Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous creator of Bitcoin was the very first Bitcoin miner. It is believed that Satoshi generated around 22,000 blocks and earned more than a million bitcoin as cumulative block reward for his efforts. This means that Satoshi is believed to have the biggest bitcoin cache greater than 1 million BTC which is valued at around $4500,000,000 at present.
Bitcoin Wealth Distribution
In the course of time, ownership of bitcoin has been distributed into groups based on the total bitcoin wealth. These categories are dependent on the total value of bitcoins that are located in the address.
It is the amount in bitcoin each of the addresses in each stratum relative to the total bitcoin supply fluctuates throughout the course of time. At present, just three bitcoin addresses hold 100,000-1,000,000 BTC which amounts to 576,979 BTC. The next largest owners, which range between 10,000 and 100,000 BTC are the owners of an amount 2 046,879 BTC. These 82 addresses with the highest wealth make up 14.15 percent in the entire supply. Bitcoin addresses that hold 10000 or more bitcoins are often referred to as whales.. The Bitcoin evolution process simplifies the trading process.
Bitcoin Billionaires
In addition to Satoshi Three bitcoin addresses have more than 100,000 bitcoins each. The three addresses that have the highest bitcoin amount are Binance, Bitfinex, and another address which is not known to be the identity of. The three addresses together hold more than 55,000 bitcoin.
Companies Holding the Most Bitcoin
Businesses can make use of corporate savings, also known as Treasury, to purchase bitcoin. The advantage of this method used by businesses like Microstrategy, Tesla, and Galaxy Digital Holdings, is to safeguard their savings from negative yield bonds and inflation.
Large corporations that are able to issue corporate bonds that have very low rates of interest also possess the chance to issue low-cost debt and then make use of the money to buy bitcoin. The theory is that as the value of the dollar decreases due to inflation , and bitcoin continues to hold value, repaying the debt with fiat will require less bitcoin. This approach is similar to purchasing with the margin or making use of leverage.
Public Companies
Public companies hold greater than 216.038 BTC which is equivalent to 1.029 percent of the total quantity. The ten companies with the largest amount of bitcoins on their balance sheets contain more than 200k BTC in total.
Microstrategy, headed by Michael Saylor, holds more bitcoin than any other publicly traded company. Microstrategy has bought over 105,000 BTC that is roughly 0.5 percent of the total quantity. Microstrategy has bought bitcoin using both corporate treasury as well as through bond offering. These bonds come with a low rate of interest and are redeemable either to fund the equity of Microstrategy or as fiat. This strategy lets Microstrategy to purchase bitcoin at a low cost and to go beyond the capabilities of their corporate Treasury.
Tesla, Inc. holds more than 42,902 BTC that is 0.204 percent share from the entire supply. The third largest bitcoin holding of an open-source company is Galaxy Digital Holdings, which has a total of 16400 BTC.
Private Companies
Private companies control 174,068 BTC which is about 0.829 percent from the overall supply. Block.one is which is a Chinese company is the biggest private bitcoin owner. Block.one holds 140,000 BTC that is 0.667 percent in the overall supply.
Indirect Bitcoin Exposure
Indirect exposure to bitcoin is an option for investors looking to get exposure to bitcoin price, without having to directly purchase bitcoin. A few investors believe that they can lower the risk of investment by putting money into an extensive portfolio that includes many bitcoin-related assets. An Bitcoin ETF, also known as an exchange traded fund (ETF) might include equities as well as other bitcoin-related assets which will result in a more diverse portfolio. Bitcoin ETFs track the value of bitcoin, though they do so in a way that is not perfect. Certain ETFs proposed are inspired by bitcoin futures as well as various derivatives.
ETFs have a total of 816.379 BTC, 3.88% of the bitcoin supply. The biggest bitcoin-related ETF Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) which holds 654,600 BTC approximately 3.2 percent from the overall supply. All ETFs as well as private and public companies hold nearly 1.5 million BTC which is greater than 7% from the entire supply.
Governments Holding the Most Bitcoin
The world’s governments own around 259,870 BTC that is 1.237 percent from the overall supply. According to reports, Bulgaria has greater than 213,519 BTC and that people belonging to the Ukrainian government own privately around 46,351 BTC. It is reported that the United States government sold bitcoin that was recovered from the Silk Road in 2015 that could have been worth several billion dollars. Moreover, they have a stash of nearly 70,000 BTC and expect to sell soon. The U.S. Marshals Service auctions bitcoin seized by the FBI and other agencies of the government on its website.
Total Bitcoin Supply
There will never have more than the 21 million Bitcoin limit. This is why the percent ownership of the bitcoin supply can be estimated using the hard limit that is 21 million.
Certain models however employ the total bitcoin supply, which excludes the over one million BTC the founder of bitcoin Satoshi Nakamoto earned in block reward and approximately 3-4 million bitcoins that will never be found. This makes the total value of bitcoin at around 18 million instead of 21 million. Whatever the method that is used the rules are strict. There is an upper limit on the quantity of bitcoin that can ever exist. Thus, bitcoin owners are assured that their stake in bitcoin will never fall to a lesser percentage.
