Original author: Arkham

Original translation: Block unicorn

introduction

Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous creator of Bitcoin, is the largest Bitcoin holder, holding 1.096 million BTC (approximately $128 billion). Arkham's label derives from a known mining pattern known as the "Patoshi Pattern," which contains a unique (known) address where Satoshi used Bitcoin. Arkham's research indicates that he acquired this wealth by mining 22,000 blocks. The largest individual Bitcoin holding is held by Binance, which holds nearly 250,000 BTC.

Using Arkham, we can see which specific wallets hold the most Bitcoin:

Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency that runs on a blockchain (a peer-to-peer network). Due to these characteristics, no one person is the true owner of the entire Bitcoin network, but individuals can access and own Bitcoin through their own private keys.

Bitcoin's massive price increase, reaching approximately $124,000 in August 2025 and a peak market capitalization of $2.47 trillion, has led to the emergence of several Bitcoin billionaires and other wealthy holders. In this article, we explore some of the individuals, companies, and wallets that have become major cryptocurrency holders, along with the amount of Bitcoin they hold, based on on-chain data and public statements.

Note: Bitcoin prices fluctuate constantly, and the amount of Bitcoin held by a particular wallet may change over time.

Summary

• Satoshi Nakamoto is the largest Bitcoin holder, owning approximately 1.1 million Bitcoins, which is worth approximately $128 billion at today's prices.
• Coinbase holds nearly 1 million Bitcoins in total. BlackRock, Binance, and Strategy hold over 600,000, 450,000, and 200,000 Bitcoins, respectively.
• The US government holds 198,000 bitcoins, seized from the Silk Road marketplace, James Zhong, and the Bitfinex hack.
• There are multiple unknown Bitcoin billionaire wallets, most of which have been inactive since the initial influx of Bitcoin into the wallet.

Largest known individual holder

While the identities of many people who hold large amounts of Bitcoin remain unknown, the identities of many holders have been revealed through public disclosures or research.

Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous creator of Bitcoin, is the largest Bitcoin holder, holding 1.1 million Bitcoins spread across 22,000 addresses. As the network's first miner, he mined over 22,000 blocks between 2009 and 2010, earning 1.1 million Bitcoins as block rewards. However, despite speculation that these rewards were collected by a single entity, Satoshi Nakamoto's true identity remains uncertain.

Here is a known Satoshi Nakamoto address, which you can view on Arkham: 1 A 1 zP 1 eP 5 QGefi 2 DMPTfTL 5 SLmv 7 DivfNa.

The second largest known individual Bitcoin holder is the LuBian hacker, who stole 127,426 Bitcoins from LuBian in December 2020. At the time, this haul was worth $3.5 billion, but is now worth over $14.8 billion.

In 2013, the Winklevoss twins (Tyler and Cameron), founders of Gemini, revealed they had purchased 1% of the then-current Bitcoin supply. This was estimated to be approximately 70,000 Bitcoins (BTC). Currently, the Winklevoss twins hold 17,688 Bitcoins, valued at just over $2 billion.

In 2014, renowned venture capitalist Tim Draper purchased 29,656 bitcoins from the U.S. Marshals Service for $18.7 million. Draper subsequently purchased an additional 2,000 bitcoins at a second bitcoin auction in December 2014. Arkham currently projects that Draper holds 33,806 bitcoins, valued at $3.95 billion. Some of Draper's largest addresses are:

• bc 1 qul 68 d 3 qeqhxa 2 kq 8 yrs 0 l 85 awu 8 v 7 hp 2 l 3 pdag
• bc 1 qzmx 9 spvnkx 3 s 78 v 03 kswv 4 xtzp 88 tem 5 e 5 m 08 j
• bc 1 q 80 h 3 q 90 uq 0297 wxv 4 rnx 67 mzcwanwp 9 pd 489 uf

(Full disclosure: Draper is an investor in Arkham through his firm, Draper Associates.)

MicroStrategy co-founder Michael Saylor revealed in November 2021 that he personally holds 17,732 Bitcoins. Known for his extremely bullish stance, Saylor has become a prominent figure in cryptocurrency culture. He maintains an active media presence on Twitter and other platforms, openly supporting the idea of Bitcoin.

