Bitcoin Adoption Still in Early Stages, Says New Study
A recent study by River Financial Inc. reveals that bitcoin adoption is in its infancy. The report, titled “What’s Driving Bitcoin Adoption in 2025?”, compares Bitcoin’s current adoption level to the Internet in 1990 and social media in 2005.
Despite growing interest from governments and corporations, Bitcoin is only 3% of its full potential. Only 4% of the global population owns Bitcoin, and institutions largely ignore it in their portfolios. The total addressable market is below 1% of an estimated amount.
Bitcoin’s value is driven by its scarcity. In 2024, Bitcoin’s supply grew slower than major fiat currencies and gold. The average transaction value was $17.8k, and the annual value transferred via Bitcoin exceeded $1 trillion.
The study highlights the steady growth in changes to the Bitcoin code and the increasing number of entities involved in its growth.These changes aim to enhance security, network scaling, and transaction flexibility.
Lightning Network growth has been slow due to limited merchant acceptance and low BTC fees. However, Bitcoin custody has matured, with the share of bitcoins held on exchanges dropping from over 70% to 56.6% in 2024.
Decentralization is improving,with the number of active developers,nodes,and network hashrate volume constantly growing. However, mining pool distribution remains an issue, with the top three pools producing around 60% of the total hashrate.
As of 2024, 18 countries owned bitcoins thru various means, and the amount of business-held BTC increased by 80%. Individuals still control 70% of all bitcoins, making it “people’s crypto.”
