Halloween Deadline Looms for Current Largest Bitcoin Holder

Senior ETF analyst for Bloomberg, Eric Balchunas, predicts that the mysterious creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, is set to lose his title as the largest holder of the cryptocurrency.

Balchunas estimates that Satoshi now holds close to 84% of Nakamoto's total Bitcoin holdings.

The rapid growth of investment products is expected to surpass Nakamoto's holdings by Halloween, with the pace of inflows exceeding initial expectations.

As of 27 August, US Bitcoin ETFs held a total of 921,540 BTC, with BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF alone recording inflows of $224 million on Monday.

While Nakamoto is believed to hold 1.1 million BTC, some analysts suggest these holdings might be overestimated, with Satoshi himself estimating roughly 700,000 BTC.

About two weeks prior, Balchunas had forecasted that by the end of the year, Nakamoto will likely relinquish his title as the biggest Bitcoin holder.

How Many Bitcoins Does Satoshi Nakamoto Have?

Nakamoto is believed to own the most bitcoin, with an estimated 1.1 million BTC.

Not only did Nakamoto invent Bitcoin, but he was also the first miner to create blocks of transactions.

It is estimated that Nakamoto mined over 22,000 blocks from 3 January 2009, and received more than one million bitcoin in total block rewards for his work.

Consequently, Nakamoto is estimated to hold more than 1.1 million BTC, valued at approximately $78 billion as of March 2024 but is about $65 billion at the time of writing.

This bitcoin is not stored in a single address but is distributed across roughly 22,000 addresses.

None of it has been spent except for a few test transactions.

Nakamoto left the project in 2010 and has not been heard from since.

Bearish Trend for Bitcoin

Bitcoin continues to face bearish pressure, even with significant inflows from BlackRock.

Despite this substantial investment, the price of Bitcoin has yet to break free from its downward trend. https://www.coinlive.com/news/satoshi-nakamoto-s-bitcoin-dominance-under-threat-key-developments-and-market

According to CoinMarketCap, it is currently at $58,649.10, down 6.71% over the past 24 hours and 1.72% over the past seven days.

Is Nakamoto's Bitcoin Fortune a Threat?

The vast Bitcoin fortune attributed to Satoshi Nakamoto has long been considered a potential risk to the cryptocurrency's stability, raising concerns about its impact on Bitcoin's monetary integrity.

Despite these concerns, Nakamoto's coins have remained untouched for over a decade.

While a sudden sell-off seems unlikely, the existence of a "dead man's switch" mechanism remains a possibility.

Should Nakamoto's heirs decide to liquidate large amounts of Bitcoin, it could have substantial ramifications for the market.