Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto owns the most Bitcoin – for now. Other holders are catching up.
Bitcoin distribution is slightly more concentrated than last year.
Wallets with more than 10,000 Bitcoin accounted for nearly 16% of the token supply on Wednesday bitinfocharts.com data. This is up from about 15% as of October 3, 2023.
But that is not the whole story.
Many of those wallets belong to businesses that hold bitcoin on behalf of others – think Coinbase, which holds bitcoin for retail traders and crypto enthusiasts.
It owns a number of firms that have launched bitcoin-based exchange-traded funds this year.
In fact, Coinbase holds around one million bitcoins – a stockpile opponent The Enigmatic Founder of Cryptocurrency, Satoshi NakamotoAccording to blockchain intelligence firm Arkham.
There is some debate as to whether the crypto exchanges that hold Bitcoin should be considered top holders. For example, most of Coinbase's Bitcoin holdings are held in custody for BlackRock. We decided to list them both, but that means a Bitcoin held on behalf of another entity is counted twice in the top 10 list.
When it comes to single entities, MicroStrategy, a technology company founded by bitcoin evangelist Michael Saylor, is one of the biggest.
It had 252,000 bitcoins worth about $16 billion as of September 19. Regulatory Filing.
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Many world governments also have Bitcoin reserves confiscated from criminals, the US being the largest.
Below are the 10 largest holders controlling more than 17% of the world's Bitcoin supply:
Satoshi Nakamoto: 1.1 million Bitcoin is worth $67.6 billion. Bitcoin's creator mined his crowd within months of its launch. At that time, each block mined on the network rewarded 50 Bitcoins each.
Coinbase: 973,694 bitcoin worth $59.8 billion. Spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs in the US mostly use crypto exchange Coinbase as custodian – with the exception of VanEck, which uses Fidelity, Self-Custody and Gemini.
Binance: 663,813 bitcoin worth $40.8 billion. Despite regulatory crises — including a standoff with Nigerian authorities that led to the jailing of an executive and a former IRS agent — Binance remains the world's Largest crypto exchange.
Blackrock: 361,518 bitcoin worth $22.2 billion. BlackRock jumped into crypto this year, launching a bitcoin ETF and a tokenized money market fund. more than $500 million in US Treasuries. The firm recently published a laser-eyed screed touting bitcoin's potential, and CEO Larry Fink called the cryptocurrency a hedge against optimism.
The rest of the rankings are as follows:
Fidelity Custody: 273,097 bitcoin worth $16.7 billion.
Grayscale: 256,075 bitcoin worth $15.7 billion.
Micro Strategy: 252,220 worth $15.5 billion.
US Government: 198,955 bitcoin worth $12.2 billion.
Bitfinex: 196,504 Bitcoin worth $12 billion.
Kraken: 172,106 bitcoins worth $10.5 billion.
Alex Gilbert News' is a New York-based DeFi correspondent. You can reach him at [email protected].
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