Bitcoin ownership is widespread and diverse. It includes public companies like MicroStrategy and Tesla, institutional investors like BlackRock, large Bitcoin holders like Satoshi Nakamoto, and governments like the US and El Salvador. These entities buy Bitcoin via legal seizures and strategic purchases. Together, they shape the Bitcoin market and its dynamics.
While it’s credited to Satoshi Nakamoto that Bitcoin was created, the person doesn’t own the project. Bitcoin is software that works decentralized as globally networked people run it. This leads many to wonder who owns the most Bitcoin. The decentralization of the Bitcoin protocol means nobody has any control over the rules that govern it. These rules can be changed only when the network participants reach a consensus on those variations.
Who Owns The Most Bitcoin?
It is widely believed that Satoshi Nakamoto holds the most Bitcoin, 968,452 BTC. Almost one million Bitcoins were awarded to Satoshi as the first miner. These coins are on around 20,000 addresses. Apart from some test transactions, nothing has moved. To this end, Bitcoin has an original Satoshi foundation, which is showcased by this substantial holding.
Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin Holdings and MicroStrategy’s Unique Investment Strategy
As of December 2024, Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin holdings were worth $94 billion. This substantial stash is a notable chunk of the total supply of Bitcoin that remains unspent. In 2010, Satoshi, the mystery figure behind Bitcoin’s genesis, stepped away from the project, and since then, he hasn’t been heard from publicly.
With 439,000 BTC, combined with its shareholding in Pantera, MicroStrategy controls about 2% of Bitcoin’s total supply.
MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor has taken a bold step by raising debt capital and using it to help acquire Bitcoin. This strategy assumes that Bitcoin can eventually repay the fiat debt by selling a smaller amount of its Bitcoin should the prices appreciate. This model has inspired other companies to follow this forward-looking investment strategy.
Prominent Bitcoin Investors: Who Owns The Most Bitcoin
Bitcoin, the first and most valuable cryptocurrency, has attracted the rich and powerful. This group includes early adopters and big corporations. Their investments in Bitcoin are significant enough to influence the digital asset market. Curious about who owns the most Bitcoin? Discover who tops the list as the biggest Bitcoin holders and their journey into the crypto world.
Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss: Bitcoin Billionaires
After winning their legal battle with Mark Zuckerberg in 2008 for $65 million in cash and Facebook shares, the Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler, organized an angel investment firm. A few years later, they disclosed that they had bought $11 million of Bitcoin for about $10 per coin. The twins are said to hold a stake of around 70,000 BTC.
Tim Draper: Bitcoin Venture Capital Pioneer
Tim Draper is well-known in the Bitcoin community and has been involved with Bitcoin for years. When he bought his first forty thousand bitcoins, he bought them from the Mt. Gox exchange. Unfortunately, these coins were lost during a hack and the exchange’s bankruptcy. Unfazed, Draper bought 29,656 BTC for $18.7 million in 2014, paying roughly $632 per coin, on average.
Michael Saylor: A Leading Bitcoin Advocate
In October 2020, Michael Saylor, founder and chairman of MicroStrategy, publicly tweeted that he had 17,732 BTC in his account. He may have bought more since then as an influential proponent of Bitcoin, but this is the only known record of the amount of Bitcoin he recorded as his personal assets.
Some have asked how much #BTC I own. I personally #hodl 17,732 BTC which I bought at $9,882 each on average. I informed MicroStrategy of these holdings before the company decided to buy #bitcoin for itself.
— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) October 28, 2020
Insights into Bitcoin Ownership and Corporate Holdings
Bitcoin Ownership Tiers
The ownership of some Bitcoin is already recognized as belonging to a certain tier based on how much Bitcoin is held at one address. These tiers are commonly referred to as ‘strata,’ they are addressed by how much Bitcoin they possess to provide insights into the distribution of wealth within the network.
Over time, the composition of Bitcoin shares in each tier changes due to changes in ownership. Currently, four Bitcoin addresses hold between 100,000, 1,000,000 BTC, and holding 704,497 BTC. Then, another 3,157 addresses held 10,000 to 100,000 BTC; together, they owned 2,287,472 BTC.
Together, these are the largest holders, or “whales,” for having over 10,000 Bitcoin. They control roughly 14% of all Bitcoin in circulation. In addition, cryptocurrency exchanges collectively hold at least 12% of the total Bitcoin supply in custody, acting on behalf of their clients.
Corporate Bitcoin Holdings
Increasingly, corporations use part of treasury reserves to invest in Bitcoin as a strategic financial transaction. The thinking behind companies investing in Bitcoin is hedging against inflation and negative bond returns. These firms are MicroStrategy, Tesla, and Galaxy Digital Holdings, which are protecting and growing their corporate savings using this approach.
Companies with the ability to issue low-interest corporate bonds have a unique advantage. With Bitcoin proving a store of value, they can generate low-cost debt to acquire Bitcoin. Similar to strategies like margin trading or leveraging, this approach presumes the depreciation of fiat paper currencies. Still, only Bitcoin’s value continues to hold or increase, requiring less Bitcoin to settle fiat debts.
