Corporations and businesses are the largest net buyers of Bitcoin

Firms such as Michael Saylor's Strategy have bought more Bitcoin (BTC) this year than any other category of investor

According to a new study by Bitcoin investment firm River, corporations have outpaced exchange-traded funds and retail traders as the biggest net purchasers of the cryptocurrency this year.

This year, businesses have increased their overall Bitcoin holdings by 157,000, which translates to approximately $16 billion at current market values.

Among the corporations, Strategy has been a major buyer, contributing to 77% of the group's holdings growth, as highlighted by River on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday.

"We're seeing businesses across all industries sign up to River. They're aligned with Bitcoin and how it can change their future," the firm added.

The next largest category was ETFs, which had a net increase in Bitcoin of 49,000, and governments saw an addition of 19,000 to their digital asset reserves.

On the other hand, retail traders or individuals saw a decrease of 247,000 in Bitcoin holdings this year.

Overall, there has been a 154% growth in business ownership since 2024, the firm stated, breaking things down by business category for its own clients.

It revealed that finance and investment firms are the largest buyers of the asset, with 35.7% of the total, followed by tech firms on 16.8%, professional and consulting companies accounted for 16.5%, and the remainder were real estate, non-profits, consumer and industrial, healthcare, and energy, agriculture, and transportation firms.

Several large corporate purchases have been made recently, with Strategy scooping up a whopping 13,390 Bitcoin for $1.34 billion and Metaplanet adding a further 1,241 BTC to its treasury, which surpassed that of El Salvador on Friday.

Newcomers to the Bitcoin market in 2025 include video streaming platform Rumble, which made its first purchase in March, Hong Kong construction firm Ming Shing, and Hong Kong investment firm HK Asia Holdings Limited.

At least twelve public companies bought Bitcoin for the first time in Q1 2025, reported Bitwise in April. The firm added that the amount of Bitcoin held on the books of publicly traded companies rose by 16% for the period, with more than 95,000 Bitcoin added to corporate portfolios for the period.