December 9, 2025

For over a decade, Bitcoin followed a predictable pattern: with each market cycle, the number of addresses holding more than 0.1 BTC grew steadily. That trend has now broken. Data reveals that addresses in this category have remained flat for the past two years, marking a significant shift in how retail and mid-sized investors interact with the cryptocurrency.

This stagnation occurs even as institutional participation accelerates, suggesting a fundamental transformation in Bitcoin’s holder composition rather than declining interest in the asset itself.

The End of Retail Accumulation Growth

The 0.1 BTC threshold has long served as a meaningful benchmark for retail investors—substantial enough to demonstrate serious commitment, yet accessible enough for average participants. Throughout Bitcoin’s history, including during bear markets when long-term believers quietly accumulated, the number of wallets exceeding this amount increased consistently.

That pattern has now ended. According to on-chain analytics platform Santiment, addresses holding more than 0.1 BTC have plateaued at approximately 4.44 million since 2023, with no indication of resuming growth. This suggests fewer new participants are establishing self-custodied Bitcoin positions at this level.

The timing makes this development particularly striking. Despite Bitcoin’s enhanced mainstream recognition and multiple attempts at new all-time highs throughout 2024 and 2025, the address count remains frozen. In previous cycles, such conditions typically triggered waves of retail accumulation. The current flatline indicates a genuine shift in behavior patterns.

The Institutional Takeover

While smaller address cohorts have stagnated, the overall Bitcoin adoption story continues to evolve—just not where traditional on-chain metrics capture it. Today’s Bitcoin exposure increasingly happens through channels that don’t appear in individual wallet counts.

Larger holders have moved in the opposite direction. Santiment data shows that addresses controlling more than 100 BTC have consistently grown their holdings throughout 2024 and 2025, even as smaller cohorts remained static. High-net-worth individuals, investment funds, and corporate treasuries now represent an expanding share of Bitcoin ownership.

More significantly, investors are increasingly choosing custodial solutions over self-managed wallets. Spot Bitcoin ETFs have emerged as the dominant gateway for new capital. In the United States alone, these products now control nearly $120 billion in Bitcoin, with BlackRock’s IBIT fund leading inflows.

What This Means for Bitcoin

These patterns point to Bitcoin’s maturation from a grassroots digital currency into a professionally managed asset class. The market that once consisted primarily of individual users managing their own private keys is now shaped by institutions, exchange-traded products, and sophisticated capital allocators.

This doesn’t necessarily indicate reduced adoption—rather, it reflects a migration of Bitcoin holdings from individual wallets to institutional custody. On-chain wallet metrics, while still valuable, now capture only a portion of the actual user base. The stagnation in addresses holding 0.1+ BTC tells us less about Bitcoin’s overall growth and more about how that growth is being structured.

As Bitcoin continues to integrate into traditional financial systems, this trend will likely intensify. The question isn’t whether people are buying Bitcoin, but where and how they’re choosing to hold it.