2024 has been a banner year for bitcoin’s valuation, with its market capitalization surpassing the $1 trillion barrier, establishing the cryptocurrency as the world’s tenth-largest asset by total market valuation. This increase in price has dramatically increased the net worth of Bitcoin’s enigmatic creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, raising the value of the inventor’s holdings by about $9 billion in the last two months.
Satoshi Nakamoto, the founder of Bitcoin, is thought to have mined the digital currency upon its birth, earning between 1 and 1.1 million BTC. Most estimates say Nakamoto gathered approximately a million coins. With a million bitcoins, Nakamoto’s net worth is approximately $51.56 billion. If Nakamoto were included in Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires list, he would be the 26th richest person in the world.
Nakamoto’s fortune places him just behind Julia Koch, Charles Koch, and their family, who amassed their money through Koch Industries, a company founded in 1940 by Fred Koch. Julia and her relatives have a net worth of $61 billion as of February 25, 2024, whereas Charles and his heirs have $55.7 billion. The developer of Bitcoin ranks higher than Colin Huang, also known as Huang Zheng, the world’s 27th richest person. Huang’s fortune comes from his entrepreneurial success in China, where he founded Pinduoduo, the country’s top agriculture-focused e-commerce platform.
Bitcoin’s founder does not have all one million bitcoins in a single wallet; instead, Nakamoto’s assets are spread among hundreds of wallets. If Nakamoto is still active and has access to these assets, he could have more liquid assets than many Forbes Real-Time Billionaires, such as Elon Musk. Centi-billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, for example, each have over $190 billion in wealth, but much of it is tied up in the companies in which they own stock.
This scenario implies that, while other Forbes list members may have bigger net worths than Nakamoto, they lack the same level of liquidity. In theory, Nakamoto might use these assets quickly. However, this comes with a caveat: shifting such ancient, Nakamoto-mined bitcoins would certainly send shockwaves through the market, potentially causing the price to drop before Nakamoto could exchange them. While completely theoretical, it is possible that the market could withstand such a sell-off, even from Nakamoto.
Nakamoto’s true identity is unknown, and he has yet to use any of the million bitcoins he has accumulated. There’s a chance Nakamoto is no longer alive, and the coins will remain inactive on the ledger indefinitely. The fact that these coins have remained dormant for more than a decade suggests that Nakamoto’s bitcoins may never be used. Nonetheless, these currencies will always be associated with Nakamoto’s name and legacy, and it is possible that Bitcoin’s creator will one day become the world’s wealthiest person or corporation.