Corporations and businesses are the largest net buyers of Bitcoin so far this year, outpacing exchange-traded funds and retail investors, according to new research. 

Firms such as Michael Saylor’s Strategy have bought more Bitcoin (BTC) this year than any other category of investor, with overall corporate holdings growth totalling 157,000 BTC, worth around $16 billion at current prices, according to Bitcoin investment firm River. 

Strategy makes up 77% of the group’s growth, the firm reported on X on May 12, before adding that it’s not just big companies.

“We’re seeing businesses across all industries sign up to River. They’re aligned with Bitcoin and how it can change their future,” the firm noted.  

The next largest category after corporations was ETFs, which have grown their net Bitcoin by 49,000 BTC, or $5 billion worth, reported River. Following that were governments with around 19,000 BTC in growth, and retail traders or individuals had seen a decline of 247,000 in Bitcoin holdings this year, it reported. 

Change in BTC ownership in 2025. Source: River

Overall, there has been a 154% growth in business ownership since 2024, the firm stated, breaking things down by business category for its own clients.

It revealed that finance and investment firms are the largest buyers of the asset, with 35.7% of the total, followed by tech firms on 16.8%, professional and consulting companies accounted for 16.5%, and the remainder were real estate, non-profits, consumer and industrial, healthcare, and energy, agriculture, and transportation firms. 

Related: Coinbase considered Saylor-like Bitcoin strategy before opting out: Bloomberg

There have been several large corporate purchases recently, with Strategy scooping up a whopping 13,390 Bitcoin for $1.34 billion and Metaplanet adding a further 1,241 BTC to its treasury, which surpassed that of El Salvador on May 12. 

Newcomers to the Bitcoin market in 2025 include video streaming platform Rumble, which made its first purchase in March, Hong Kong construction firm Ming Shing, and Hong Kong investment firm HK Asia Holdings Limited. 

At least twelve public companies bought Bitcoin for the first time in Q1 2025, reported Bitwise in April. The firm added that the amount of Bitcoin held on the books of publicly traded companies rose by 16% for the period, with more than 95,000 Bitcoin added to corporate portfolios for the period. 

Is Bitcoin becoming deflationary?

These big corporate purchases of the asset will put pressure on the supply and demand since supply is finite, and miners can only produce 450 coins per day, say analysts.

CryptoQuant CEO and market analyst Ki Young Ju said Strategy is accumulating Bitcoin at a faster rate than total miner output, giving the asset a -2.3% annual deflation rate. 

Meanwhile, author Adam Livingston recently said that Strategy is synthetically halving Bitcoin by outpacing miner supply through high demand.

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The government of Dubai has signed an agreement with crypto exchange Crypto.com to launch crypto payments for government services. 

The agreement, formalized during the Dubai fintech Summit on May 12, is part of Dubai’s cashless strategy, which hopes to foster the city’s transition to “a fully digital, cashless society,” by introducing “a new digital payment channel across its official platforms,” the Dubai Department of Finance (DOF) said on May 12.

Once the service goes live, individuals and business customers of government entities can pay service fees with crypto through Crypto.com’s digital wallets. The payments will be converted into dirhams and transferred to DOF accounts, according to the DOF.

Amna Mohammed Lootah, director of digital payment systems regulation, stated that Dubai’s plan is for 90% of financial transactions across the public and private sectors to be powered through cashless methods by 2026.

“We are confident that this milestone will significantly accelerate the advancement of the Dubai Cashless Strategy,” she said. 

The DOF didn’t specifically mention which crypto it would start accepting, but did say the payments could be made using “stable cryptocurrencies,” possibly indicating stablecoins will be allowed.  

A trio of major Abu Dhabi institutions, including the Emirate’s sovereign wealth fund, announced on April 28 a plan to launch a new dirham-pegged stablecoin.

Duiba’s strategy hopes to spark fintech sector expansion 

The city’s cashless strategy was first announced in October 2024. At the time, the DOF said 97% of all government payments in 2023 were already digital. 

The strategy has also been predicted to add at least 8 billion dirhams ($2.1 billion) to the economy, according to the DOF, fuelled by the development of financial technology services and the accelerated expansion of Dubai’s fintech sector. 

Ahmad Ali Meftah, executive director of the central accounts sector at DOF, said in a statement the government is still actively developing a regulatory framework that “fosters innovation while ensuring the highest standards of security and efficiency” in digital financial transactions.

Ahmad Ali Meftah (left) said the government is still working on a crypto regulatory framework. Source: Dubai Department of Finance

Dubai is considered a crypto-friendly city. The emirate hosted the Dubai edition of Token2049 between April 30 and May 1 this year. 

Related: Dubai gov’t agencies to link real estate registry with property tokenization

Meanwhile, on March 19, the Dubai government started the pilot phase of a project to convert real estate assets into digital tokens on the blockchain. 

Other governments have also floated using crypto for payments. A New York lawmaker introduced legislation in April to allow state agencies to accept crypto payments. 

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Crypto bank Anchorage Digital has expanded its stablecoin offerings with the acquisition of Mountain Protocol, a stablecoin issuer that says it will begin winding down its main stablecoin, Mountain USD (USDM).

The acquisition, which is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approval, will integrate the Mountain Protocol team, tech stack and licensing framework into Anchorage’s existing offerings, Anchorage said in a May 12 statement.

While terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, it reflects an accelerating number of acquisitions between crypto and TradFi firms in recent months.

Explaining the acquisition, Anchorage CEO Nathan McCauley said stablecoins are becoming the backbone of the crypto economy, while anticipating that “every business” will eventually use stablecoins as part of their operations.

Source: Anchorage Digital

Mountain Protocol CEO Martin Carrica said its stablecoin experience and Anchorage’s crypto infrastructure positions the merging companies to meet the growing global demand for stablecoin services.

Anchorage is the only federally chartered digital asset bank in the US, while Mountain Protocol’s stablecoin services are regulated by the Bermuda Monetary Authority.

It comes around nine months after Anchorage introduced a stablecoin rewards program for institutions holding the PayPal USD (PYUSD) stablecoin.

Mountain Protocol’s USDM to wind down

As part of the acquisition, Mountain Protocol said it would begin an “orderly wind-down process” for USDM, which operates as a yield-bearing stablecoin.

Mountain Protocol said it ceased minting the stablecoin on May 12 but noted that USDM rewards will remain active for another 30 days. After that, the reward rate will be set to 0% APY.

The stablecoin issuer’s customers can redeem their USDM through the firm’s platform, while other USDM holders are encouraged to swap the stablecoin for other tokens on exchanges.

Related: ‘Dark stablecoins’ could emerge as regulations tighten

Mountain Protocol’s Ethereum-based USDM is not to be confused with Mehen Finance’s USDM stablecoin, which runs on the Cardano network. 

Mountain Protocol’s USDM saw considerable success shortly after launching in late 2023, rising to a $155 million market cap by March 2024, according to RWA.xyz. However, its market cap has since fallen below $50 million.

RWA.xyz estimates there are around 10,820 USDM holders.

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