River Estimates 825k Individuals Worldwide Hold At Least One BTC

River, a U.S. Bitcoin financial services firm, has estimated that approximately 825,000 individuals worldwide hold at least one whole BTC. This represents about 0.01% of the global population, or roughly one person in every 10,000.

The estimate was derived from an analysis of on-chain addresses containing at least 1 BTC, which totaled around 972,000. After excluding addresses managed by companies, governments, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and cryptocurrency exchanges, River assumed that the distribution of BTC holdings among exchange users mirrors the distribution observed on-chain.

The firm concluded that the number of individual holders with at least 1 BTC is around 825,000, with a plausible range of 600,000 to 1 million. This concentration has implications for both retail and institutional investors, as well as for Bitcoin's long-term value proposition.