Bitcoin now accounts for roughly 1% of all the money on Earth. That’s the finding from River, a Bitcoin-centric financial services firm, which calculated that BTC’s market capitalization has reached approximately 1.7% of a combined global money basket totaling around $138 trillion.
How River did the math
The $138 trillion figure isn’t pulled from thin air. River’s analysis combines two components: the total global fiat M2 money supply, pegged at $112.9 trillion, and gold’s market capitalization at $25.1 trillion. Together, those form what the firm considers the world’s “money basket.” At Bitcoin’s peak market cap of around $2.4 trillion, BTC claimed about 1.7% of that basket. Price fluctuations brought the figure down slightly to roughly 1.66% at the time of River’s reporting.
Supply dynamics are tightening
On the supply side, Bitcoin’s daily issuance sits at approximately 450 BTC per day following the most recent halving cycle. Meanwhile, businesses alone are absorbing roughly 1,755 BTC daily, nearly four times the rate of new supply entering the market.
River attributes Bitcoin’s growing adoption in part to the continuing monetary expansion by central banks. When governments print more fiat currency, the purchasing power of that currency erodes over time, pushing individuals toward alternative stores of value.
Who actually owns a whole Bitcoin?
River’s research also surfaced a striking data point about ownership concentration. According to the firm’s analysis, only about 825,000 individuals globally hold at least one whole Bitcoin. That’s roughly 0.01% of the world’s population.
For context, there are approximately 60 million millionaires worldwide. The pool of whole-coin Bitcoin holders is less than 1.5% of that group.
River’s research suggests that a 10% allocation to Bitcoin has historically outperformed conventional investment strategies, including the classic 60/40 stock-and-bond portfolio.