Who Holds the Most Bitcoin? Discover the Top 10 Bitcoin Holders and Their Massive Fortunes!

Satoshi Nakamoto: The Bitcoin Pioneer

The creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, holds the most Bitcoin — currently 1.1 million BTC, valued at $67.6 billion. He mined this fortune in the early days of Bitcoin when each block mined yielded 50 Bitcoin.

Other Major Holders

As the market evolves, other holders are catching up. Here’s a look at the top holders:

• Coinbase: 973,694 BTC worth $59.8 billion. The exchange is a primary custodian for Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs in the U.S.
• Binance: 663,813 BTC valued at $40.8 billion. Despite regulatory challenges, Binance remains the largest crypto exchange globally.
• BlackRock: 361,518 BTC worth $22.2 billion. The investment giant has entered the crypto space with a Bitcoin ETF and a tokenized money market fund.
• Fidelity Custody: 273,097 BTC worth $16.7 billion.
• Grayscale: 256,075 BTC valued at $15.7 billion.
• MicroStrategy: 252,220 BTC worth $15.5 billion.
• The US Government: 198,955 BTC valued at $12.2 billion, largely confiscated from criminals.
• Bitfinex: 196,504 BTC worth $12 billion.
• Kraken: 172,106 BTC valued at $10.5 billion.

Concentration of Wealth

Currently, wallets holding more than 10,000 BTC account for nearly 16% of Bitcoin’s total supply, a slight increase from 15% last month. This concentration is partly due to custodial wallets held by exchanges like Coinbase, which manages Bitcoin for both retail and institutional clients.

The Debate on Custodians

There’s ongoing debate regarding whether custodial holdings should be counted as top holders since they often hold assets on behalf of clients, leading to potential double-counting in rankings.

Aleks Gilbert is DL News’ New York-based DeFi correspondent. You can reach him at aleks@dlnews.com.