Who Owns the Most Bitcoin? | River Learn - Bitcoin Basics (2024)

Key Highlights

  • All bitcoin is controlled by private keys. The owner of a private key owns the bitcoin controlled by that key
  • Ownership of bitcoin, even in large quantities, does not confer any control over the Bitcoin network
  • The four wealthiest bitcoin addresses collectively own more than 663,306 BTC
  • Microstrategy owns more bitcoin than any other publicly traded company

Who Owns Bitcoin?

Satoshi Nakamoto is the anonymous creator of Bitcoin, but he doesn’t own the Bitcoin project, nobody does.

Bitcoin is software ran by a decentralized network, which means no single party is in control of the set of rules in the software. These rules must be agreed upon by the network participants in order for them to transact.

Who Owns The Most Bitcoin?

Satoshi Nakamoto not only invented, but also kickstarted Bitcoin, by being the first miner to create blocks of transactions. It is estimated that Satoshi mined more than 22,000 blocks starting from January 3rd 2009, and received more than one million bitcoin in cumulative block rewards for his work. As a result, Satoshi is estimated to hold the largest bitcoin cache, more than 1 million BTC, valued at approximately $23 billion today. This bitcoin is not stored in one address, but spread across those roughly 22,000 addresses. None of it was ever spent besides a few test transactions. Satoshi left the project in 2010 and hasn’t been heard from since.

Who Owns the Most Bitcoin? | River Learn - Bitcoin Basics (1)

Bitcoin Wealth Distribution

Over time, bitcoin ownership has become distributed in strata based on total bitcoin wealth. These categories are based on the total number of bitcoin located at an address.

The amount of bitcoin that each stratum of addresses owns in relation to the entire bitcoin supply fluctuates over time. Today, only four bitcoin addresses contain 100,000 - 1,000,000 BTC for a total of 663,306 BTC. The next 112 largest owners, who range from 10,000 - 100,000 BTC, own a total of 2,378,961 BTC. These wealthiest 112 addresses account for 12.32% of the total supply. Bitcoin addresses with 10,000 or more bitcoin are sometimes referred to as whales.

Who Owns the Most Bitcoin? | River Learn - Bitcoin Basics (2)

Learn more about the top 100 richest bitcoin addresses.

Bitcoin Billionaires

Not including Satoshi, four bitcoin addresses contain more than 100,000 bitcoin each. The four addresses with the most bitcoin belong to Binance, Bitfinex, and another address, whose identity is unknown. These four addresses collectively own more than 663,000 bitcoin. The exchange addresses represent the holdings of many individual investors who are not holding their own keys.

Who Owns the Most Bitcoin? | River Learn - Bitcoin Basics (3)

Binance owns the largest cold storage wallet address, 34xp4vRoCGJym3xR7yCVPFHoCNxv4Twseo, which holds ​​248,597 BTC.

Companies Holding the Most Bitcoin

Companies can use corporate savings, called a treasury, to buy bitcoin. The benefit of this strategy, employed by companies such as Microstrategy, Tesla, and Galaxy Digital Holdings, is to protect their savings against inflation and negative-yield bonds.

Large corporations who can issue corporate bonds with low interest rates also have the opportunity to create cheap debt and use the funds to purchase bitcoin. In theory, as the dollar’s value decreases with inflation and bitcoin continues to store value, paying off fiat debt will require fewer bitcoin. This strategy is similar to buying on margin or using leverage.

Public Companies

Collectively, public companies own more than 253,565 BTC, equal to 1.2% of the total supply. The ten public companies holding the most bitcoin on their balance sheet hold over 238,000 BTC total.

Microstrategy, led by Michael Saylor, holds more bitcoin than any other public company. Microstrategy has acquired more than 131,000 BTC, which represents roughly 0.689% of the total supply. Microstrategy has purchased bitcoin with both their corporate treasury and through bond offerings. These bonds have an extremely low interest rate and can be redeemed either for equity in Microstrategy or for fiat. This tactic allows Microstrategy to acquire bitcoin cheaply and beyond the capacity of their corporate treasury.

