Small Businesses Quietly Fuel Bitcoin Adoption, Says River

BTC price surge to new highs may not be driven solely by Wall ￰0￱ to Bitcoin financial services firm River, small and midsize businesses across the United States are increasingly reinvesting their profits into the digital asset, creating what analysts describe as a quiet but powerful wave of grassroots ￰1￱ reported that its business clients are reinvesting an average of 22% of profits into ￰2￱ real estate firms lead the charge, allocating nearly 15%, other sectors such as hospitality, finance, and software are contributing between 8% and 10%. Even fitness studios, roofing companies, and painting businesses have joined the ￰3￱ Players, Big Impact Sam Baker, a research analyst at River, said these businesses collectively acquired 84,000 Bitcoin in 2025 ￰4￱ is equivalent to about one quarter of the total holdings currently owned by institutional fund managers and corporate treasuries.

“While Bitcoin treasury companies have captured most of the media spotlight, what is often overlooked is adoption by conventional businesses that use Bitcoin to complement their existing business models,” Baker explained in his ￰5￱ pointed to improved accounting standards, clearer regulations, and growing institutional acceptance, combined with BTC bull market, as the key drivers of this shift. River’s findings also highlight a significant difference from the 2020–2021 bull cycle, when BTC run to $69,000 was largely fueled by retail ￰6￱ time, Baker said, both businesses and institutions are providing sustained demand, with some Bitcoin ETFs buying ten times more coins than miners are able to ￰7￱ Small Firms Lead the Charge Interestingly, about 75% of River’s business clients have 50 employees or ￰8￱ argued that smaller firms often find it easier to adopt Bitcoin because they face fewer internal hurdles and less bureaucratic ￰9￱ corporations, particularly those in the S&P 500, tend to avoid Bitcoin due to concerns about norms, shareholder scrutiny, and potential controversy.

Still, most firms are approaching cautiously. River’s data shows more than 40% of businesses allocate just 1% to 10% of profits into BTC, while only 10% commit over half of their ￰10￱ can be modest: last week, Rhode Island-based Western Main Self Storage bought just 0.088 BTC, worth $9,830, adding to its modest 0.43 BTC ￰11￱ the rising trend, Baker noted that the majority of businesses are not yet considering Bitcoin at all, citing “widespread misunderstandings and limited awareness.”