Retail buyers now hold 14% of Bitcoin supply

The data illuminates a clear pattern: retail investors are accumulating at a faster pace while large institutional players' grip on the total coin supply is weakening. Specifically, the surge in wallets holding between 0.1 and 10 bitcoin tells the story of grassroots demand. Those holding under 0.1 BTC comprise just 1% of the supply. Meanwhile, the category holding 0.1 to 1 bitcoin has expanded dramatically from 0.89% five years ago to 3.6% now. Even more striking is the broader 0.1-to-10-bitcoin segment, which has ballooned from 5.1% to 13.8% over the same five-year window. The 1-to-10-bitcoin tier specifically jumped from 4.6% to 8.78%.

As bitcoin approaches another attempt at the $12,000 level, this distribution shift underscores robust buying interest among smaller participants. The appetite for accumulation at the retail level appears as intense as ever.

One surprise in the data: wallets holding above 100,000 BTC actually grew—climbing from roughly 6% to around 13% in half a decade. This contrasts sharply with exchange stockpiles, which swelled following the 2017 surge toward $20,000.

A notable shift emerged on the supply side recently. Analyst Cole Garner published a chart showing exchange reserves declined by 4%, describing the move as one that "dropped off a cliff." His interpretation: major players capitalized on the weakness, snapping up coins as others sold. Such accumulation among whales typically signals bullish sentiment. Bitcoin's price hovered near $11,786 during this period.