On October 26, on-chain data revealed that there are still significant unknowns in Bitcoin's holding structure.
According to Mega Anhui, Galaxy Research's October snapshot shows that approximately 11.1 million Bitcoin are held in addresses that cannot be attributed to known institutions or other identifiable holders, accounting for about 55% of the mined supply at the time. Researchers believe this may reflect the scale of individual self-custody, but the inability to identify does not equal confirmation that these holdings belong to individuals.
Mega Anhui analysis notes that unattributed addresses may also contain lost assets, unidentified institutional holdings, or complex custody arrangements, so it is inappropriate to directly treat this proportion as the retail investor share. The same holder may control multiple addresses, while a single custody address may aggregate assets from many clients. Therefore, the number of addresses, the number of actual holders, and exchange balances cannot simply be substituted for one another.
Public ledgers can record address balances and transactions, but they do not automatically disclose the real identities behind addresses. Research institutions use known exchange and fund addresses for classification, which may still be limited by address changes, internal transfers, and the coverage of labels. The research uses a supply snapshot from a specific date, and classification results may change as new data and labels are updated.
Subsequent observable data include changes in classification methods and disclosures from large custody institutions. Mega Anhui believes that when analyzing supply structure, statistical blind spots should also be retained: coin concentration, the self-custody ratio, and the actual circulating quantity are different issues and cannot be equated solely based on a single address classification figure. Assets that have not moved for a long time are not necessarily permanently lost and may simply reflect the holder's choice to continue holding.
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