Bitcoin adoption by institutions, banks, merchants, public companies and nation-states has skyrocketed in 2025, despite a recent price decline, says financial services firm River.
“There is no bear market in Bitcoin adoption,” River said in the report published on Tuesday, who noted that while Bitcoin (BTC) is down 50% from its all-time high, “adoption is increasing in a way that has not yet had an impact on price.”
“Trust in Bitcoin has grown faster than any asset in history,” he said. “What started as an experiment is now a globally recognized value carrier with adoption patterns that rival the Internet.”
Admission of institutional, banking and public companies
River reported that institutions accumulated 829,000 BTC in 2025, including purchases by corporates, governments, funds and exchange-traded funds.
River claims that registered investment advisors have been net buying BTC for eight straight quarters and have invested approximately $1.5 billion in Bitcoin ETFs per quarter over the last two years.
He noted that these institutions represent “millions of basic individuals” who are first getting exposure to Bitcoin through brokerage accounts, retirement plans, sovereign funds and corporate balance sheets.
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Additionally, 60% of top US banks create Bitcoin products. “Thanks to the favorable regulatory environment in the U.S., banks can now hold Bitcoin and offer Bitcoin products to their customers,” he said.
The biggest purchasers of BTC in 2025 were enterprises, with most purchases coming from cryptocurrency companies whose adoption grew 2.5x last year.
Seller acceptance and payments are accelerating
It noted that Bitcoin usage has also increased with a tripling of the number of US companies accepting Bitcoin for payments, while global usage increased by 74% in 2025.
Bitcoin payments on the Lightning Network grew 300% in 2025, and River estimates that the network now processes over $1.1 billion in monthly transactions.
In 2025, five nation states became up-to-date owners of Bitcoin, including purchases from two sovereign wealth funds in Luxembourg and Saudi Arabia and from one central bank in the Czech Republic. The other two are Brazil and Taiwan.
River estimates that 23 nation states hold Bitcoin through state-backed mining, confiscations, or central bank exposure.
Bitcoin volatility is falling
River said Bitcoin’s volatility is also falling, approaching the volatility of gold and the S&P 500, signaling that it is “increasingly viewed as a mature asset class.”
“As volatility declines, the hurdle for more risk-averse investors decreases,” he said. “Over time, this opens the door to larger pools of capital.”
River added that Bitcoin is based on trust and said it is “the only rare and incorruptible form of digital money in the world.”
“We expect that in the coming years, Bitcoin adoption will not only continue the current trend, but will accelerate significantly.”
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