Top 10 Largest Bitcoin Wallet Addresses
June 26, 2021 - Expert Commentary
Bitcoin owners are a fascinating bunch.
Some are proud of their holdings, while others prefer to be more discreet. Sure, if you purchase or mine something virtually worthless and ten years later it makes you a billionaire, don’t you have the right to gloat a little?
Perhaps you do.
You could also choose to remain mysterious and sit on your fortune without notoriety. That just about summarizes Bitcoin whales.
Some of the largest Bitcoin holders also happen to be Bitcoin institutions.
Exchanges are at the heart of crypto commerce, and some have inevitably gained a whole lot while doing it.
Here are some of the largest Bitcoin holders:
- Satoshi Nakamoto
Where else better to start than with the OG himself?
Satoshi Nakamoto has been dormant for close to a decade. He is the elusive Bitcoin founder who set everything up and then disappeared into the night.
One thing though, Satoshi retained a ton of coins under his wallet. In his days of early mining, he has over 1.1 million Bitcoin.
In today’s Bitcoin market, this number comfortably places him as a billionaire and arguably the biggest individual haul of Bitcoins. Interestingly, Nakamoto has never used this stash or even tried to convert them into fiat money.
Some wonder if Nakamoto will show up someday and do something with the Bitcoin. The fact that he never sold it is certainly a show of confidence the network needs. We will have to wait and see what happens.
- Bulgaria
You probably know very little about Bulgaria.
Part of the former Soviet bloc and just about that; unless you are a geography buff or Bulgarian—you get the drift.
Well, Bulgaria happens to be sitting on one of the largest Bitcoin stashes.
This situation came about because Bulgarian authorities cracked down on organized crime entities and seized 213,519 Bitcoins.
It represents close to a quarter of this country’s debt and could be of significant market impact if the country liquidates at once.
- Coinbase
Coinbase is the largest exchange in the U.S., and its placement in this list comes as no surprise. This mega-exchange holds approximately 3.08 million Bitcoins on their customers’ behalf.
The exchange itself is reported to hold 984,300 BTC in its wallets. Naturally, the assets will be in cold wallet storage to prevent hacks.
Exchanges have impressive stashes of Bitcoin and other virtual assets because it comes with the territory. This wealth and influence have made Coinbase, and some exchanges, wield significant power in crypto circles.
- The FBI
Just like Bulgaria, the FBI’s stash came from seizure.
In 2013, Bitcoin got tremendous negative publicity. The FBI decided to seize the domain name of a website called Silk Road. This website was an online marketplace that connected people who would pay each other in Bitcoin.
Unfortunately, it soon became a dark web bazaar of drugs, contraband, and other illegal services.
The FBI arrested the website owner Ross Ulbricht and confiscated his 144,000 Bitcoins.
Additionally, The FBI has made several other lower-profile Bitcoin seizures. It has also sold some of the Bitcoins, but analysts still speculate that the FBI is one of the largest Bitcoin holders in the world.
- The Winklevoss Twins
These two are just about the most famous Bitcoin holders.
The Winklevoss twins bought $11 million worth of BTC in 2013, part of the proceeds of settling a dispute with Mark Zuckerberg. This purchase soon became a brilliant decision as Bitcoin had multiple rallies that gradually grew their net worth to over $6 billion in 2021.
Today, the Winklevoss twins are bonafide billionaires and have seen approximately 20,000 percent ROI from their purchase.
They founded a Bitcoin exchange in 2015 called Gemini.
Accordingly, they enjoy significant popularity in Bitcoin circles and have a strong social media presence.
You will always find Cameron or Tyler encouraging people to “buy the dip” when there is a slump in Bitcoin prices.
- Gavin Andresen
Gavin Andersen is another Bitcoin celebrity.
He was an early Bitcoin developer and was in touch with Satoshi Nakamoto when the network was taking shape.
Some have speculated that he is actually Nakamoto, but Andersen has denied the claims.
That said, his early involvement in Bitcoin turned out to be a lucrative choice. When Satoshi decided to go underground, Gavin became the lead developer of Bitcoin and was instrumental in the open-source code development.
It is reported that he got Bitcoin worth $200 million for his role. However, Gavin has never publicly commented on his Bitcoin stash.
- Roger Ver
The name Roger Ver is synonymous with controversy.
Ver was the face of the infamous Bitcoin hard fork that produced Bitcoin cash. He, and a few supporters, wanted Bitcoin to have a larger block size and be more of a medium of exchange. They revolted and had a breakup with the main Bitcoin chain.
That aside, Ver was one of the first Bitcoin billionaires.
He holds over 100,000 Bitcoins and focuses on various cryptocurrency projects.
Notably, he now resides permanently in Japan and wishes to form a libertarian crypto-backed nation. Well, that would be fascinating if it ever happens.
- Barry Silbert
The entrance of Barry Silbert into this list is largely due to the FBI.
After seizing Bitcoin from Silk Road, the FBI held a public auction and sold 48,000 Bitcoins to Silbert.
Barry is an entrepreneur in his own right. He has founded Digital Currency Group and has several venture capital projects.
The billionaire has investments in over 100 crypto startups and has been dubbed the king of crypto. One of these companies, Grayscale, is a significant Wall Street crypto investment vehicle.
- Charlie Shrem
Controversy is a common denominator between Charlie Shrem and Roger Ver.
The Winklevoss twins accused him of stealing millions worth of Bitcoin from them in 2018.
That said, he was an early investor in Bitcoin and an active member of the Bitcoin Foundation.
Shrem has never disclosed the number of Bitcoins he owns, but he could have a few hundred thousand between the payments from the foundation and buybacks.
- Michael Saylor
MicroStrategy is an American technology company that made waves last year when it purchased Bitcoin worth $450 million.
It has since purchased more Bitcoin to take its portfolio to over 100,000 Bitcoins. CEO Michael Saylor has a net worth of $2 billion.
Their investment was just before the massive market rally of late 2020. Accordingly, this splurge made Saylor fall on the right side of history.
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