Investment funds and companies held an estimated 15% of all Bitcoin (BTC) in existence on Oct. 2, crypto4me found, even as a recent price slide showed the limits of broader institutional ownership.
The study counted approximately 1.49 million BTC in ETFs and similar funds worldwide and 1.65 million BTC in listed and private companies. It put government holdings at about 520,000 BTC, or 3% of existing coins. Crypto4me attributed most government-held bitcoin to asset seizures rather than investment purchases.
The study placed roughly 82% of existing coins outside those three categories. That remainder includes holdings by individuals, exchanges and miners, as well as lost coins and bitcoin used in crypto applications.
The 2021 and 2026 figures use different coverage, limiting a direct comparison of growth. At the end of 2021, the fund estimate of about 650,000 BTC counted Grayscale Bitcoin Trust alone, while the roughly 250,000 BTC company estimate covered listed firms only. The government estimate was approximately 320,000 BTC, based on known seizures in China, the United States and the United Kingdom.
Investors gained new ways to obtain bitcoin exposure during that period. The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF began trading on Oct. 19, 2021, with its exposure coming from futures contracts. In January 2024, the SEC approved exchange-traded products that hold bitcoin directly.
Madison Six CEO Miloš Mázor said conventional investment accounts now give pension funds, university endowments and other institutions access to bitcoin. He cautioned that a larger institutional role has not removed the possibility of substantial losses.
The study recorded a 53% Bitcoin price decline from October 2025 to June 2026. Charles Schwab put Bitcoin’s historical volatility at 42% in 2025, roughly half its 2021 level. The lower volatility reading did not preclude the later steep decline.
Bitcoin traded near $64,000 when the first U.S. bitcoin-linked ETF launched in October 2021 and near $86,000 on Oct. 2, 2026, a gain of about 34% between those dates, crypto4me said.
