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2024 has unfolded as a flourishing year for bitcoin’s valuation, as its market capitalization breezed past the $1 trillion milestone, positioning the cryptocurrency as the world’s tenth-largest asset by overall market valuation. This uptick in price has significantly boosted the net worth of Bitcoin’s mysterious creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, elevating the value of the inventor’s holdings by almost $9 billion within the last two months.
It is believed that upon the inception of the Bitcoin network, its founder, Satoshi Nakamoto, also mined the digital currency, amassing between 1 and 1.1 million BTC. The consensus among most estimates suggests that Nakamoto likely gathered around a million coins. Holding a million bitcoins places Nakamoto’s net worth at approximately $51.56 billion. Furthermore, were Nakamoto to be ranked on the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires list, the creator of Bitcoin would stand as the 26th richest individual globally.
The 24th through the 27th richest in the world if Satoshi Nakamoto was included in the billionaires’ list on Feb. 25, 2024.
Nakamoto’s fortune places the inventor just below Julia Koch, Charles Koch, and their family, who have built their wealth through Koch Industries, a conglomerate established in 1940 by Fred Koch. As of Feb. 25, 2024, Julia and her relatives boast a fortune of $61 billion, while Charles and his heirs command $55.7 billion. The creator of Bitcoin ranks above Colin Huang, also known as Huang Zheng, the 27th wealthiest person worldwide. Huang’s riches stem from his entrepreneurial success in China, where he launched Pinduoduo, the nation’s leading agriculture-focused e-commerce platform.
Bitcoin’s inventor doesn’t have all one million bitcoins in a single wallet; instead, Nakamoto’s holdings are dispersed among thousands of wallets. Theoretically, should Nakamoto be active and able to access these assets, the creator would have significantly more liquid assets than many on the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires list, including Elon Musk. For instance, centi-billionaires such as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos each have over $190 billion, but much of their wealth is locked in the companies they own shares.
This scenario suggests that while other Forbes list members might have a higher net worth than Nakamoto, they lack the same level of liquidity. In theory, Nakamoto could mobilize these assets swiftly. Yet, this comes with a caveat: moving such ancient, Nakamoto-mined bitcoins would likely send shockwaves through the market, potentially causing the price to plummet before Nakamoto could exchange the funds. While purely speculative, it’s conceivable that the market could absorb such a sell-off, even from Nakamoto.
To this day, the true identity of Nakamoto remains a mystery, and the blockchain pioneer has not spent a single satoshi of the million-bitcoin hoard. There’s a chance Nakamoto is no longer alive, with the coins remaining inactive on the ledger indefinitely. The enduring dormancy of these coins for well over a decade underscores the possibility that Nakamoto’s bitcoins may never be spent. Nevertheless, these coins remain forever linked to Nakamoto’s name and legacy, and it’s conceivable that Bitcoin’s creator could eventually emerge as the wealthiest person or entity in the world.
