Top 10 Bitcoin Owners and Their Net Worth in Bitcoin

Earning from bitcoin can be very fascinating. Most people keep this as a passive income by buying and selling bitcoins. The richest bitcoin owners were no different, they tried their luck with bitcoin and to their fortune, and fate was in their favor.

Buying vast amounts of Bitcoin is not a safe investment option for many individuals. But the great news is that there are now more ways than ever to make receiving bitcoin easier for people. Now you can have crypto interest accounts, get cashback in crypto when you shop online, or you can simply mine it.

While mining can be a little hard, it is a good idea for those who want a passive income and are not looking for the big bucks. However, the story of all these richest bitcoin owners is a little different, and that is what led them to the race of who owns the most bitcoins.

You've most likely heard of the benefiting from bitcoin after seeing an ad on the social media saying some of the richest men own bitcoin. You may also have learned of the idea being shown on some shows like This Morning and Shark Tank and being respected by famous entrepreneurs, including Peter Jones and Richard Branson.

Let's now figure out who owns the most bitcoin.

Quick Things You Need to Know Before Investing in Bitcoin:

1. Your Wallet:

Your wallet must be safe, just like real life. Bitcoin makes it very easy to pass money everywhere, enabling you to be in control of your assets. There are also significant security issues with such great features. At the same time, if used correctly, Bitcoin can provide extremely high-security standards

2. Bitcoin Price is Volatile

Due to its growing market, innovative existence, and sometimes illiquid markets, a bitcoin's price will increase or decrease unpredictably over some time. So, at this stage, it is not advised to depend on your investments entirely on Bitcoin. Bitcoin should be seen as a high-risk property, and you should never invest money in Bitcoin, which you can't afford to lose.

3. Bitcoin is Not Anonymous

Bitcoin requires some effort to preserve your confidentiality. All Bitcoin transactions are located on the network publicly and permanently, meaning that anyone can see any Bitcoin address's balance and transactions. The user's identity behind an email, though, remains unknown unless data is revealed during a transaction or in other circumstances. 

4. Government Taxes and Regulations

Bitcoin is not an official currency. That being said, many countries also mandate that you pay taxes on income, purchases, salaries, and capital gains on anything that has an interest, even bitcoins. You must ensure that you meet with your government and local authorities' tax and other statutory or administrative requirements. 

Here are the top ten people/institutions that held a large number of Bitcoins over time:

1. Satoshi Nakamoto

On the list for the richest bitcoin owners, Satoshi Nakamoto stands first. According to the CoinDesk price index, Bitcoin was a millimeter away from reaching $20,000 over the weekend, touching a peak of $19,771. At that cost, as per the Forbes rich list, the mysterious founder of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, would have been worth $19.4 billion, or the world's 44th richest person. The net worth of Satoshi Nakamoto would come from the 980,000 bitcoins that he, she, or they are calculated to own. The production of the nine-year-old bitcoin is expected to have early received such coins. For years, the investments have remained untouched.

Even at the present reduced price of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto would be valued $17.9 billion, on line with Italian magnate sunglasses Leonardo Del Vecchio, Luxottica's owner, who owns Ray-Ban.

In October, with an approximate wealth of $5.9 billion, Satoshi Nakamoto was listed 247th on the Forbes rich list. This was when Bitcoin reached a then-new $6,000 coin record— about one-third of where it's currently traded.

This is obvious now that Nakamoto is the one who owns the most bitcoins.

2. Bulgaria

On the list for the richest bitcoin owners, Bulgaria stands second. Bulgaria has emerged as the nation holding the world's second-largest amount of Cryptocurrencies in recent news. The shocking figures refer to the fact that the Bulgarian state-owned at least 213,000 bitcoins. At today's rates, these Bitcoins are worth more than US$ 804 million. When reached and converted, it would be nice to cover the full portion of the nation's G.D.P. with the Bulgarian Bitcoin wallet. The Bulgarian administration got hold of the substantial treasure after Bulgarian law enforcement agencies confiscated the Bitcoins during a procedure linked to the identification of cybercrimes undertaken by an international hacker group.