The second-largest bitcoin holding by a public company is Galaxy Digital Holdings, which owns 16,400 BTC. In third place is Tesla, Inc. which holds 10,725 BTC, a 0.051% share of the total supply, after previously selling over 31,000 BTC.

Private Companies

Private companies own roughly 316,067 BTC, about 1.5% of the total supply. Mt. Gox, the formerly hacked exchange, is the largest private holder of bitcoin that is yet to be distributed to creditors. It holds a total of 141,686 bitcoin, or 0.7% of total supply.

Block.one, a Chinese corporation, is the second largest private owner of bitcoin. Block.one reportedly owns 140,000 BTC, representing 0.7% of the total supply.

Learn more about investing bitcoin in an LLC.

Indirect Bitcoin Exposure

Indirect bitcoin exposure is one investment method for investors seeking to gain exposure to the bitcoin price without directly purchasing bitcoin. Some investors also believe they can reduce risk by investing in an extensive portfolio with many bitcoin-related assets. A Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) may contain equities and other bitcoin-related assets that result in a more diversified portfolio. Bitcoin ETFs track the price of bitcoin, albeit imperfectly. Some proposed ETFs are based on bitcoin futures and other derivative products.

ETFs and other funds own a combined 819,125 BTC, 3.9% of the total bitcoin supply. The largest holder in this category is Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), which owns 643,572 BTC, or nearly 3.2% of the total supply.

In total, ETFs, public and private companies own over 1.38 million BTC, more than 6.6% of the total supply.

Learn more about bitcoin ETFs.

Retirement accounts are another popular method for indirect exposure to bitcoin. A growing number of custodians offer financial services and Traditional or Roth IRA products that can include bitcoin.

Learn more about investing bitcoin in a retirement account.

Governments Holding the Most Bitcoin

Governments across the world own an estimated 244,779 BTC, representing 1.17% of the total supply. The Chinese government reportedly holds 194,000 BTC that was recovered from the Plustoken scam in 2019. Members of the Ukrainian government privately hold roughly 46,351 BTC. El Salvador’s holdings are currently at 2,381 BTC.

Learn more about how much bitcoin governments own.

Total Bitcoin Supply

Under the current Bitcoin software rules, there can never be more than 21 million bitcoin. For that reason, percent ownership of the total bitcoin supply can be safely calculated using the hard cap of 21 million.

However, some models use the total supply of bitcoin excluding the more than 1,000,000 BTC that Satoshi Nakamoto received in block rewards and the estimated 3-4 million coins that are lost forever. This places the total supply of bitcoin closer to 18 million rather than 21 million. Regardless of the model used, there is a strict upper limit on the number of bitcoin that will ever exist. Therefore, all bitcoin owners can be confident that their share of bitcoin will never be diluted below a certain percentage.

Learn more about how lost bitcoin makes bitcoin more valuable.

Who Owns the Most Bitcoin? | River Learn - Bitcoin Basics (2024)

FAQs

Who Owns the Most Bitcoin? | River Learn - Bitcoin Basics? ›

The largest holder in this category is Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), which owns 643,572 BTC, or nearly 3.2% of the total supply. In total, ETFs, public and private companies own over 1.38 million BTC, more than 6.6% of the total supply. ➤ Learn more about bitcoin ETFs.

Who is the most Bitcoin owner? ›

US-based software company MicroStrategy (MSTR) was the world's biggest publicly traded corporate owner of bitcoin. MicroStrategy said in its earnings report for the fourth quarter of 2022 earnings results had holdings to 132,500 BTC, worth about $2.194bn on 2 February 2023.

Who are the largest holders of Bitcoin? ›

Michael Novogratz founded Galaxy Digital Holdings, a broker-dealer and cryptocurrency and digital asset management firm.
  1. Barry Silbert. Barry Silbert is the founder and chief executive officer of Digital Currency Group. ...
  2. Michael Saylor. ...
  3. Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss. ...
  4. Elon Musk. ...
  5. Michael Novogratz.

