Around 11.1 million BTC, representing approximately 55% of Bitcoin’s total supply, remains in wallets with no publicly identified owners, according to Galaxy’s October snapshot. The data points to the possibility that individual investors continue to hold a significant share of Bitcoin, even as institutional adoption expands.

Bitcoin has moved beyond its early reputation as a niche asset, attracting Wall Street firms, exchange-traded funds and professional custodians. Yet researchers analyzing the blockchain still cannot associate most BTC with verified individuals or organizations. The unattributed holdings could belong to private investors, institutions that have not been identified or owners who have lost access to their coins.

Alex Thorn, Galaxy’s head of research, believes the figures demonstrate that self-custody remains common among Bitcoin holders. Instead of relying on exchanges or fund managers to safeguard their assets, these investors maintain control of their own private keys.

Thorn highlighted on X that more than half of Bitcoin’s supply sits in addresses without known ownership labels, despite years of institutional involvement and the growth of centralized custody services. He suggested that individuals may still control a substantial, potentially majority, portion of the cryptocurrency.

Xapo Bank supported this interpretation, noting that retail investors have participated in Bitcoin’s market for more than a decade. The bank argued that individual users helped establish the asset’s foundations before traditional financial institutions began expanding their involvement.

One of Bitcoin’s central features is that users can manage their funds without depending on a conventional bank. Transactions are recorded on a public blockchain, where miners validate transfers and add them to the ledger in exchange for newly issued BTC.

However, transparency does not automatically reveal ownership. Anyone can inspect the transactions and balances associated with a Bitcoin address, but the identity of the person or institution controlling it may remain unknown. Blockchain research firms such as Galaxy use transaction patterns and known wallet links to identify addresses belonging to exchanges, funds and other major holders.

Unidentified Holdings May Include Lost Coins and Institutions

The 55% estimate does not establish that all unattributed Bitcoin belongs to retail investors who are actively holding their assets.

Some coins may be inaccessible because their owners have misplaced private keys or died without providing anyone with the means to recover their funds. These holdings remain recorded on the blockchain even if they can no longer be spent.

Bitcoin mined during its early years could also account for part of the unidentified supply. Some coins may be linked to miners other than the entity associated with the Patoshi pattern, a series of early blocks that researchers attribute to a single miner commonly connected with Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.

Unidentified institutional holdings are another possibility. Funds, corporations and over-the-counter trading desks may control Bitcoin without having their wallet addresses publicly linked to them. Custodians that distribute assets among numerous addresses can further complicate efforts to determine ownership.

Galaxy has identified the entities or categories associated with the other 45% of the supply. These include crypto exchanges, ETFs led by BlackRock, the U.S. government and holdings associated with the Satoshi Nakamoto Patoshi pattern. Galaxy estimates the latter at 1,123,658 BTC and records it separately as the “Satoshi-era miner pattern.”

Ultimately, the data highlights a gap between Bitcoin’s growing institutional presence and the limited visibility into who owns its coins. While the blockchain provides a public record of balances and transactions, determining the people or organizations behind those addresses remains a separate challenge.