Blockchain data service platform Chain.info reveals that five exchanges hold an overwhelming 10% of circulating BTC
According to Chain.info, five major centralized exchanges—Binance, Coinbase, Huobi, Kraken and OKEx—together custody roughly 10.6% of all circulating Bitcoins. This concentration highlights how a small group of large platforms controls a significant portion of the Bitcoin supply.
The total Bitcoin balance held by these exchanges exceeds 1.96 million BTC. Leading the list is Coinbase, which holds 944,904 BTC across more than four million unique addresses. Notably, Coinbase’s custody is nearly three times larger than the exchange ranked directly below it.
Huobi ranks second with 323,665 BTC distributed across about 901,600 wallet addresses. Binance follows closely with 289,961 BTC held in approximately 2.7 million addresses. OKEx occupies fourth place, holding 276,184 BTC across roughly 339,000 wallet addresses. Kraken completes the top five with 126,510 BTC held in about 672,000 separate addresses—less than half of OKEx’s total.
The next seven exchanges together store around 210,000 BTC. These platforms include Bitflyer, Bitfinex, Bittrex, Bitstamp, Coincheck, Gate.io and Poloniex.
Chain.info’s report also calls attention to a notable security and custody risk. The platform points out that many crypto users appear to accept the inherent risks of keeping funds on centralized exchanges. Concentration of assets on a few custodial services can create systemic vulnerabilities, especially if exchanges face insolvency, hacks or regulatory intervention.
There is also a broader supply-side consideration that affects these figures. Chainalysis estimates that roughly 3.7 million Bitcoins—about 20% of the current supply—have not moved in the past five years and may be lost or otherwise inaccessible. If that estimate is accurate, the proportion of circulating (i.e., effectively available) Bitcoin held by the top five exchanges could rise to around 15%, since the total active supply would be smaller.
In short, a substantial share of Bitcoin’s available supply is concentrated on a handful of major exchanges, and estimates of lost coins may further increase those exchanges’ relative holdings. This concentration underscores the importance of custody choices and the potential systemic impact of exchange-related risks on the broader Bitcoin ecosystem.