Although the price of Bitcoin is down 50% from its all-time high, its adoption continues to grow—it's just not reflected in the price. The following 8 major adoption trends might surprise you.
Institutions Are Buying Bitcoin at a Record Pace
In 2025, various institutions cumulatively added 829,000 Bitcoins, including corporations, governments, funds, and ETFs.
Importantly, these institutions represent millions of ordinary investors who are accessing Bitcoin for the first time through brokerage accounts, pensions, sovereign wealth funds, and corporate balance sheets.
Who sold the Bitcoin to them?
In 2025, the selling pressure mainly came from long-term holders and whales—early participants who built their positions years ago and are now gradually selling into a deeper, more liquid market. If this trend continues, institutions could hold the majority of the circulating supply within a decade, but currently, individuals still control about two-thirds of the supply.
They ultimately determine the marginal price at which institutions can build their positions. Institutional entry does not replace individual ownership; it expands the entire market's on-ramp. Many of today's ETF holders will become tomorrow's self-custody users.
Investment Advisors Have Been Net Buyers for 8 Consecutive Quarters
Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) are the world's largest group of investors, managing about $146 trillion in client assets. They have only just begun allocating since the launch of Bitcoin ETFs in 2024. Even in these early stages, their behavior has been very positive:
Over the past two years, RIAs have invested approximately $1.5 billion per quarter into Bitcoin ETFs, without a single quarter of net selling.
Bitcoin adoption among RIAs is widespread: 29 of the top 30 US RIAs have allocated to Bitcoin, but the average allocation is extremely low, at just 0.008%.
60% of top US banks are building Bitcoin products
With the warming US regulatory environment, banks can now custody Bitcoin and offer Bitcoin products to their clients.
Public Company Adoption Rate Grew 2.5x in 2025
In 2025, corporations became the largest buyers of Bitcoin, led mainly by crypto-native treasury companies.
Beyond dedicated crypto treasury companies, a significant number of large corporations are also accumulating Bitcoin quietly and in small amounts.
This type of corporate adoption is expected to become widespread among S&P 500 constituents in the coming years.
Merchant Adoption Grew 74% in 2025
The number of US businesses accepting Bitcoin payments has tripled, and global usage grew by 74%. Companies like SteaknShake have proven that Bitcoin payments can reduce transaction costs and increase profits.
These are mostly small and medium-sized companies that do not publicly disclose their Bitcoin strategies. River serves over 3,000 businesses across various industries and has witnessed the most rapid adoption growth among small, private companies.
Lightning Network Grew 300% in 2025
It is estimated that the Lightning Network now processes over $1.1 billion in monthly transaction volume. The growth is primarily driven by organic adoption from exchanges and merchants.
5 New Sovereign Nations Now Hold Bitcoin
In 2025, 5 more countries became Bitcoin holders, including: 2 sovereign wealth funds (Luxembourg, Saudi Arabia) and 1 central bank (Czech National Bank).
These nations acquired Bitcoin through official mining, direct purchases by central banks/funds, ETFs, donations, confiscations, and hacker recoveries.
