Blackrock warns that bitcoin’s scarcity is more severe than widely believed, predicting that if every U.S. millionaire sought just one BTC, there wouldn’t be enough to meet demand.

Blackrock Warns: Not Enough Bitcoin for Every Millionaire to Own Just One

Blackrock, the world’s largest asset manager, published a report on Feb. 26 highlighting bitcoin’s potential role in investment portfolios. The report, authored by Brett Wager and Michael Gates, emphasized bitcoin’s ability to enhance diversification, stating: “As multi-asset portfolio constructors, we believe bitcoin has long-term investment merit for certain investors and can potentially provide unique and additive sources of diversification to portfolios.”

The authors pointed to geopolitical instability, rising sovereign debt, and excessive government spending as factors that could further drive interest in BTC. They also noted that regulatory shifts could remove barriers to innovation, stating:

A more bitcoin-friendly administration could ease regulatory bottlenecks, potentially unlocking a wave of pent-up innovation and infrastructural development.

The report highlighted the impact of bitcoin exchange-traded products (ETPs), which launched in 2024 and have since seen substantial inflows. According to Blackrock, broader institutional participation could stabilize bitcoin’s historically volatile price movements. The authors also underscored the cryptocurrency’s scarcity, explaining that its real circulating supply is lower than its theoretical 21 million cap.

They explained: “Less widely known is that the real available float is likely far smaller, with a conservative estimate of 3 to 4 million issued bitcoins visible on the blockchain but considered permanently inaccessible (and therefore out of circulation) due to lost, forgotten, or otherwise destroyed keys.” The report added:

To illustrate how few available bitcoins there are, if every millionaire in the U.S. asked their financial advisor to get them 1 bitcoin, there wouldn’t be enough.

Addressing skepticism about bitcoin’s intrinsic value, Blackrock pushed back against critics who claim the cryptocurrency lacks fundamental worth. “Critics’ go-to refrain is bitcoin has no intrinsic value. To the contrary, in our view, the discussed embedded characteristics represent fundamentally real and attractive sources of intrinsic value, which we expect will be recognized by more people in more places over time – particularly in a debt-laden, digital-first, and increasingly AI-entrenched world.” The report framed bitcoin as a resilient asset with a fixed supply, decentralized infrastructure, and growing institutional adoption, making it an increasingly relevant investment option in today’s evolving financial landscape.