The person who made Bitcoin, hidden behind the title Satoshi Nakamoto, has the highest amount of Bitcoins on the planet. Which made the fate of Bulgaria remain unclear. The Bulgarian government might intend to sell or use the Bitcoins for any other reason (as is often done in the U.S.).

Bulgaria is involved in the FinTech industry and also partake in the cryptocurrency trading. In contrast to a variety of cryptocurrency trading companies, global crypto conferences are conducted in Bulgaria. The country maintains two 2-way cryptocurrencies A.T.M. systems in the capital Sofia. Allow digital currencies, namely Bitcoin, Ether, and Litecoin, to be sold and purchased. Bitcoin users will deposit cash in pounds, U.S. dollars, and Bulgarian levies. Conclusively, Bulgaria is one of richest bitcoin owners. 

3. Valery Valivov

On the list for the richest bitcoin owners, Valery Valivov stands third. Since growing up in Latvia in the 1980s, Valery traces his faith in open economies to the first-hand experience of the Soviet Union breakup.

"Cash has transformed into paper. Bitfury was co-founded by Mr. Valivov in 2011, a startup that mines bitcoin. Out - of-capital raising for the first four years was very challenging as shareholders did not believe in the innovation. We were pressured in the early days to trade bitcoin to pay the bills.

Fast forward to 2018 in the bitcoin mining industry, Bitfury is now a leading player. They employ more than 400 staff and operate worldwide. Bitfury also produces and markets mining equipment in addition to their mining operations. They've created a product called Blockbox–a handheld bitcoin mining system that typically retails for over $1 million. Forbes measured the total crypto valuation of Valery at about $500 –700 million as of January 19, 2018. Conclusively, Valiviv is one of richest bitcoin owners.

4. The F.B.I.

On the list for the richest bitcoin owner, The F.B.I stands fourth. The F.B.I. is one of Bitcoin's biggest respectable owners. They took down the notorious dark web drug bazaar Silk Road in September 2013 and confiscated 144,000 Bitcoin controlled by site operator Ross Ulbricht, commonly known as "Dread Pirate Roberts." Ulbricht made crucial mistakes that required the page to be found and connected to by the investigators. After Ulbricht introduced the platform in 2011, Silk Road clients are said to have sold about 9.5 million bitcoins. Even when the F.B.I had lost a large number of its Bitcoin assets or even all of them, it was worth mentioning the F.B.I because, at some stage, they had a lot in Bitcoin. A significant captured and traded part of the Bitcoins fell to Barry Silbert.

Those 144,000 bitcoins on Tuesday's exchange rates are worth nearly $100 million. The email holds approximately 30,000 bitcoins ($20 million) comprising Silk Road funds previously confiscated by the F.B.I. It does not, however, place the federal agency forward of Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who are said to have 1 percent of all bitcoins cornered in July (there are 12 million bitcoins in circulation). Conclusively, The FBI is one of richest bitcoin owners.

5. The Winklevoss Twins

On the list for the richest bitcoin owners, the twins stand fifth. Among the first Bitcoin billionaires are Tyler Winklevoss and Cameron Winklevoss. Once they prosecuted Facebook C.E.O. Mark Zuckerberg, for attempting to steal from them the idea to create Facebook, the pair had first gained popularity then. Zuckerberg contacted them to create the ConnectU site, which would later become Facebook. They used $11 million of the $65 million financial compensation they got from Zuckerberg's court battle to acquire 1.5 million Bitcoins in 2013. A Bitcoin sold at $120 back then. Since then, the investment has risen by over 20000 percent

It is alleged that the twins own about 1% of all Bitcoin in circulation. Their total net worth is about 400 million. They developed the Windex, funded a variety of projects linked to bitcoin, and invested $1.5 million in BitInstant.

After January, the Winklevoss twins have seen their fortunes more than double due to Bitcoin's frenzied surge, which rose to 22 billion on Wednesday.

