More Americans choose Bitcoin Over Gold

Bitcoin has just crossed a symbolic threshold in the United States. According to the latest report from River, American individuals now hold more BTC than physical gold. This shift illustrates a profound evolution of wealth management strategies. Crypto, long perceived as speculative, is gradually imposing itself against the historic safe haven. Driven by easier access to financial markets and a new generation of investors, this transformation reshapes how Americans conceive the preservation and transfer of their wealth.

Bitcoin: The Household Shift Against the Yellow Metal

While Bitcoin ETFs record their sixth consecutive day in the green, the report published this July by River reveals a major sociological shift through several numerical data points :

• 49.6 million American adults (18.6% of the adult population) now own bitcoin, compared to 28.8 million (10.8%) who hold gold ;
• 16 years of existence have been enough for the Bitcoin network to surpass physical gold, used as a store of value for about 5,000 years ;
• A 4 percentage point increase has been recorded in about six months, the bitcoin adoption rate among the American adult population rising from 14.3% at the start of the year to 18.6% ;
• 42% of the global circulating bitcoin is now collectively held by American citizens.

The study explains this rapid acceleration by the convergence of two key factors: access and culture. Indeed, the company highlights that favorable regulation, reduced barriers to entry thanks to exchange platforms and mobile applications, combined with an American cultural penchant for individual investment and financial autonomy, have accelerated this adoption. This transformation is also explained by the reorientation of Wall Street distribution channels. Several major American asset managers have opened Bitcoin ETF distribution to their clients this year, directly placing crypto in front of financial advisors who previously had little reason to address the topic with their retail clientele.

The Industrial Fabric : The Supremacy of the Private Sector and Mining Companies

Beyond simple individual holding, the United States’ dominant position relies on a massive presence of private companies and physical infrastructures established on national soil. Publicly traded companies based in the United States hold approximately 1.24 million BTC, representing 92.7% of the total bitcoin held by public companies worldwide. This concentration reflects how American publicly listed companies have become predominant in corporate treasury strategies.

On the production and services level, domination is just as marked. The United States now concentrates 37.5% of the global hashrate of the network, establishing itself as the heart of computing power in mining. At the same time, more than 150 large-scale companies specialized in the sector, ranging from exchange platforms to custody services, including mining industrialists and payment processors, have established their head offices on American soil, forming a complete commercial ecosystem.

The State Apparatus: Public Reserves and Strategic Implications

This industrial power is doubled by a first-order institutional position occupied by the federal government itself. The U.S. government holds a treasury of 328,372 BTC mainly from judicial seizures, representing a value exceeding 23 billion dollars at recent rates. This public stock is subject to extensive legislative work aiming to formally codify the creation of a national strategic bitcoin reserve, accompanied by long-term conservation obligations and an accumulation target that could reach up to 1 million BTC.

All these concentration factors lead River’s report to qualify the United States as a true global bitcoin superpower. Moreover, the progressive alignment of the legislative apparatus and public reserves marks the transition from purely repressive management through seizures to a proactive sovereign accumulation strategy.

The converging involvement of citizens, publicly traded companies, and the American legislative power foreshadows a redistribution of the global geopolitical and monetary cards. While the world’s largest economy accumulates a predominant share of circulating supply and controls more than a third of its technical issuance power, other economic blocs could be forced to review their regulatory framework to avoid strategic dependence. While physical gold maintains its historic neutrality, the emerging hegemony of the American ecosystem on bitcoin sharply raises the question of nations’ digital sovereignty in the era of digitalization of stores of value.