Which government owns the most Bitcoin? ›

  • The United States government has now surpassed MicroStrategy and Tesla as one of the largest holders of Bitcoin, with over 205,000 BTC in its possession, Dune data on March 27 shows. ...
  • According to trackers, MicroStrategy holds 132,500 BTC while Tesla owns 10,725 BTC, less than what the United States government controls.
Mar 27, 2023

Who is the king of bitcoin? ›

Satoshi Nakamoto (born 5 April 1975) is the name used by the presumed pseudonymous person or persons who developed bitcoin, authored the bitcoin white paper, and created and deployed bitcoin's original reference implementation. As part of the implementation, Nakamoto also devised the first blockchain database.

How much bitcoin does US government own? ›

The U.S. government currently holds 205,515 bitcoins valued at $5.66 billion based on today's exchange rates. The bitcoins were confiscated in three cases, including the Silk Road bitcoin seizure in November 2020, the 2022 Bitfinex hack confiscation, and the seizure of bitcoins from James Zhong last year.

What is the richest Bitcoin address? ›

Top 500 Richest Bitcoin Addresses
#AddressBalance
116ftSEQ4ctQFDtVZiUBusQUjRrGhM3JYwe168,791 BTC
23D2oetdNuZUqQHPJmcMDDHYoqkyNVsFk9r144,467 BTC
316rCmCmbuWDhPjWTrpQGaU3EPdZF7MTdUk107,203 BTC
43Cbq7aT1tY8kMxWLbitaG7yT6bPbKChq6498,042 BTC
159 more rows

How many Bitcoin billionaires are there? ›

reached their all-time high in 2021. The global market cap reached great heights. Not just that, many people made fortunes out of this gold rush, seven people became billionaires via crypto, bringing the total number of crypto billionaires to 19 as per the Forbes Billionares list.

What is the average Bitcoin holding per person? ›

Simple math shows that the average bitcoin holding per person is about 262,500 satoshis. At $69,000 per bitcoin, that works out to an investment of about $180 to reach the global average bitcoin allocation. So don't be discouraged by the price of a single bitcoin.

Can the government see who owns Bitcoin? ›

Yes, the government (and anyone else) can track Bitcoin and Bitcoin transactions. All transactions are stored permanently on a public ledger, available to anyone.

Who runs behind Bitcoin? ›

There is at least one real person behind the name Satoshi Nakamoto. We know this because somebody created Bitcoin's source code, published its white paper, sent emails and made forum posts about the cryptocurrency.

How much Bitcoin does Ukraine own? ›

Ukrainian public officials reported owning 46,351 bitcoin, or US$2.67 billion at Wednesday's price, according to the report by a local data analytics service Opendatabot.

Which year last Bitcoin will be mined? ›

It's estimated that all bitcoins will be mined by the year 2140, at which point the last block reward will be released. If a Bitcoin is lost or destroyed, it cannot be recovered, which can lead to a decrease in the total supply of bitcoins and an increase in their overall value.

What is the oldest Bitcoin wallet? ›

The first wallet program, simply named Bitcoin, and sometimes referred to as the Satoshi client, was released in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto as open-source software. In version 0.5 the client moved from the wxWidgets user interface toolkit to Qt, and the whole bundle was referred to as Bitcoin-Qt.

Who is the fake creator of Bitcoin? ›

Satoshi Nakamoto is the pseudonym used by the creator or creators of Bitcoin. The identity of Satoshi Nakamoto is not publicly known. One of the first major public investigations ended with Dorian Nakamoto being identified as Bitcoin's creator, but he continues to decline the claim.

What is Tom Brady's crypto? ›

Tom Brady owns more than 1 million shares in FTX that are practically worthless after the crypto exchange collapsed—and Gisele isn't too far behind. Billionaire New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and star NFL quarterback Tom Brady are among those sharing in the pain of FTX Group's sudden implosion.

Who are the three crypto guys killed? ›

Claim the JACKPOT with 55 FREE SPINS. Signup today to redeem your bonus. Nikolai Mushegian, age 29, Tiantian Kullander, 30, and Vyacheslav Taran, age 53, were three outstanding crypto luminaries who passed away within a matter of weeks of each other, as reported by KCEN TV.

