50 Million Americans Own Bitcoin, Leaving Gold Behind: Report

Highlights:

• River says around 50 million Americans own Bitcoin, compared with roughly 37 million gold holders.
• Individuals still hold most BTC, but institutions added large amounts throughout 2025 across sectors.
• Growing ETF demand, merchant use, and global adoption show Bitcoin is becoming more mainstream.

Bitcoin ownership in the United States has surpassed gold ownership, according to data compiled by River from The Nakamoto Project and Gold IRA Guide. The report indicates that there are currently 50 million Americans who own Bitcoin, compared with around 37 million who own gold.

It is a significant change in the behavior of investors, particularly of an asset that is still much younger than gold. The report indicated that the adoption had persisted even in the face of a lower price period last year. 

🐂BULLISH: Americans now own MORE Bitcoin $BTC than gold, per River. pic.twitter.com/N5No8gBCYw

— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) April 18, 2026

The report shows that individuals remain the biggest estimated holders of Bitcoin overall. As of Dec. 31, 2025, River estimated that individuals held 14.01 million BTC, representing 66.7% of the total supply. Even so, the ownership mix is starting to change. 

River said individual Bitcoin ownership peaked in 2024, and 2025 became the second straight year of major outflows from individuals. The report estimated that individuals reduced holdings by 696,000 BTC in 2025. Over the same period, businesses added 489,000 BTC, funds and ETFs added 205,000 BTC, and governments added 135,000 BTC. Overall, this steady buying shows that Bitcoin is becoming a more mainstream financial asset.

Wall Street has played a big role in this shift. Today, 60% of top U.S. banks are working on Bitcoin products. At the same time, 90% of Barron’s Top 50 registered investment advisory firms now hold BTC allocations. In addition, more than 2,000 U.S. advisory firms have added Bitcoin exchange-traded funds to their portfolios. These funds raised $17 billion in new investor capital last year, primarily from hedge funds and investment advisors.

Businesses and Merchants Embrace Bitcoin

Beyond Wall Street, more everyday businesses are also starting to use BTC. In the previous year, companies added a record $54.6 billion worth of Bitcoin to their balance sheets. At the same time, the number of public companies holding BTC grew 2.5 times from the year before.

Merchant adoption also rose quickly. Globally, the number of businesses accepting Bitcoin payments increased by 74%. In North America, that growth was even stronger, jumping 192%. River linked part of that rise to major payment platforms like Square, which now allows around 4 million U.S. merchants to accept Bitcoin directly.

These trends matter for regular users as well. In many cases, Bitcoin payments can cost less than traditional credit card fees. This is especially true when payments use the Lightning Network, a faster, cheaper layer built on top of BTC. The Lightning Network’s monthly transaction volume rose by 300% and surpassed $1 billion for the first time in the last year. Because of this, Bitcoin is becoming more useful for daily payments, not just for long-term holding.

Global Momentum Supports U.S. Leadership

The rise in Bitcoin ownership in the United States also aligns with a broader global trend. Today, 23 countries hold Bitcoin. Last year, five more countries joined that list: Brazil, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Saudi Arabia, and Taiwan. The Czech National Bank also became the first central bank to add Bitcoin to its official reserves. This showed growing confidence in Bitcoin’s long-term role as a store of value.

Simultaneously, the network of Bitcoin is strengthening as well. It currently operates over 1 zetahash of computing capacity, which can aid in securing transactions. In addition, the number of reachable nodes rose 14% in 2025 to nearly 24,700 worldwide. These statistics indicate that the network as well becomes stronger and more decentralized with the increase in its adoption.

To this day, Bitcoin represents less than 1.2% of the money supply in the world. Thus, there is room to improve. According to the report by River, the institutions might own the majority of Bitcoin in the next 10 years in case the current trend persists. To new investors, it is an opportunity to access easily, better financial products, and additional methods of adding BTC to their portfolios.

At the time of writing, BTC was trading at $76,399, down 10% over the past 12 months. During the same period, gold was trading at $4,831 per ounce, up 40%.