Public Companies Leading in Bitcoin Holdings
Over 554,670 BTC are collectively held by publicly traded companies, representing approximately 2.60% of BTC in total supply. Some of the most prominent corporate holders include:
US Spot ETF: The United States has at least 12 Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs). These funds hold at least 1,104,534 BTC, highlighting their substantial role in the market.
Binance: Binance, a widely recognized cryptocurrency exchange, maintains its position as the third-largest holder. The platform currently holds over 633,000 BTC. Notably, Binance is just one of several exchanges featured among the top ten holders.
MicroStrategy: MicroStrategy is the world’s largest Bitcoin accreditor, with 439,000 BTC.
Robinhood Markets: Robinhood is known for its cryptocurrency trading activity and has accumulated Bitcoin. According to Arkham Intelligence data, the company now controls 136,755 BTC.
Marathon Digital Holdings: Marathon Digital is one of the largest Bitcoin mining firms with 40,435 BTC.
Tesla, Inc.: The electric vehicle giant is the fourth largest public corporate Bitcoin holder with 9,720 BTC.
The top ten public firms holding Bitcoin are notable other firms like Hut 8 Mining Corp. and Block Inc. According to Bitcoin Treasuries data, Hut 8 Mining Corp. already boasts 9,000 BTC, ruling the corporate Bitcoin space.
The figures indicate the growing influence of public companies and institutions in helping determine who owns Bitcoin, an indicator that Bitcoin is becoming a long-term asset.
Top Private Entities Accumulating Significant Bitcoin Holdings
About 1.42% of Bitcoin’s entire supply is in private companies’ hands, roughly 297,000 BTC. But who owns the most Bitcoin among private holders? One of the largest is Mt. Gox, the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange that made its name with a famously disastrous hack. The total Bitcoin supply the exchange holds is 44,899 BTC, about 0.2 percent of the total supply.
Another large private owner of Bitcoin is the Chinese company Block. One. According to the report, Block. one holds 164,000 BTC, 0.7% of Bitcoin’s total supply, making it the second largest private holder.
Meanwhile, Stone Ridge Holdings Group has also built up a sizeable Bitcoin reserve in the United States. The company has about 10,889 BTC, which shows it has invested strategically.
Another big name in the stablecoin game is Tether Holdings LTD, the widely used USDT stablecoin issuer. The company owns about 82,454 BTC worth an estimated $8 billion USD. It strengthens its prominent position in the ecosystem of cryptocurrency.
Understanding Indirect Exposure to Bitcoin Investments
Instead, investors can get direct Bitcoin exposure by purchasing a cryptocurrency or indirect Bitcoin exposure by gaining from the price movement of Bitcoin without having to buy the cryptocurrency. This model attracts people who want to spread their investment horizons or lessen their chances of loss by investing in a wide assortment of Bitcoin-related assets.
A Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) is one of the more common ways to get indirect exposure to Bitcoin. These funds normally consist of equities and other Bitcoin-related assets, which form a diversified portfolio. In contrast to Bitcoin ETFs, tracking the cryptocurrency’s price comes with some imperfections. Certain ETFs also focus on Bitcoin futures and other derivative products, so investors have different options than simply purchasing Bitcoin.
As it stands today, Bitcoin as a whole is supported by roughly 1,250,000 BTC (5.90% of the total supply). The largest holder in this category is BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust, following 530,831 BTC into the ETF space and marking them the leader among ETFs.
Wrap-Up
Knowing who owns the most Bitcoin can help retail Bitcoin holders because the wallets with the most BTC significantly influence the price. The National Bureau of Economic Research highlighted the importance of this information:
“From a regulatory and public policy standpoint, it is important to know who owns and how concentrated Bitcoin holdings are because it governs who is best set for gains in the price of Bitcoin.”
BTC holdings in billions are called whale addresses; an individual or entity controlling them is called a whale.
Binance Academy believes a Bitcoin whale is a miner holding at least 1,000 BTC. According to bitinfochartrs, on April 6, 2023, 2,021 addresses met this threshold.
Interestingly, Bitcoin is more evenly distributed than other cryptocurrencies. Between April 18, 2023, and now, the crypto analytics platform IntoTheBlock has found that large holders held 11 percent of new Bitcoin mined.
Ethereum (ETH) had 40% of its supply with large holders. In contrast, Bitcoin (BTC) had 50% concentration. This meant 5,000 BTC was held by 1,000 large holders, each with over 1,000 BTC. The confusion mainly involved Dogecoin (DOGE), which had a 65% concentration. Meanwhile, Polygon’s MATIC token was even higher at 85%.
However, Bitcoin’s relatively even distribution did not guarantee a uniform distribution of power within the Bitcoin ecosystem, where the National Bureau of Economic Research pointed to the large miners, large holders, and exchanges as being the most dominant. The report stated:
“This inherent concentration makes Bitcoin susceptible to systemic risk and implies that the majority of the gains from further adoption are likely to fall disproportionately to a small set of participants.”
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The risk tolerance of your account size, trading strategy, and the market you want to trade should dictate your trading decisions. It is important to never risk with money you just can’t afford to lose.
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