Although the price of Bitcoin has fallen 50% from its historical high, its popularity continues to grow, just not reflected in the price. The following 8 major adoption trends may surprise you.
Institutions Are Buying Bitcoin at Record Speed
By 2025, various institutions have cumulatively increased their holdings by 829,000 Bitcoins, including corporations, governments, funds, and ETFs.
Importantly, these institutions represent millions of ordinary investors who are first encountering Bitcoin through brokerage accounts, pensions, sovereign funds, and corporate balance sheets.
Who sold Bitcoin to them?
In 2025, sales mainly came from long-term holders and whales, these early participants completed their positions years ago and are now gradually selling in a deeper, more liquid market. If this trend continues, institutions may hold most of the circulating supply of Bitcoin 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 will not replace individual holdings but will expand the market's overall entrance. Many of today's ETF holders will become future self-custody users.
Investment Advisors Have Netted Purchases for 8 Consecutive Quarters
Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) are the largest group of investors globally, managing about $146 trillion in client assets. Since the launch of Bitcoin ETFs in 2024, they have only just begun to allocate. Even in these early stages, their actions have been very proactive:
Over the past two years, RIAs have invested about $1.5 billion into Bitcoin ETFs each quarter, with no net selling quarters.
The adoption of Bitcoin among RIAs is quite common: 29 of the largest 30 RIAs in the U.S. have allocated Bitcoin, but their average position is very low, only 0.008%.
60% of America's top banks are building Bitcoin products
After the U.S. regulatory environment has warmed up, banks can now custody Bitcoin and offer Bitcoin products to clients.
Public Company Adoption Rate to Increase 2.5 Times by 2025
In 2025, companies become the largest buyers of Bitcoin, primarily from cryptocurrency treasury companies.
In addition to specialized crypto treasury companies, many large corporations are quietly and gradually increasing their Bitcoin holdings.
This type of corporate adoption is expected to become widespread among S&P 500 constituents in the coming years.
Merchant Adoption Rate to Increase 74% by 2025
The number of businesses in the U.S. accepting Bitcoin payments has tripled, with global usage increasing by 74%. Companies such as SteaknShake have demonstrated that Bitcoin payments can reduce transaction costs and increase profits.
These businesses are mostly small to medium-sized companies that do not publicly disclose their Bitcoin strategies. River serves over 3,000 businesses across various industries and has witnessed the fastest adoption growth among small private companies.
Lightning Network Growth of 300% by 2025
It is estimated that the Lightning Network currently processes more than $1.1 billion in transactions monthly. The growth primarily comes from natural adoption by exchanges and merchants.
5 New Sovereign Nations Hold Bitcoin
By 2025, another 5 countries became Bitcoin holders, including 2 sovereign wealth funds (Luxembourg, Saudi Arabia) and 1 central bank (Czech central bank).
These countries acquire Bitcoin through official mining, direct purchases by central banks/funds, ETFs, donations, confiscation, and hacker recoveries.
Moreover, since the ban on Bitcoin by Afghanistan in 2022, no country has prohibited Bitcoin for 4 years. Clearly, embracing Bitcoin aligns with the best interests of various nations.
Bitcoin Is No Longer "Too Volatile"
Bitcoin has continued a decade-long trend of decreasing volatility and is approaching the levels of gold and the S&P 500.
Why is this important? It signifies that Bitcoin is being viewed as a mature asset class. The lower the volatility, the lower the entry threshold for risk-averse funds.
In the long term, this will open up larger pools of capital. The last bull market has proven: the amount of capital attracted by Bitcoin within three years exceeded the previous historical total.
Looking Ahead
Despite Bitcoin's lackluster price performance over the past year, the adoption curve tells a completely different story. Current adoption may not cause prices to surge tenfold overnight, but in many ways, it is more meaningful.
Every year, the trust of individuals, companies, institutions, and sovereign nations in Bitcoin deepens, as it continues to prove itself as the world's only scarce, immutable digital currency. We expect that the adoption of Bitcoin in the coming years will not only continue the current trend but will also accelerate significantly.
免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。