Is Bitcoin taxed by the government? ›

The IRS classifies cryptocurrency as property or a digital asset. Any time you sell or exchange crypto, it's a taxable event. This includes using crypto used to pay for goods or services. In most cases, the IRS taxes cryptocurrencies as an asset and subjects them to long-term or short-term capital gains taxes.

Can the US government confiscate Bitcoin? ›

In a criminal forfeiture action, the defendant stands accused of criminal activity that involved a certain piece of property or a specific asset. Bitcoin is not entirely fungible and the law treats bitcoin as property, so it is subject to forfeiture in addition to seizure.

How much does US tax Bitcoin? ›

How much is crypto taxed in the USA? You'll pay up to 37% tax on short-term capital gains and crypto income and between 0% to 20% tax on long-term capital gains - although NFTs deemed collectibles may be taxed at 28%.

Who are the billionaires because of bitcoin? ›

Changpeng Zhao (CZ) – Founder of Binance, Changpeng Zhao (CZ) is one of the richest crypto billionaires in the world. Zhao's net worth is estimated at $1.9 billion. 2. Sam Bankman-Fried – The second person on the list, Sam Bankman-Fried, is the youngest crypto millionaire at the age of 30.

Which city uses bitcoin the most? ›

According to crowdsourcing, most U.S. vendors that accepted cryptocurrency in their stores in 2021 were found in California. New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco had the highest amount of companies that had an in-store ATM for cryptocurrency withdrawal, or accepted them for payment that year.

Who are the three Bitcoin founders dead? ›

The three notable crypto luminaries who died within a few weeks of one another were Nikolai Mushegian, 29, Tiantian Kullander, 30, and Vyacheslav Taran, 53.

What could Bitcoin be worth in 10 years? ›

Answer: Bitcoin could be worth between $800,000 and $1 million in 10 years based on analysts' predictions. The $1 million price target is anticipated in 2030.

What happens when all 21 million Bitcoins are mined? ›

What Happens to Mining Fees When Bitcoin's Supply Limit Is Reached? Bitcoin mining fees will disappear when the Bitcoin supply reaches 21 million. After that, miners will likely earn income only from transaction processing fees rather than a combination of block rewards and transaction fees.

What is the minimum amount of Bitcoin you should own? ›

Numerous researchers say that it is best to own at least 0.0025 BTC as its price is expected to go up in the future. As time progresses, the popularity of cryptocurrencies, such as BTC, is expected to rise rapidly. The number of retail and institutional investors purchasing BTC is rising rapidly.

How many people own a whole Bitcoin? ›

Over 44.15 million unique addresses have a non-zero balance of Bitcoin. Cryptocurrency creator Satoshi Nakamoto is thought to own 1 million bitcoins, worth $40 billion to $60 billion US dollars. There are more than 250,000 confirmed transactions of Bitcoin daily.

How much Bitcoin do I need to own to be in the top 1%? ›

In brief
  • The "Bitcoin 1% club" refers to the top 1% of Bitcoin holders worldwide.
  • It's hard to determine how much BTC you need to be in the 1% club, since Bitcoin isn't evenly distributed among addresses, and there are many lost Bitcoin.
  • Estimates for the threshold range from 0.28 BTC to as high as 15 BTC.
Oct 14, 2020

How do I hide crypto from the IRS? ›

9 Different Ways to Legally Avoid Taxes on Cryptocurrency
  1. How cryptocurrency taxes work. ...
  2. Buy crypto in an IRA. ...
  3. Move to Puerto Rico. ...
  4. Declare your crypto as income. ...
  5. Hold onto your crypto for the long term. ...
  6. Offset crypto gains with losses. ...
  7. Sell assets during a low-income year. ...
  8. Donate to charity.
Feb 6, 2023

Can the government shut down Bitcoin? ›

As Bitcoin is decentralised, the network as such cannot be shut down by one government. However, governments have attempted to ban cryptocurrencies before, or at least to restrict their use in their respective jurisdiction.

