Bitcoin’s Strategic Moment: A Global Asset in a Shifting Geopolitical Order

• Close to 15% of Bitcoin is held in institutions and is immobile

• Early investors are liquidating their holdings to free up generational wealth

• Bitcoin underwent an “IPO” in 2025 when OGs sold above $100k

Fifteen years after its creation, Bitcoin experienced a major milestone when its price shot above $100,000, allowing some of the original investors in the space to liquidate a portion of their holdings in a bid to diversify their wealth holdings.

Thiel, whose company is the largest holder of Bitcoin in the world, said Bitcoin underwent an “initial public offering” as investors moved to free up generational wealth locked in BTC. 

This is having an impact on the trading patterns of the coin today. Thiel said that he expects this selling pressure to continue for a while, keeping prices in check. “Then once we break out of this [excess] of supply, it’ll be off to the races and back up,” he said.

Many see this as a changing of the guard, where early investors are now selling a portion of their BTC to new holders, sovereigns and investment management firms. Large holders and institutional investors are not content with just holding assets on their balance sheets, they are also expecting returns. Close to 15% of the overall Bitcoin supply is held on institutional balance sheets. 

“The biggest technical breakthrough [Stacks made] last year is that BTC can remain in your custody, in your cold storage or whatever your setup is, but can now start earning yield. And the yields can be quite significant, such as six or seven percent,” Ali from Stacks said.

“Even large corporations aren’t going to put their principle at risk if they have to do something risky to earn yield,” he added. 

Mara Holdings takes a portfolio approach to managing more than 50,000 BTC on its balance sheet. “Some of the BTC we lend out to large, healthy balance sheet companies are looking to use BTC for specific activities. We don’t want to lose custody, so we ensure that any counterparty has a very strong balance sheet,” said Thiel. Mara, which has an internal trading desk, also places some BTC with third-party managers.

Thiel believes that the market will develop, and there will be a ramping up of product offerings in the next two to three years – particularly as banks become increasingly crypto-friendly. He is seeing banks become much more interested in custodial solutions, for example.

“We’re starting to see the market evolve to a place where it’s possible to borrow against BTC,” he said. “In addition, we have begun getting BTC-denominated yield, which is key for us, because it becomes possible to do some interesting trades, even in a down market.”