Publicly listed companies holding Bitcoin

As the value of Bitcoin as a digital asset is gradually recognized, listed companies have begun to use Bitcoin as part of their investment strategy or corporate reserve diversification.

MicroStrategy, led by Michael Saylor, is the largest publicly traded company holding Bitcoin. The company has been accumulating Bitcoin since August 2020, with its most recent purchase being 430 Bitcoins for $51.4 million in August 2025. This brings its total holdings to 629,376 Bitcoins (valued at $72.4 billion).

Galaxy Digital provides asset management, trading, and other institutional services. Founded by Mike Novogratz, Galaxy Digital reported holding $1.58 billion worth of Bitcoin, according to its 2023-24 public filing. However, this figure does not take into account any outstanding loans or collateral owed on digital assets.

Galaxy Digital's Arkham Visualizer deal

MARA is a publicly traded Bitcoin mining company in North America and another major Bitcoin holder. They operate nine mining facilities, mining an average of 24.4 Bitcoins per day. According to Arkham data, MARA's on-chain wallet holds 16,975 Bitcoins (valued at $1.98 billion).

Tesla reportedly holds 10,700 Bitcoins. This was initially disclosed in Tesla's February 2021 10-K filing, which stated that the company purchased $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin using 7.5% of its cash holdings. The company initially stated it would begin accepting Bitcoin as payment for its products, but soon afterward canceled the plan, citing climate change as a reason. Following the 2022 cryptocurrency market crash, Tesla sold 75% of its Bitcoin holdings in the second quarter of 2022, losing $140 million. Tesla's Bitcoin holdings have remained unchanged since then. Tesla currently holds 11,509 Bitcoins, valued at $1.34 billion.

Finally, BlackRock and other ETF providers hold significant amounts of Bitcoin in their spot Bitcoin ETFs. BlackRock is the largest institutional asset manager holding Bitcoin, holding 735,840 Bitcoins, valued at $85.59 billion.

Private companies holding Bitcoin

Mt. Gox, a Japan-based Bitcoin exchange, closed and filed for bankruptcy in 2014 following a massive Bitcoin hack. Over the years, a designated trustee has recovered some of the lost Bitcoin, most of which was returned to creditors in 2024. Mt. Gox wallets currently hold 34,689 Bitcoins, valued at $4.04 billion.

Tether, the issuer of the USDT stablecoin with a circulating supply of 83.4 billion, reported a net profit of $1.48 billion in the first quarter of 2021 and said it would regularly allocate 15% of its net realized operating profits to purchase Bitcoin starting in May. Tether currently holds 78,601 Bitcoins, valued at $9.14 billion.

Exchange-traded funds and trusts

Arkham was the first to identify the on-chain holdings of all Bitcoin spot ETFs since their launch in the United States in January 2024. These include: BlackRock (735,840 BTC), Fidelity (14,000 BTC), Bitwise (40,780 BTC), Franklin Templeton (5,360 BTC), ARK Invest (43,990 BTC), Invesco (5,490 BTC), VanEck (17,090 BTC), Valkyrie (5,730 BTC), and WisdomTree (13,420 BTC).

Grayscale, an asset management firm offering a variety of products for the public market, is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group. The digital assets for all Grayscale financial products are also held in custody by Coinbase. While Grayscale publicly reports its Bitcoin balances, they refuse to disclose the trust's on-chain addresses—something Arkham was able to locate, totaling 627,000 Bitcoins, spread across over 1,750 different addresses, each holding no more than 1,000 Bitcoins. Grayscale currently holds 232,178 Bitcoins, valued at $27.01 billion.

Which government owns the most Bitcoin?

Unlike most countries that seize and hold Bitcoin through criminal arrests, El Salvador and the Central African Republic have boldly adopted Bitcoin as legal tender. El Salvador purchased 2,546 Bitcoins for $108 million. Furthermore, in November 2022, Salvadoran President Nayyib Bukele announced that the country would purchase one Bitcoin per day. El Salvador currently holds 6,272 Bitcoins, valued at $729.62 million.