Will the IRS know if I don't report crypto? ›

If, after the deadline to report and any extensions have passed, you still have not properly reported your crypto gains on Form 8938, you can face additional fines and penalties. After an initial failure to file, the IRS will notify any taxpayer who hasn't completed their annual return or reports.

What makes Bitcoin valuable? ›

Bitcoin demonstrates some attributes for a currency, but its main source of value lies in its restricted supply and increasing demand. If the price of one bitcoin were to reach $514,000, Bitcoin's market capitalization would reach approximately 15% of the global currency market.

Who sets the Bitcoin target? ›

The cryptocurrency network sets a target value for this hash—called the target hash—and miners try to determine what this value is by testing out all possible values.

Is Steve Jobs Satoshi Nakamoto? ›

Last week, the internet lit up with speculation that Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) founder Steve Jobs may be Bitcoin's inventor Satoshi Nakamoto. The rumor was started by the discovery of a copy of the Bitcoin white paper on technology writer Andy Baio's Mac.

How much crypto does Bill Gates own? ›

Billionaire Bill Gates doesn't own any cryptocurrency.

The investor and philanthropist has described nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and other cryptocurrencies as an asset class “100% based on the greater fool theory —that somebody's going to pay more for it than I do.”

How many Russians own Bitcoin? ›

More than 17 million Russians, or about 12% of the total population, are cryptocurrency owners, according to data from the Singapore-based tripleA payment gateway.

How much of Bitcoin does Elon Musk own? ›

revealed on Twitter that he owns only a tiny fraction of one bitcoin token. "I literally own zero cryptocurrency, apart from . 25 BTC that a friend sent me many years ago," Musk confessed. Using today's bitcoin price of about $10,000 a coin, that translates to $2,500.

Who can overtake Ethereum? ›

Ethereum has been the number one NFT platform for years, but Solana could overtake it.

How many Ethereum are left? ›

Basic Info. Ethereum Supply is at a current level of 118.25M, down from 118.40M yesterday and down from 118.92M one year ago. This is a change of -0.13% from yesterday and -0.56% from one year ago.

Who is the rich Ethereum guy? ›

Vitalik Buterin is a co-founder of Ethereum and one of the leading figures in the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry. He was born in 1994 in Russia, but spent most of his early life in Canada.

What will $100 of Bitcoin be worth in 2030? ›

The research report put together by Ark Invest sees Bitcoin hitting price targets in 2030 of $258,500 in the bearish forecast, $682,000 in the average market and $1.48 million in a bullish market.

What will happen if all bitcoins are mined? ›

When all bitcoin have been mined, miner revenue will depend entirely on transaction fees. The price and purchasing power of bitcoin will adjust to the lack of new supply. The scarcity of Bitcoin will make it more attractive to investors and users.

Can Bitcoin expire? ›

Cryptocurrency options have different expiration dates, depending on a particular exchange. Just as on traditional markets, the farther out the crypto option's expiration date, the more expensive and potentially profitable the option will be.

What coin was before Bitcoin? ›

The first cryptocurrency was eCash, created by David Chaum's company DigiCash in 1990. There were several attempts to create a viable and accepted cryptocurrency before Bitcoin. eCash, B-money, Bit Gold, and Hashcash were very influential in Bitcoin's creation.

What was the first thing ever bought with Bitcoin? ›

The first Bitcoin real-world transaction occurred on May 22, 2010, a date known to Bitcoin enthusiasts as Bitcoin Pizza Day. Laszlo Hanyecz paid 10,000 BTC to have two Papa Johns pizzas delivered to him. The pizzas retailed for about $25.

How many people own 1 Bitcoin? ›

However, some estimates can be made based on blockchain data and surveys of Bitcoin holders. According to data from Bitinfocharts, as of March 2023, there are approximately 827,000 addresses that hold 1 bitcoin or more, representing around 4.5% of all addresses on the Bitcoin network.

Is Putin really behind Bitcoin? ›

Is the "Putin behind bitcoin" rumor true? Putin has been Russia's president for many years. In that role, it would be hard to believe that Putin would have the time to devote to building a complex cryptocurrency system like bitcoin. In that case, it would be highly doubtful that he's behind the crypto.

