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Ask CryptoVantage: Who Owns the Most Bitcoin?
The success that Bitcoin has achieved so far as the world’s leading digital currency is amazing because the pioneer cryptocurrency only had a market capitalization of around $143 million just one year ago. As of writing, Bitcoin’s total market capitalization stands at a whopping $1.148 trillion.
In addition to its growing market cap, the amount of Bitcoins in circulation has also grown over the past 12 years of its existence. Today those who own the biggest chunk of the Bitcoin pie are the early adopters and visionaries who saw the coming financial revolution even before it began.
To date, Satoshi Nakamoto remains the owner of the world’s biggest Bitcoin cache, given that he/she mined more than 22,000 blocks receiving one million bitcoin in cumulative rewards early on. That amount is now worth about $61 billion in current prices.
How Wealth on Bitcoin’s Network is Distributed
Even with Satoshi’s cache of one million Bitcoin’s, Bitcoin’s ownership is anything but highly concentrated, as is the case with most cryptocurrencies.
According to reports, whales who own more than 1000 Bitcoins account for around 31% of Bitcoin’s supply, and only three Bitcoin addresses contain between 100,000 BTC to 1 million BTC. What’s more, the 82 wealthiest Bitcoin addresses account for just 14.5% of the market’s total supply.
Top Companies, Investors Holding the Most Bitcoins
Excluding exchanges that have addresses that hold Bitcoin for millions of traders around the world, several companies and individuals have since started accumulating Bitcoin.
These include the following:
Micree Zhan
Zhan Micree is the co-founder of Bitmain, one of the biggest crypto mining companies known for its Antminer line of ASIC mining machines.
After a long power struggle with Jihan Wu (Bitmain co-founder) in 2019, Zhan left the giant crypto mining business and has since purchased shares from shareholders to become the company’s largest shareholder to date.
After Satoshi, Zhan Micree is considered the second wealthiest man in the crypto space with a Bitcoin net worth of $3.2 billion.
Mike Novogratz
Mike Novogratz has made bold predictions about Bitcoin hitting $100,000 by the end of the year, and for a good reason.
The billionaire revealed that cryptocurrency makes up 85% of his net worth, accounting for a staggering $4.8 billion value.
Novogratz is the co-founder of Bloq, a blockchain-centric tech company focused on developing tokenized networks and applications. While speaking in an interview, Novogratz said that crypto is “a once in a generation move that people should understand”.
The Winklevoss Twins
The story of how the twins got into crypto is one of the most interesting tales in finance today.
The two twin brothers are famous for suing Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg in 2008 for stealing the concept of their social media platform.
After the settlement they received from the lawsuit, the two went all-in on Bitcoin and today own between 70,000 to 100,000 bitcoins.
At some point, the Winklevoss twins were considered Bitcoin’s wealthiest individuals owning about 1% of Bitcoin’s total supply.
Microstrategy
One of the biggest institutions to become Bitcoin rich is MicroStrategy.
Led by Bitcoin pundit Michael J Saylor, the business intelligence and mobile software service provider has accumulated a Bitcoin holding of about 114,042 BTC bought at an average price of $27,713 per BTC.
So far, the company has gained over $2 billion in profit from its initial purchase.
Tesla
Another company that leads the way when it comes to Bitcoin ownership is Tesla.
The electric vehicle’s celebrity CEO Elon Musk has been vocal in the crypto space, especially about Dogecoin. However, Tesla moved to hold Bitcoin early in 2021 and is reported to hold about 43,000 BTC even though the company reportedly sold a portion of its holdings in July this year.
What Pulls People, Companies to Buy Bitcoin?
One of the main factors that attract billionaires, investors, and institutions to buy more Bitcoin is the fact that Bitcoin is the pioneer cryptocurrency and the market leader.
Bitcoin’s technology has stood the test of time, and early investors continue to count their profits. What’s more, Bitcoin’s deflationary supply also adds to the narrative of Bitcoin as a store of value considering increasing inflation and printing of money across the world’s fiat currencies.
