Bitcoin Rally Makes Satoshi Nakamoto 11th Richest Billionaire

Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, became the 11th richest person in the world after Bitcoin tapped $120,000 on Sunday. 

Nakamoto is believed to hold 1.096 million Bitcoin (BTC) across thousands of wallets, which is worth over $131 billion at current prices, according to blockchain analytics company Arkham. 

This would, in theory, place Nakamoto at number 11 on Forbes’ richest billionaires list, overtaking Michael Dell, CEO of tech giant Dell Technologies, with a net worth of $125.1 billion.

However, Forbes’ billionaires list doesn’t consider crypto wallet holdings when evaluating billionaires; instead, it tracks individuals’ publicly verifiable holdings, such as stocks. 

Path for Nakamoto to become number 1

Bitcoin crossed just over $120,000 on Monday, reaching a new all-time high, Nansen data shows; however, it still isn’t quite high enough for Nakamoto to take the top spot on the Forbes billionaire list.

Elon Musk, the tech entrepreneur and CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, is ranked as the richest billionaire in the world on Forbes list, with a net worth of over $404 billion.

Larry Ellison, co-founder of software company Oracle, is second on the list with a fortune estimated to be $274 billion. Meta CEO Zuckerberg rounds out the top three with $274 billion to his name.

Bitcoin would need to spike another 208% to hit $370,000 for Nakamoto to take the top spot, but only if the other billionaires’ net worths are unchanged. 

Nakamoto could keep climbing

In a June 2 post on X, Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas predicted that Nakamoto could become at least the second-richest billionaire by the end of 2026.

He said that if Bitcoin does its “normal 50%/ann,” then Nakamoto will likely climb to number two “sometime next year-ish.”

“It’s fascinating to ponder that the founder of something so successful never cashed in. It echoes Jack Bogle in that regard,” Balchunas added.

John “Jack” Bogle, the founder and chief executive of The Vanguard Group, died in 2019 with a reported net worth of $80 million, when most of his peers were billionaires.

On Thursday, 10x Research head Markus Thielen told Cointelegraph there’s a 60% chance for Bitcoin to register a 20% gain in the next two months and hit $133,000 in September. 

In May, Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan told Cointelegraph that he thinks Bitcoin could hit $200,000 by the end of 2025, driven by a supply shock from surging institutional demand.

Meanwhile, BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes predicted Bitcoin would hit $250,000 by the end of the year.

How do other Bitcoin whales stack up against Nakamoto

Nakamoto holds more Bitcoin than anyone else by a significant margin. Corporations and custodians hold 847,000 total, or 4% of Bitcoin’s capped supply, according to BiTBO.

Related: Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto may be wealthier than Bill Gates

A small group of individuals also has an ample supply of Bitcoin. The Winklevoss twins, the founders of crypto exchange Gemini, are estimated to hold about 70,000.

Tim Draper, a venture capitalist and early Bitcoin backer, holds around 30,000, which he bought at a 2014 US Marshals auction. Strategy co-founder Michael Saylor also has a private stash outside his company’s holdings of around 17,732. 

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