Bitcoin Adoption Is Shifting From Individuals to Governments, Says Crypto Analyst — Nation-State Holdings

Cryptocurrency analyst Willy Woo said on Monday that Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) adoption by nation-states “outsripped” individual ownership.

Nation-State BTC Ownership Surges

Woo cited a chart from Bitcoin-native company River showing that the number of countries holding Bitcoin rose from two in 2016 to as many as 23 in 2025.

The report found that individuals reduced their Bitcoin holdings by 696,000 BTC in 2025, while nation-states added 135,000 BTC in the same year.

River projected individual Bitcoin ownership to decline further by 2036, while government and corporate holdings are expected to grow significantly.

Woo noted that approximately 5% of the global population owns Bitcoin, with 12% of countries actually owning some and 8% of nations having policies to acquire or hold it.

US Leads the Pack

The U.S. government holds 324,527 BTC, worth nearly $28 billion, according to on-chain analytics firm Arkham, with the majority seized from criminal and civil forfeiture proceedings.

This makes it the nation-state with the largest BTC reserves, according to BitcoinTreasuries, followed by China and the U.K.

Trump signed the executive order to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve last year, funding it entirely with BTC already held through criminal and civil asset forfeiture.