A report by financial firm River certifies an unprecedented expansion of Bitcoin adoption among institutions, banks, merchants, and sovereign states.
Financial services firm River published a report documenting how Bitcoin adoption reached record levels in 2025, despite the price of BTC falling 50% from its all-time high. “There is no bear market in Bitcoin adoption,” the document states.
On the institutional front, institutions accumulated 829,000 BTC in 2025, including purchases by companies, governments, funds, and ETFs. U.S. registered investment advisors have been net buyers of BTC for eight consecutive quarters, investing approximately $1.5 billion in Bitcoin ETFs per quarter over the past two years. 60% of the largest U.S. banks are developing Bitcoin-related products, supported by a more favorable regulatory environment that now permits BTC custody and the offering of related products to clients.
Corporations proved to be the largest buyers of BTC in 2025. Growth was driven in particular by treasury companies, whose adoption increased 2.5 times over the course of the year. River emphasizes that these institutions represent “millions of individuals” accessing Bitcoin for the first time through brokerage accounts, pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, and corporate balance sheets.
Merchant adoption saw an acceleration: in the United States, the number of businesses accepting bitcoin as payment tripled, while global growth stood at 74%. Bitcoin payments on the Lightning Network increased by 300% in 2025 and, according to River’s estimates, the network now processes over $1.1 billion in monthly transaction volume.
Five new nation-states became bitcoin holders in 2025: two sovereign wealth funds from Luxembourg and Saudi Arabia, a central bank from the Czech Republic, plus Brazil and Taiwan. River estimates that a total of 23 nation-states now hold bitcoin through state mining, seizures, or direct central bank exposure.
The report also highlights a decline in Bitcoin’s volatility, which is approaching that of gold and the S&P 500 — a signal, according to River, that the asset is “increasingly regarded as a mature asset class.” “As volatility declines, the threshold for more risk-averse investors lowers,” the document reads. “Over time, this opens the door to larger pools of capital.” River concludes by stating that it expects Bitcoin adoption in the coming years to not only continue its current trend, but to “accelerate significantly.”
