Bitcoin Just Hit $104,000, But Who Owns the Most Bitcoin?

Satoshi Nakamoto owns the most bitcoins, with an estimated 1.1 million BTC. Satoshi not only invented Bitcoin, but he also powered it, being the first miner to create transaction blocks. Satoshi is estimated to have mined over 22,000 blocks as of January 3, 2009, and received over a million bitcoins in accumulated block rewards for his work.

How Many Bitcoins Does Satoshi Have?

As a result, Satoshi is estimated to have over 1.1 million BTC, valued at approximately $113 billion as of December 2024. These bitcoins are not stored in a single address, but are spread across approximately 22,000 addresses. None of it has ever been spent, save for a few test transactions. Satoshi left the project in 2010 and has not been heard from since.

Individual Bitcoin Whales

Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss: After reaching a deal in 2008 with Mark Zuckerberg for $65 million in Facebook stock and cash, the pair founded an angel investment firm. A few years later, they announced that they had purchased approximately $11 million worth of bitcoins at an average cost of $10 per coin. The Winklevoss twins are estimated to own around 70,000 BTC.

Tim Draper: The VC titan has been interested in Bitcoin for a while; so much so that he made an initial purchase of 40,000 BTC on the Mt Gox exchange.

Sadly, all 40,000 coins were lost in the hack and subsequent bankruptcy. However, in 2014, Mr. Draper purchased 29,656 BTC for $18.7 million at a cost basis of about $632 per coin.

Michael Saylor: The founder and chairman of Microstrategy revealed in an October 2020 tweet that he personally owned 17,732 BTC. It is reasonable to assume that he has since acquired more, as he is a public fan of Bitcoin.

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