5 of the Worlds Richest Bitcoin Holders

1: Satoshi Nakamoto

The legendary Satoshi Nakamoto holds the number one spot as they are rumored to have more than a million bitcoin. It is very difficult to determine the exact amount, partially because Satoshi has never touched their bitcoin. In fact, Satoshi NOT touching their bitcoin is exactly what analysts look for when attributing an address to Satoshi. As of the time of writing, 1 million bitcoin is worth about 10 billion dollars. If Satoshi were ever to sell their bitcoin, even a small percentage of it, the markets would notice. Such a large influx of bitcoin into the market may disrupt the price significantly. At that time, we would simultaneously know who Satoshi Nakamoto really is. A more ideal scenario would be if Satoshi Nakomoto never reveals their identity, and never touches their bitcoin. The anonymity of Satoshi protects the narrative of Bitcoin as the people’s currency.

2: Roger Ver

Also known as Bitcoin Jesus, Roger is an early bitcoin adopter and one of its biggest proponents. He is known for spreading the good gospel of bitcoin, (thus Jesus), and giving away bitcoin for free. It is possible that Roger has directly turned more people onto Bitcoin than anyone else. Although Andreas Antonopolous may have Roger beat. While reports vary on the exact amount of Bitcoin Roger Ver has, it is estimated to be above 100k. Roger is known in the industry for aiding in the Bitcoin Cash fork on August 1, 2017. At this time, Roger sold a large amount of his bitcoin in exchange for bitcoin cash. Roger has been adamant about adopting the technology that is best suited to dethrone corrupt government reserve currencies. This is the center of a hot debate in the cryptocurrency industry. Is BTC or BCH best suited to take down the fed?

3: Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss

Also known as the Winklevoss twins, we’ve denoted them as a single entity for the purposes of this article. They became famous due to a Facebook lawsuit wherein they were awarded around 20 million dollars in cash. The twins immediately took that money and bought bitcoin with it. They bought about 1% of the total supply of bitcoin, which amounts to 210,000. Since then, they’ve invested in several bitcoin related startups, as well as started their own exchange; Gemini.

Now, Cameron and Tyler spend their time building the exchange, and accelerating the adoption of bitcoin and cryptocurrency related technologies. Their most recent win in the crypto space is the partnership between Gemini and Wealth Simple Canada. The twins are in and out of the news due to their notoriety gained from the facebook lawsuit. Ultimately this is a good thing for the crypto industry as more focus on their recent endeavours ends up putting more attention on Bitcoin.

4: Barry Silbert

One of the lesser known names, but still a massive presence in the crypto space, is Barry Silbert. Barry is an early investor in companies such as Coinbase, Ripple, and BitPay. These are three of the largest and earlier fuelers of crypto adoption. In 2013 Barry founded GrayScale Bitcoin Trust. Grayscale is purchasing bitcoin faster than it can be mined. If the pace of their accumulation continues, they will own up to 3% of the total amount of bitcoin by January 2021. This will put them ahead of Winklevoss twins. If the pace of their investment continues for several years, then they will eventually own more bitcoin than Satoshi Nakamoto. It is worth mentioning that while Barry himself probably has a substantial stash of Bitcoin, he made the list because of Grayscale.

5: Brian Armstrong

You may have heard the name of Brian Armstrong in reference to the popular bitcoin exchange Coinbase. That’s because Brian is the CEO and founder of Coinbase. He started Coinbase with his partner Fred Ehrsam in 2012 after leaving his career at AirBnB. One of the most notable aspects worth mentioning about Brian Armstrong, is that he has signed the Giving Pledge in 2018. Brian is one of the only major names in the cryptocurrency space to have done this. So while it is not clear as to what Brian’s Bitcoin balance is, we have some confidence that it is being used for the greater good. What is for sure, is that Brian is at the helm of one of the earliest and now largest Bitcoin exchanges in the world.

Richest Bitcoin Holders Charge Into the Future

The one thing that each of the individuals listed above have in common is that they are all pioneers in their own right. They have all influenced, started, and ultimately altered the course of bitcoin in various ways. Their bitcoin balance is actually somewhat of the boring part of each of their stories. What they do with their balance, and their influence is the thing worth paying attention to. The reasons why they have accumulated their balance is also worth understanding. No one buys hundreds of millions of dollars worth of bitcoin on a bet. These people are calculated, and intelligent forward thinking individuals. It is these people that will go down in history as having broken new ground, and pioneered the bitcoin space. The cryptocurrency industry would not be what it is today without Satoshi, the Winklevoss Twins, and Bitcoin Jesus.