Who Owns the Most Bitcoin in 2024? Here are the Giant Whales

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Understanding who owns the most bitcoin becomes essential for investors to second-guess the direction of the market. Although bitcoin is praised for its decentralization nature, there are some public “Bitcoin whales,” ranging from individual key players to institutional investors and even countries amassing significant amounts of bitcoin. 

This article explores the top holders of bitcoin, citing from River Intelligence and Techopedia. 

Who Owns the Most Bitcoin? 

Satoshi Nakamoto, an anonymous key player behind the creation of Bitcoin, is believed to own the most bitcoin that touches the base of 1.1 million BTC tokens, which are spread across nearly 20,000 different addresses, the River Intelligence says. 

Satoshi earned the stash of ownership as a reward for inventing and being the first miner to coin the blocks of transactions. 

Despite being a hailed key player, Satoshi Nakamoto has left the project and has never been heard from since 2010. 

Top Bitcoin Addresses for September 2024 

Knowing the top holders of bitcoin in real time remains impossible due to the anonymous policy. However, the public can still access the wallet addresses and each of their balances in the market. 

Here are the top bitcoin addresses as of September 2024, taken from Techopedia. 

1. 34xp4vRoCGJym3xR7yCVPFHoCNxv4Twseo - 248,598 

2. Bc1qgdjqv0av3q56jvd82tkdjpy7gdp9ut8tlqmgrpmv24sq90ecnvqqjwvw97 - 180,010

3. Bc1ql49ydapnjafl5t2cp9zqpjwe6pdgmxy98859v2 - 140,625

4. 3M219KR5vEneNb47ewrPfWyb5jQ2DjxRP6: 133,558 

5. Bc1qazcm763858nkj2dj986etajv6wquslv8uxwczt: 94,643

6. 1FeexV6bAHb8ybZjqQMjJrcCrHGW9sb6uF - 79,957

7. Bc1q8yj0herd4r4yxszw3nkfvt53433thk0f5qst4g: 78,317

8. Bc1qjasf9z3h7w3jspkhtgatgpyvvzgpa2wwd2lr0eh5tx44reyn2k7sfc27a4 - 75,354

9. Bc1qd4ysezhmypwty5dnw7c8nqy5h5nxg0xqsvaefd0qn5kq32vwnwqqgv4rzr: 73,000

10. 1Ay8vMC7R1UbyCCZRVULMV7iQpHSAbguJP - 72,928 

11. Bc1qa5wkgaew2dkv56kfvj49j0av5nml45x9ek9hz6 - 69,370

12. 3LYJfcfHPXYJreMsASk2jkn69LWEYKzexb - 68,200

13. Bc1qcv8h9hp5w8c4qpze0a4tdxw6qjtvg8yps23k0g3aymxx7jlesv4q4t6f65 - 60, 229 

14. 1LdRcdxfbSnmCYYNdeYpUnztiYzVfBEQeC: 53,880 

15. 1AC4fMwgY8j9onSbXEWeH6Zan8QGMSdmtA - 51,830 

Top 5 Bitcoin Billionaires 

According to Forbes and Investopedia, these are the top bitcoin billionaires in 2024.

1. Changpeng Zhao: $33 billion 

Changpeng Zhao was the CEO of Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange. He left his position in Binance as a part of his guilty plea for the money laundering charges brought by the Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission last year. Even so, Zhao’s stake in Binance is still worth some $32.5 billion. 

Changpeng Zhao started Binance in 2017 after selling his apartment for Bitcoin in 2014. Today, Binance operates transactions that involve billions of dollars on a daily basis. 

2. Brian Amstrong: $11.2 Billion 

Brian Amstrong is the second richest bitcoin owner in 2024, garnering around $11.2 billion in net worth. The majority of his hefty fortune was sourced from Coinbase, North America’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, that he co-founded in 2013. 

Armstrong holds the company’s largest individual shareholder at 18% stake. According to Forbes, he has successfully sold over $170 million worth of Coinbase stock since November last year. 

3. Giancarlo Devasini: 9.2 billion 

Giancarlo is perhaps the most successful person who changed a career path later in their lives. He was a former plastic surgeon who became an entrepreneur in the technology scene. After his retirement, Giancarlo began to develop an interest in cryptocurrency and has been in the field since 2012. 

Devasini is now the CFO of Tether, crypto’s largest issuer of stablecoins. He owns an approximately 47% stake in the company that is worth around $9.2 billion. 

4. Michael Saylor: $4.4 Billion 

Despite ranking fourth, Michael Saylor is the biggest crypto billionaire gainer this year, thanks to his shares of MicroStrategy and personal bitcoin stash. While the company now owns around 193,000 bitcoins, Saylor held about 17,732 bitcoins in 2021. 

Today, Michael Saylor is a strong believer in Bitcoin and has shown his support through his appearances at news and cryptocurrency conferences. 

5. Jean-Louis van der Velde: $3.9 billion 

Jean-Louis van der Velde was Tether’s former CEO, who began his career in technology by co-founding several IT and tech startups in Asia. Currently, he owns an estimated 20% stake in Tether that is worth about $3.9 billion. 

Top 10 Companies Holding the Most Bitcoin 

River Intelligence found out that 1,60% (335,777) of the total bitcoin supply in the market is collectively owned by public companies. On the other hand, private companies are leading by owning about 1.8% (396,278) of the total supply. 

Corporate savings, also known as treasury, handle the ownership of bitcoin for companies in efforts to protect their savings during crucial setbacks like inflation. 

As of September 2024, the list below shows the top 10 companies holding the most bitcoin, compiled by CoinGecko. 

1. MicroStrategy Inc., 226,331

2. Marathon Digital Holdings: 17,320 

3. Galaxy Digital Holdings: 15,449 

4. Tesla, Inc.: 11,509 

5. Coinbase Global, Inc. (9,183 

6. Hut 8 Mining Corp., 9,102

7. Riot Platforms, Inc., 8,490 

8. Block Inc., 8,038

9. CleanSpark Inc., 6,154

10. Hive Digital: 2,287

Editor's Choice: 7 Richest Bitcoin Owners in the World, Cryptocurrencies Icons

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