Bitcoin In Peace

Bitcoin: The Ultimate Freedom Accelerator, Pt. 3.1 – Who Owns Bitcoin?

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Previously

In the previous article, here, we discussed reasons for owning and using fiat currencies as well as finished Part 2 of the BitcoinInPeace opening series, “Monetary Revolutions“

Now, let’s take a look at the influential people and leading companies which have taken the bold leap to own bitcoin and have been vocal about their acquisitions.

Well-Known People Who Own Bitcoin

Before digging directly into bitcoin, I’d like to present a list of well-known individuals who own bitcoin personally. While this isn’t a reason by itself to own bitcoin, I think that seeing those who are considered leaders in their respective fields as owners of this most pristine asset helps to put it into context. [1]

While you may or may not recognize some of the names in the list, they have all come to the same reasonable, rational, logical conclusion that bitcoin is for them and their respective companies:

Institutions Which Own Bitcoin

While the above list might be impressive, just displaying a list of a few billionaires who own bitcoin isn’t enough. We need to see institutions which have actually put bitcoin onto their balance sheets. These institutions include:

  • Governments & Sovereign Wealth Funds
  • Privately Held Companies
  • Publicly Traded Companies
  • Academic Institutions & Endowment Funds
  • Trading Institutions
  • Retirement Funds
  • Exchange Traded Funds (ETF’s)

Financial Note: There are also several instances of insurance companies which own bitcoin. I find this to be significant as insurance companies are typically some of the most conservative of investors. I will pull together a list of these insurance companies in a future article.

Reference Library Note: We will break-out various lists of these institutions, but before doing that, I recommend that everyone take a look at the BitcoinTreasuries website. BitcoinTreasuries has done a spectacular job of documenting, categorizing, and listing those institutions which made the bold move to put bitcoin onto their balance sheets.

The lists below are not exhaustive; just the top holders. Now, let’s dig into these major categories:

Governments & Sovereign Wealth Funds (Total: 526,549 BTC) [3]

  • United States of America
  • China
  • United Kingdom
  • Ukraine
  • North Korea

Privately Held Companies (Total: 294,101 BTC) [4]

  • Block.one
  • Tether
  • Stone Ridge Holdings
  • SpaceX
  • The Tezos Foundation

Publicly Traded Companies (Total: 976,132 BTC) [5]

  • Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) [2] [6]
  • MARA Holdings
  • XXI
  • Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company
  • Bullish
  • Tesla
  • Galaxy Digital
  • Semler Scientific
  • Metaplanet
  • Riot Platforms
  • Trump Media

Academic Institutions & Endowment Funds (Total: Undetermined) [7]

  • Harvard
  • Yale
  • MIT
  • Stanford
  • Dartmouth
  • Emory University
  • University of Austin

Retirement Funds [8]

  • Fairfax County, VA:  Employees’ Retirement System and Police Officers’ Retirement System
  • Houston Firefighters’ Relief and Retirement Fund
  • South Korea’s National Pension Service
    • (3rd largest pension plan in the world)

Trading Institutions (Total: Undetermined)

  • Coinbase
  • Gemini
  • River

Exchange Traded Funds (ETF’s) (Total: 1,626,028) [9] [10]

  • iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT)
  • Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC)
  • Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC)
  • BitMEX
  • Ark 21Shares Bitcoin (ARKB)

Finance Note: Some companies / institutions (and many people!) have opted to own bitcoin ETF shares in lieu of owning bitcoin directly. There are several legal, regulatory, and accounting reasons for doing this which work well for these companies. While I will always default to advising any person or company to own bitcoin outright, I think it is completely reasonable to own bitcoin ETF shares instead. The list of institutions which own bitcoin ETF shares is notable and growing quickly.

