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Four wallet addresses own more than 100,000 BTC each. But who are these billionaires & how much are private entities and investors investing in BTC now? Learn more.

While there are many decentralized digital currencies you can invest in, the most popular cryptocurrency at your disposal is 

 (BTC). As of time of writing (May 16, 2023), BTC has a 

 of $525 billion, an almost 35,000% jump since Bitcoin’s inception in 2009.

Like all cryptocurrencies, the value attributed to Bitcoin can vary substantially based on numerous market factors. Despite the volatility of Bitcoin and other types of cryptocurrencies, it’s crucial to understand that Bitcoin is currently the most valuable cryptocurrency on the market. 

This article offers a comprehensive look at how Bitcoin gets its value, who owns the most Bitcoin, and how people and companies have become Bitcoin billionaires

If you’re considering investing in Bitcoin, you may wonder what gives it its value.

Bitcoin is a form of digital currency considered to be an alternative to 

, which is issued by governments. Since central banks control the amount of paper money being printed, this naturally gives central banks more control over economies.

 that records everything on a public ledger, making its network transparent and highly decentralized. 

Although Bitcoin isn’t widely used in the world economy, it gets its value from many different factors, and a comparison can be made between the value of gold and Bitcoin. 

Both of these commodities have very specific use cases and are limited in quantity. Like precious metals, Bitcoin is durable. However, it’s more “portable” than precious metals like gold, silver and platinum, more precisely divisible and, in some regards, safer. BTC is even referred to as “digital go

 because they can function as both a unit of exchange and a store of value. Bitcoin also displays six core attributes that allow it to be used in the economy:

Since Bitcoin qualifies as a currency, it can retain a certain amount of value. One of the main reasons is the scarcity of its supply. In fact, the maximum number of bitcoins that can be mined is just under 21 million. This level of scarcity makes it possible for Bitcoin's value and market price to increase considerably over the years.

Before learning who owns the most Bitcoin, knowing how much Bitcoin can be introduced into the market is crucial. When Bitcoin was first created in 2009, a hard cap of nearly 21 million was placed on the number of bitcoins that could enter circulation. 

At the moment, the circulating Bitcoin supply is around 19.37 million. Limits have been placed on how much Bitcoin can be created each day, which means that the remaining bitcoins will be mined from now until 2140 through the process of 

, which progressively slows their mining.

Even though 19.37 million bitcoins should be on the market, it’s believed that around 

 since the digital currency first entered circulation.

, the pseudonymous founder of Bitcoin, was putatively the first miner of the currency. Nakamoto mined over 22,000 blocks and received well over one million bitcoins as cumulative block rewards. His/her/their current ownership is estimated at around 1,000,000 BTC (worth $27.13 billion at the May 16, 2023 BTC price of $27,132).

How Many Bitcoins Make You a Billionaire?

The extreme price fluctuations caused by volatility in the crypto market make it difficult to approximate how many Bitcoins you’d need to be a billionaire. Therefore, we use the current value of Bitcoin to calculate that amount, which, as of May 16, 2023, would be 36,857 bitcoins to be part of the BTC billionaires league. 

Apart from the anonymous Satoshi Nakamoto, several other Bitcoin 

 hold a significant amount of Bitcoin. These are individuals, institutions, governments, exchanges and companies. 

Due to their status, some of these whale individuals have become crypto influencers, using their online presence to share knowledge and sentiments about the crypto market. Some of the notable Bitcoin billionaires are as follows.

Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, popularly known as the Winklevoss twins, revealed in 2013 that they had bought 1% of the total Bitcoin supply. The twins, who are the founders of Gemini crypto exchange, 

, with a current value of about $18.67 billion. 

The Winklevoss twins purportedly lost over 60% of their BTC wealth following the 

Venture capitalist and early Bitcoin investor Tim Draper is said to have bought 29,656 Bitcoins recovered by the U.S. Marshals Service from the infamous 

 dark web market. Draper, who invested early in leading tech companies such as Skype and Tesla, is a Bitcoin bull who’s vocal about the bright future of the world's largest cryptocurrency. 

