The role of Bitcoin in the global economy: from payments to reserve assets
Initially, Bitcoin was used by a small group of enthusiasts for simple transactions; however, its purpose has now expanded significantly.
Payments and transfers
Despite its high volatility, Bitcoin is actively used for payments. According to Chainalysis' 2024 analytics service, the daily Bitcoin payment volume ranged from $1 billion to $3 billion.
However, payments accounted for only 5% to 10% of the total Bitcoin transaction volume. The remaining transactions were related to speculation, DeFi market operations (including lending, staking, and liquidity mining), and transfers between exchanges.
The high popularity of Bitcoin for payments is due not only to its low fees compared to bank transfers (especially for large amounts), but also to the economic problems in certain countries.
Bitcoin payments are particularly popular in developing countries with hyperinflation, where the purchasing power of the national currency is rapidly decreasing.
For these countries, Bitcoin serves as a "lifeline," protecting its holders from high inflation. For example, in Venezuela, Bitcoin payments account for 2.3% to 3.1% of the country's total monetary transactions.
Experts predict that Bitcoin will be widely adopted in developing regions, such as Africa and Latin America, shortly.
According to various estimates, the daily Bitcoin payment volume is expected to grow to $3–5 billion by 2025. Analysts also predict that by 2030, the daily BTC payment volume will reach $5–8 billion, and their share will rise to 20–30%.
Investments
In the first few years after the launch of the Bitcoin network in 2009, Bitcoin was primarily used for payments rather than investments. This was due to at least two factors:
- The lack of exchange infrastructure. The first Bitcoin exchanges appeared only a year after the launch of the first cryptocurrency.
- The lack of need to buy cryptocurrency: Before the introduction of ASIC devices in 2014, Bitcoin could be easily mined using a home PC with a CPU or GPU.
Once Bitcoin started trading on exchanges, the BTC price gradually rose:
- By the end of 2011, the price of the first cryptocurrency reached $6;
- In 2013, it reached $800;
- In 2017, it hit $19,000;
- In 2021, it peaked at $69,000;
- By 2025, it is expected to reach $112,000.
This means that if an investor had held Bitcoin since the end of 2011 and sold it at the peak in 2021 for $112,000, their capital would have increased approximately 18,500 times.
In 2013, a user on the BitcoinTalk forum expressed the intention to hold onto their Bitcoin despite the downturn in the cryptocurrency market. As a result of a typo, the word HODL became the term for the "buy and hold" strategy, later adopted by many Bitcoin investors.
As of June 2025, the majority of BTC coins are used for long-term investment. According to the analytics service Glassnode, more than 60% of all Bitcoin is stored in the wallets of long-term investors.
According to BitcoinTreasuries, companies own over 3% of all mined Bitcoins, which have now approached 20 million. Around 130 companies worldwide hold Bitcoins worth over $87 billion.
Most of the "corporate" Bitcoin belongs to Michael Saylor's Strategy company, which owns 592,100 BTC worth about $63.5 billion, already accounting for more than 2.9% of the total supply of the first cryptocurrency. Over the last year, the number of Bitcoins on the balance sheets of public companies has increased by more than 150%.
Glassnode analysts also note that investors accumulate about $1.35 billion in Bitcoin every month, which reduces market liquidity and, accordingly, increases the cryptocurrency's volatility.
Long-term investors ("hodlers") typically store their digital assets in personal (non-custodial) cold wallets, including hardware wallets. This means that for some time, these Bitcoins are removed from circulation, and in some cases, they become "dormant coins."
The number of wallets containing more than 1 BTC has surpassed 1.1 million. At the same time, only 2,000 wallets control about 40% of all Bitcoins.
Bitcoin as a speculative asset
As exchanges emerged, Bitcoin became a speculative asset, as its price could rise or fall by tens of percent within a short period.
Although more than 16 years have passed since the creation of the first cryptocurrency, its volatility remains relatively high, especially during times of turbulence in traditional markets. For example, in early April, amid investors' expectations of new tariffs from Trump on certain foreign countries, the price of Bitcoin dropped 9.5% in just three days, from $83,500 to $76,200. In comparison, the US Dollar Index in 2025 fell by only 0.33% in a single day.
The high volatility of Bitcoin arises from its relatively small liquidity compared to major currencies. On the one hand, this makes Bitcoin a high-risk asset, similar to stocks and oil. On the other hand, it creates numerous opportunities for hedging and various types of speculation aimed at generating profit, including from the cryptocurrency's price fluctuations.
The acceptance and launch of Bitcoin ETFs demonstrates significant speculative interest from institutional investors. As of June 2025, the market capitalization of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) had reached $134.8 billion, accounting for more than 6% of the total Bitcoin market capitalization. The daily trading volume of Bitcoin futures on CME is about $5 billion.
Analysts estimate that the market capitalization of Bitcoin ETFs could reach $200 billion by the fall of 2025.
Bitcoin as a reserve asset
Once Bitcoin became sufficiently popular, it gained the status of "digital gold" — a reliable asset that helps protect capital from inflation in unstable economies.
As of June 2025, Bitcoin is already held in the reserves of countries such as El Salvador, Bhutan, North Korea, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. Additionally, the United States, China, the United Kingdom, and Germany are considering using Bitcoin as a reserve asset shortly. According to various estimates, different countries collectively hold around 570,000 BTC, although not all reserves are officially confirmed.
According to an OMFIF survey, 3% of central banks worldwide are considering adding Bitcoin to their reserves in the next decade. However, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has notified central banks that, starting January 1, 2025, organizations will only be able to hold up to 2% of their reserves in cryptocurrency.