As per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the total net worth of Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss–consisting primarily of Bitcoin and blockchain assets–has risen to $1.45 billion, the highest since March 2018. A joint fortune at the start of the year was $654 million. Conclusively, the twins are one of richest bitcoin owners. 

Question remains: who owns the most bitcoin amongst these two?

6. Garvin Andresen

On the list for the richest bitcoin owners, Garvin stands sixth. Gavin Andresen is an American developer who was the first software developer for the Bitcoin network code reference implementation. In 2010, by entering the development team, Andresen assumed a leadership role after Satoshi Nakamoto had revealed he would leave the company. In 2012, to find acceptance for virtual currency growth, Gavin Andresen created the Bitcoin Foundation. He was the plan's major research officer at the moment. Andresen also has links to the unique warning key, which helps him to communicate with all his clients about the network's internal problems. The net worth of Gavin Andresen is about $2 million, the bulk of which is due to Bitcoin. It will not be wrong to say he is one of the richest bitcoin owner. 

Gavin Andresen's, one of the richest bitcoin owner, support for Bitcoin Cash is presently a contested issue, as he has posted a commentary on his Twitter identifying B.C.H. as the heir to his BTC project work. Whereas Bitcoin was Satoshi Nakamoto's project, it is attributed to Garvin Andresen as the person who has made it what it is now. Garvin is one of the suspects of being Satoshi, an allegation he rejects. Instead, he says he had a long-standing strong relationship with the untraceable cryptographer.

In late 2010 he was chosen by the actual Satoshi Nakamoto as his replacement. Garvin became the open-source code's chief designer deciding how Bitcoin works–and whether it would thrive. He was once paid more than $200,000 for his donations to Bitcoin by the Bitcoin Foundation. He had cashed out several times before. Conclusively, Garvin is one of richest bitcoin owners

7. Roger Ver

On the list for the richest bitcoin owners, Roger Ver stands on the seventh position. Roger Ver is one of the first Bitcoin billionaires. He is also known as the "Bitcoin Jesus" and assumed to own or have owned at least 100,000 bitcoins. The popular libertarian reportedly dropped out of university to concentrate on his activities related to cryptocurrencies. Unlike most other crypto billionaires out there who dump their cash into the traditional private islands or luxurious planes, Ver's vision is to create his own libertarian country. A country where each citizen is the complete owner of his or her existence and can do everything he or she wants with his or her person or property. In 2014, the contentious bitcoin preacher resigned from his U.S. citizenship and indefinitely moved to a small Caribbean island.

Roger Ver who is now one of the richest bitcoin owner, was one of the first in early 2011 to make a huge investment in bitcoin. He has not only invested millions of dollars in various cryptocurrency-related new companies, and his own business has been the first to acknowledge it as payment. Roger Ver is currently called for speaking at numerous Bitcoin-related events and gatherings.

The current Roger Ver news was primarily about the blockchain distinction between the common Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (B.C.H.). The digital currency uses the same blockchain, but with eight times larger blocks that are expected to facilitate more transactions. However, B.C.H. does not have a large team of developers, such as BTC, but a range of distributed teams. Such decentralization means greater protection from relapse or devastation for the guidelines. Conclusively, Roger is one of richest bitcoin owners

8. Barry Silbert

On the list for the richest bitcoin owners, Silbert stands eighth. Just after entering the world of digital currencies, Barry was known for creating SecondMarket on Wall Street–a platform of illiquid and hard-to-trade capital and shares of private tech firms. SecondMarket was later renamed Nasdaq Private Market in 2015 when it sold its share. By that point, Mr. Silbert was already operating on his most prominent project to date, Cryptocurrency Group Dubbed as the "Bitcoin and Blockchain Technology Epicenter," Digital Currency Group works in three core areas:

• Venture capital – working in pioneering ventures like Ripple and Blockchain.com.
• Speculation on digital currency and asset management – via their work on the Grayscale.
• Crypto media – by their association for electronic news, CoinDesk.

In 2014, Barry Silbert bought 48,000 confiscated bitcoin from the office of the U.S. Marshals.