While popular crypto influencer Michael J. Saylor may not qualify as a Bitcoin billionaire per se, he's a well-known Bitcoin whale. In 2021, he revealed that he privately possessed at least 17,732 bitcoins. Furthermore, his firm, MicroStrategy, reportedly holds 

Due to the anonymity of Bitcoin transactions and 

, it’s hard to trace the exact amount of BTC that one holds 

 unless they choose to reveal that information. However, there are some other whales rumored to hold a large amount of Bitcoin, including Brian Armstrong (Coinbase CEO) and Changpeng Zhao (Binance CEO). 

Bitcoin ownership can be identified by looking at the addresses of bitcoins in circulation. As of today,

Apart from Satoshi, the other four addresses belong to Binance, Bitfinex and two unknown identities. 

There are an additional 112 owners who hold anywhere from 10,000–100,000 BTC. These 112 addresses hold a little over 12% of all the total bitcoins in circulation. 

Bitcoin Distribution. Source: River Financial

Rather than own Bitcoin directly, some investors have been turning to financial institutions offering Bitcoin-related products. These institutions invest in Bitcoin through trusts and funds. 

 currently holds around $17.4 billion worth of Bitcoin, while the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, 

Companies have also been buying into Bitcoin through their treasuries in a bid to hedge against inflation and diversify their portfolios. 

Notable publicly traded companies holding a significant amount of Bitcoin include MicroStrategy, with around 132,000 BTC, and Galaxy Digital Holdings (a Bitcoin mining firm), which has about 16,000 BTC. 

Private companies also hold around 1.5% of the total Bitcoin supply. The highest-profile private owner of Bitcoin is Block.one, a blockchain company with around 140,000 BTC. 

Governments worldwide also own significant amounts of Bitcoin either through acquiring it as a reserve asset, or confiscating it due to alleged criminal activity. However, it's difficult to approximate the actual amount of BTC held by various governments, due to the many agencies involved in the process. 

For the U.S. government, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is said to possess 

. Of these, 144,000 were recovered from the Silk Road saga and others from 

. Additionally, the U.S. Marshals Service, which has the mandate to sell seized Bitcoin, is said to have 

 holding a substantial amount of Bitcoin include those of China (roughly 194,000 BTC) and Bulgaria (over 200,000 BTC). 

What Does It Mean for Institutions to Own So Much Bitcoin?

In general, the fact that institutions own a sizable percentage of Bitcoin isn’t a substantial problem in and of itself. In fact, when companies such as Tesla invest in Bitcoin, the use of BTC becomes more widely accepted. As 

more and more institutions invest in Bitcoin, its adoption as a standard currency may eventually increase — with fewer limitations.

 is simple. Once you’ve created an account, you can choose to purchase BTC with a wide variety of major fiat currencies, including 

BRL, ARS, EUR, GBP and RUB, which can be made via bank transfers

. Alternatively, link your debit or credit card to purchase BTC on Bybit or engage in 

 to select your own preferred payment method. You can also choose to trade and deposit BTC with Bybit. There are multiple ways to trade BTC, as either a 

What Happens After All the Bitcoins Are Mined?

Predicting what will occur once all bitcoins have been mined can be difficult because of the developing cryptocurrency ecosystem. However, the economics of Bitcoin will invariably change once all 21,000,000 bitcoins are in circulation.

For instance, traders and miners will have dissimilar incentives. Instead of receiving block rewards, miners could earn revenues and profits from transaction fees. The truth is, even if one may own a significant amount of Bitcoin, they don’t possess any control over the Bitcoin network. Therefore, predicting what will happen is relatively impossible.

Bitcoin is a highly popular cryptocurrency, and can easily be purchased on your preferred exchange. Even though the value of Bitcoin is somewhat volatile, its scarcity has allowed it to reach a current value of more than $27,000.

Now that you know who owns the most Bitcoin, and what types of institutions invest in this currency, you can get started with making your next investment.

Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious creator of Bitcoin, is the largest Bitcoin holder to date, with a stash of 1,000,000 Bitcoins. 

. However, the exact number is difficult to calculate, due to the anonymity of Bitcoin addresses and the volatility of crypto.

Bulgaria is allegedly the country with the highest amount of Bitcoin, about 213,519 BTC. 

There's a total and finite supply of 21 million BTC, with all of those coins expected to be mined by 2140. 

Who Owns the Most Bitcoin Now? (2023)

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