“How Much Bitcoin Should I Own?“

One question that I am asked often is, “How much bitcoin should I own?“
Of course, I always respond with the slightly humorous and snarky “consultant’s answer” of, “Well, that depends…“. It depends on several factors, such as risk appetite, available funds, expected life changes and events, and understanding of bitcoin.
The best answer I ever heard came from Lyn Alden when someone asked her the same question. Paraphrasing, her response was, “The percentage of bitcoin in your portfolio should be a reflection of your conviction in bitcoin.” This is the best response I’ve ever heard and I have consistently used this ever since. Every time I have shared this answer, people find comfort in it because they instantly realize that they can titrate their ownership based upon personal comfort and knowledge. Consequently, they can move their level up or down over time as their circumstances change.
Typically, I try to avoid giving financial advice, but I happily recommend to people that they follow these four simple steps to dip their toe into the proverbial bitcoin waters:

  • Buy:  Purchase $100 of bitcoin
  • Sit:  Sit on it for six months
  • Learn:  Use the six months to self-educate on bitcoin
  • Evaluate:  After six months of earnest learning, evaluate your comfort level to see if you should sell, hold, or buy

$100 is just enough to become emotionally invested but not so much as to be considered a major loss to most people. Six months is also long enough to understand what bitcoin is, how it works, and why it is used.  Continue to visit BitcoinInPeace.com.  Over time, I will post the best resources for you to use on your quest to self-educate.

Education Note: While you’re learning, I also highly recommend my bitcoin MeetUp, “Bitcoin, Huntsville, Crypto, & Coffee” which you can find here .  In our MeetUp, we meet two times every month online to discuss bitcoin and its impact on the world.  You’ll be able to talk directly with others who are also on their personal bitcoin journey and ask engaging questions.  We love newbies!

Personal Finance Note: On a final note, there is an interesting article which was published about three years ago:
“BlackRock Study Reveals: Optimal Bitcoin Allocation In Portfolio Is 84.9%” and here.

OK, here is the one piece of financial advice that I will give:  DO NOT make your portfolio 85% bitcoin!
That said, maybe consider making bitcoin 0.85% ( ~1%) of your portfolio…

Next Steps

Over the next few articles, we’ll get into the one question that is on everyone’s mind, “What is bitcoin?”  We’ll take a look at bitcoin from a qualitative point of view and also look at the demonstrable attributes, properties, and applications of bitcoin.

Donations

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End Notes, References, & Citations

[1] Prominent bitcoin owners who are not directly involved with bitcoin
I tried to focus on individuals who are not directly involved with bitcoin as their core business.  Instead, I wanted to bring to light those who felt that bitcoin was so important that they chose to acquire it to be a part of the new monetary system.  The two exceptions to this are Michael Saylor (of Strategy) and Jack Dorsey (of Block).  Strategy (previously “MicroStrategy”) is considered to be a “bitcoin treasury company” or “BTC”.  Block is deep in the bitcoin realm as a company which is actively working on bitcoin payment solutions (such as the “Lightning Network”).

[2] The special case of Strategy (Symbol: MSTR)
There is one special case that I’d like to focus on; as of the time of writing, 08/16/2025, Strategy (MSTR) owns ~600,000 bitcoin (~$72B).  While that is an extreme case, he and the MSTR Board of Directors believe in bitcoin so much that they are willing to put it on the company’s balance sheet by getting rid of their fiat currency (USD) to own bitcoin.

[3] Governments & Sovereign Wealth funds which hold bitcoin here

[4] Privately held companies which hold bitcoin here

[5] Publicly traded companies which hold bitcoin here

[6] In MSTR’s case, they have actually created a portfolio of financial products to fulfill their bitcoin acquisition strategy (Which Michael Saylor called the “Triple Maxi“).  I do not recommend for that course of action (nor do I recommend against it).  If you’re interested in learning more about Mr. Saylor’s formula for using financial products to acquire more bitcoin then I recommend this video, “Michael Saylor Bitcoin 2024 Keynote Speech” which he gave at the 2024 Nashville Bitcoin Conference (which I saw while attending the conference).

[7] Academic Institutions & Endowment Funds which hold bitcoin

[8] Retirement Funds which hold bitcoin

  • Fairfax County Pension documented here and here
  • Houston Firefighters Retirement Fund documented here and here
  • South Korea National Pension Service documented here and here

[9] Exchange Traded Funds (ETF’s) which hold bitcoin for clients here

[10] Notes on ETF’s
Exchange traded funds (ETF’s) hold the underlying asset for shareholders. Technically, these assets are considered not to be “on the balance sheets” of the companies which created and manage the ETF’s. Instead, the shares of the ETF’s are on the balance sheets of the customers who own the ETF stocks. That said, I still think it is important to show these ETF’s because the underlying bitcoin (1,626,028 BTC) are spoken for by the owners of the the ETF shares (retail and institutional alike). That is significant interest in this nascent asset.

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