Over 11 million bitcoin has no known owner.
Here’s what it means The large number of coins held in unidentified wallets shows that retail investors have been in this market for years, observers said
But this interpretation comes with a caveat. – About 11.1 million bitcoin, or 55 percent of the roughly 20.1 million mined, is held in addresses that Galaxy Research cannot link to an exchange, fund, government or other known entity. – The unidentified holdings suggest that individuals using self-custody may still control much of Bitcoin’s supply despite growing institutional adoption. – The total may also include lost coins, unidentified institutional holdings and assets distributed across complex custody arrangements. Bitcoin About 11.1 million BTC, roughly 55% of the supply, was classified as unattributed in Galaxy’s October snapshot. Those coins could belong to individuals, institutions the firm hasn’t identified or holders who can no longer access them.
Galaxy’s head of research, Alex Thorn, sees the figure as evidence that self-custody remains widespread, with people keeping control of their bitcoin keys despite the growth of exchanges, funds and institutional custodians. “More than half of all BTC supply is sitting in addresses with no known attribution despite all the institutionalization and centralized ownership over the years, still a ton of bitcoin (maybe even most) is held by individuals in self-custody,” Thorn wrote on X. Self-custody means holding your own bitcoin keys rather than leaving coins with an exchange or a fund. Xapo Bank, a bitcoin-focused bank, replied to Thorn’s post, saying that large number of coins held in unnamed wallets is a sign that retail investors have been here for over a decade.