"Bitcoin was then worth $350, indicating that Silbert's portfolio has risen over 16 times, from about $16.8 million to $268.8 million." Forbes projected his total crypto valuation to be around $400-500 million earlier this year. Conclusively, Silvert is one of richest bitcoin owners

9. Charlie Shrem

On the list for the richest bitcoin owners, Charlie stands ninth. Charlie Shrem is probably one of Bitcoin millionaires ' who is the most divisive. He decided to invest in a large quantity of Bitcoin in the cryptocurrency's early days. Shrem was also an active participant of the Bitcoin Foundation, and when he was just 22 years old, he created BitInstant. Shrem was convicted of money laundering by the end of December 2014 and was sentenced to two years in prison. He launched a startup called Intellisys Capital upon his release from federal custody, a company that sells investment portfolios of blockchain firms.

Even though he is one of the richest bitcoin owner, he hadn't revealed exactly how many bitcoins he does own, when they were worth a few hundred, he allegedly purchased a few thousand bucks. That'd be worth millions right now. Conclusively, Charlie is one of richest bitcoin owners

10. Tony Gallippi

On the list for the richest bitcoin owners, Tony stands tenth. Often considered to be one of the major owners of bitcoins is a prominent business magnate Tony Gallippi. He's the man behind BitPay, one of the world's most famous suppliers of Bitcoin payment services. Introduced in May 2011, the business processes more than $1 million a day. Bitpay is also one of the firms that signed contracts with major firms such as Microsoft, Dell, TigerDirect, and Newegg. The business had hired over 100 workers by 2014.

There are currently 153,00 Bitcoin addresses with ten or more BTCs. Shockingly, such accounts carry more than 15,400,000 BTC, representing only 0.57 percent of the total amount of wallets on the internet. This represents nearly 75% of the total number of BTCs on the market that will ever exist.

There are also 140,596 addresses that, according to BitInfoCharts records, are richer than $100,000. There are more than 100,000 coins in only four accounts, which is usually not popular. In general, if exchanges want to hold funds, they have different wallets to do so instead of one. These may be extremely large whales who prefer to have their money in a single wallet.

For more than five years, the top 5 inactive addresses carrying BTC constitute 1.2% of the overall number of coins on the exchange. Such accounts carry BTC 212.402, indicating that there are massive whales currently holding Bitcoin and awaiting for the virtual currency's value to reach higher levels. Most of these accounts have a large number of deposits, but withdrawals are a small number.

Many of these accounts are private, ensuring the public doesn't know who owns these assets. Generally, behind these wallets are crypto-hedge funds, platforms, and large investors. Conclusively, Tony is one of richest bitcoin owners

Who Else Might be the Richest Bitcoin Owners?

Our richest bitcoin owners list focuses on people who, through their participation in cryptocurrencies, have accrued substantial fortunes. However, more than one person controls some of the largest positions in this game.

Hedge funds have injected large amounts of capital into the crypto-monetary markets over the past few years. Such investments are made in a variety of ways (either directly or through exchange-traded funds) such as opening positions in bitcoin futures and purchasing tokens. Since their investments may not end indirect ownership of the tokens themselves, it is unclear precisely how much hedge funds dominate crypto.

2017 was an I.C.O. Mania year. Initial coin offerings (both uncontrolled and regulated) generated vast sums of money by exchanging their freshly minted tokens for existing cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. While these ventures will own a significant proportion of the circulating coins, their coin balance may inevitably decrease when they sell tokens to finance their growth.

To Sum Up

Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin offer full autonomy for users about how they manage their money. While there is plenty to be said about the benefits of being your atm, the main drawback is that if you forget your private keys, all coins in the wallet are gone forever.

In years, a large proportion of the biggest bitcoin addresses have not been modified. Although most of them are expected to be regulated by long-term shareholders and early adopters, some of them will eventually be lost forever when people forget or lose their private keys.

While the monetary loss of forgetting your private keys can be very considerable, this reduces the overall amount of coins in circulation and substantially increases the value of the coins of each other. This has also lead to the making of the richest bitcoin owners.