How many Bitcoin millionaires are there? ›

There are over 140,000 wallet addresses containing between 10 and 100 BTC, according to the “Bitcoin Rich List”. However, not each of these portfolios will belong to a millionaire. There are roughly 24,233 wallets worth more than $1 million among people who are unquestionably Bitcoin millionaires.

How many bitcoins did Michael Saylor buy? ›

The business software company founded by Bitcoin devotee Michael Saylor disclosed in a Wednesday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had purchased 1,045 Bitcoin for about $29.3 million in cash—an average price of around $28,016.

What is the top 1% of Bitcoin holders? ›

The "Bitcoin 1% club" refers to the top 1% of Bitcoin holders worldwide. It's hard to determine how much BTC you need to be in the 1% club, since Bitcoin isn't evenly distributed among addresses, and there are many lost Bitcoin. Estimates for the threshold range from 0.28 BTC to as high as 15 BTC.

What will one Bitcoin be worth in 2030? ›

Bitcoin Prediction Table
YearMinimum PriceAverage Price
2028$260,290.32$269,661.42
2029$377,236.77$388,023.23
2030$538,883.50$558,284.66
2031$759,968.22$787,882.45
6 more rows

How many Bitcoin's are left to mine? ›

The maximum number of bitcoins that can ever exist is 21 million, and as of March 2023, over 19 million bitcoins have already been mined. This means that there are only around 2 million bitcoins left to be mined, and once that limit is reached, no more bitcoins will be created.

How much of Bitcoin does Russia own? ›

Russians own more than 16.5 trillion rubles ($214 billion) worth of cryptocurrencies, according to an estimate the Kremlin and government officials are using to craft a plan to regulate the industry.

Who knew who is really behind Bitcoin? ›

No one really knows who is behind the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto that has been credited as developing the world's first and largest, cryptocurrency – Bitcoin. Nakamoto was the one who mined the first blockchain of Bitcoin and was the one who published the whitepaper for the digital currency.

What happens when last Bitcoin is mined? ›

Bitcoin mining fees will disappear when the Bitcoin supply reaches 21 million. After that, miners will likely earn income only from transaction processing fees rather than a combination of block rewards and transaction fees.

Which billionaires have invested in Bitcoin? ›

  • Changpeng Zhao (CZ)
  • Song Chi-hyung.
  • Brian Armstrong.
  • Jed McCaleb.
  • Chris Larsen.
  • Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss.
  • Michael Saylor.
  • Wealthiest Crypto Holder FAQs.
Feb 17, 2023

What billionaire hates Bitcoin? ›

Billionaire investor Charlie Munger isn't a fan of cryptocurrency. The Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman called the form of virtual currency “worthless” during Wednesday's annual shareholder meeting of the Daily Journal Corporation, a publishing company where he's a director.

How do Bitcoin millionaires cash out? ›

At the end of the day, you have 5 options: a cryptocurrency exchange, an OTC brokerage, peer-to-peer exchanges, Bitcoin ATMs, and crypto gift cards. These are the most commonly used, and ultimately, the best way to cash out Bitcoin will depend on your specific needs and circ*mstances.

How many Bitcoin does Tesla own? ›

Tesla put $1.5bn into Bitcoin in early 2021, with chief executive Elon Musk saying it would be accepted as payment. It changed course a few weeks later, and Tesla has since sold most of its Bitcoin holdings. It now holds about $184m of Bitcoin.

What is the most Bitcoin has ever costed? ›

Bitcoin (BTC) price again reached an all-time high in 2021, as values exceeded over 65,000 USD in November 2021.
...
Bitcoin (BTC) price per day from Apr 2013 - May 01, 2023 (in U.S. dollars)
CharacteristicBitcoin price index in U.S. dollars
Feb 202323,518.12
Jan 202322,840.39
Dec 202216,604.02
Nov 202216,441.98
9 more rows

What is the most Bitcoin has been worth? ›

Since then, Bitcoin has seen a meteoric rise, increasing from fractions of a penny to an all-time high of nearly $69,000 in November 2021.

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