As of 2026, an analysis of Bitcoin’s largest addresses, key institutions, and individual portfolios has revealed a striking distribution of holdings. According to the latest report from on-chain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence, Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto remains the largest wallet holder since the cryptocurrency’s inception. Nakamoto’s associated addresses collectively hold around 1.096 million BTC, with a current market value estimated at $82 billion.
Major institutional and exchange BTC holders
Leading cryptocurrency exchanges and financial institutions dominate the list of the largest organizational BTC holders. Coinbase ranks just behind Nakamoto, controlling approximately 976,000 BTC. While these assets are under Coinbase’s management, a significant portion belongs to the platform’s users and are not company-owned funds. Binance is next, with its tagged wallets holding a total of 631,000 BTC.
The launch of Spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States in early 2024 brought ETF issuers into the ranks of the biggest on-chain BTC holders. In Arkham’s ETF category, BlackRock leads with 799,000 BTC. These sizable holdings reflect the scale of institutional demand that spot ETF products have attracted.
Other prominent financial institutions—including Fidelity, Grayscale, Bitwise, ARK Invest, and Morgan Stanley—also appear on the list as major ETF issuers with significant Bitcoin reserves. Grayscale’s assets, in particular, are distributed across more than a thousand addresses, none holding more than 1,000 BTC individually. These portfolios represent the largest public institutional holdings observable to the market and regulators.
Government and state Bitcoin reserves
Within the public sphere, the largest BTC holder is a US-based strategy company, with approximately 781,000 BTC in its portfolio. Not all of these coins are held directly in company-owned wallets; a substantial portion is under custody via Fidelity’s services. The estimated total portfolio value stands at $59 billion.
Among governments, the United States stands out as the largest Bitcoin-holding country, with an estimated 328,000 BTC under its control. Much of these holdings were seized during cybercrime investigations and illicit activity crackdowns in recent years. Notable sources include the assets seized after the Bitfinex hack and the Silk Road operation. The US government’s Bitcoin cache currently represents about 1.6% of total supply.
The United Kingdom is third, with the Metropolitan Police seizing 61,000 BTC during operations. El Salvador has regularly added to its national treasury and now holds roughly 7,600 BTC, while Bhutan has accumulated 3,500 BTC through mining ventures.
The biggest unknown whales and cold wallets
The list of largest individual wallets reveals that Binance’s cold wallet currently contains 249,000 BTC. A second Binance cold wallet holds 145,000 BTC, while Robinhood’s cold wallet has 141,000 BTC in custody. Bitfinex comes next, with 130,000 BTC in its wallets. Additionally, a US government-controlled address linked to the Bitfinex case holds 95,000 BTC.
Stablecoin provider Tether maintains about 97,000 BTC in its Bitcoin reserve wallet. Significant balances persist in several anonymous addresses whose ownership remains unclear, including wallets holding 92,000, 78,000, 54,000, 52,000, and 44,000 BTC, respectively. This highlights that a substantial portion of Bitcoin remains controlled by unknown entities behind the scenes.
According to Arkham’s data, the wallets tied to Satoshi Nakamoto represent the world’s largest openly identified Bitcoin holding, totalling 1.096 million BTC or about 5.5% of total supply. The fact these wallets have seen no significant movement for years continues to spark intrigue within the crypto community.
