from 1,622,439 BTC at the beginning of the previous year.
This rise is primarily attributed to government and ETP managers. Governments started last year with 90,379 BTC and increased their reserves to 513,791 BTC by year’s end.
In the meantime, Bitcoin holdings among asset managers grew from 771,013 BTC to 1,289,031 BTC during the same timeframe, while private companies reduced their holdings from 488,270 BTC on January 1, 2024, to 407,201 BTC by the close of the year.
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