Ukraine has also received $22.8 million in Bitcoin donations since the start of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict. According to data reported by the Ukrainian government in April 2021, over 700,000 public officials have declared Bitcoin ownership, with some individuals holding as many as 18,000 Bitcoins. Ukrainian public officials are said to hold a total of 46,351 Bitcoins. While these holdings by public officials are not technically considered government holdings, the widespread and public declarations of Bitcoin ownership by civil servants are still significant and unusual.

Bhutan began mining Bitcoin in 2019. In May 2023, Bhutan's sovereign wealth fund, Druk Holding and Investments, announced a $500 million partnership with Bitdeer to expand its Bitcoin mining operations. Leveraging Bhutan's advantageous geographical location, the country has built numerous hydroelectric power stations along its glacial rivers. Now, the country will utilize its abundant and affordable hydropower resources to mine Bitcoin and invest the profits in national development. Bhutan currently holds 9,969 Bitcoins, valued at $1.16 billion.

Confiscation

However, the United States tops the list in terms of the amount of Bitcoin seized by governments, holding 198,022 Bitcoins in its wallets, valued at $23.04 billion. These Bitcoins were recovered by the FBI from the Bitfinex hack, as well as from the Silk Road marketplace and Silk Road hacker James Zhong. The US government liquidated 173,998 Bitcoins seized from Silk Road for $65.84 million and 41,706 Bitcoins seized from Silk Road hacker James Zhong at US Department of Justice (USMS) auctions between 2014 and 2015, valued at approximately $2.21 billion.

The United Kingdom holds 61,245 Bitcoins, valued at $7.13 billion. The Metropolitan Police seized 61,000 Bitcoins from Jian Wen and Zhimin Qian in 2018 and gained access to them in July 2021.

In 2017, the Bulgarian government confiscated 213,519 Bitcoins following a criminal operation. At the time, this represented 1% of the circulating supply and was valued at $3.3 billion. Following the operation, rumors circulated that the government auctioned off all the proceeds in the following months. However, whether this was actually the case remains unclear.

In November 2020, Chinese authorities confiscated 194,775 Bitcoins from the operators of the PlusToken Ponzi scheme. The tokens were confiscated and transferred to the local government, but it is unclear whether China still holds the Bitcoins or has sold them.

In July 2022, Finland liquidated 1,889 Bitcoins confiscated from criminal activities prior to 2018. Finnish customs still holds 90 Bitcoins and an undisclosed number of other tokens, which are currently awaiting a court ruling.

Additionally, in January 2024, the German government confiscated 50,000 Bitcoins from the pirated movie website Movie 2k. However, all of these Bitcoins were sold in July 2024.

cryptocurrency exchanges

Coinbase holds the largest Bitcoin holdings among exchanges, with 974,400 Bitcoins identified on-chain, valued at $113.4 billion (representing its own funds and those held by its customers in custody at Coinbase). Coinbase also invests a portion of its net revenue in crypto assets and holds a certain amount of Bitcoin to support its operational needs, allowing customers to withdraw funds at any time.

Binance and Upbit are also major exchanges holding 622,280 and 170,800 Bitcoin, respectively. Exchange cold wallets hold customer deposits and generally do not represent ownership of the exchange. Together, Binance and Upbit hold over 4% of the circulating supply of Bitcoin.

The largest unowned Bitcoin wallet

In addition to cryptocurrency exchanges, there are also numerous anonymous Bitcoin billionaire wallets holding large amounts of Bitcoin. The activity levels of these wallets vary, with some actively conducting transactions while others remain dormant for long periods, leaving people speculating whether their owners still have access to them.

Of the top 10 wallets analyzed, six are inactive, while the remaining four have seen outflows since their creation. Interestingly, seven of the top 10 Bitcoin billionaire wallets were created after January 2018.

Below is a table of the largest unvested Bitcoin holders, showing the amount of Bitcoin they hold, their percentage of circulating supply, wallet status, and observations on their wallets.

Top unvested wallets holding over $1 billion in Bitcoin

in conclusion

Bitcoin has evolved from a niche project among cryptography enthusiasts to a globally important financial asset, with numerous companies, individuals, and governments holding it. Bitcoin's strong appeal to users stems from its decentralized nature, which ensures that no one person fully owns the Bitcoin network and makes it virtually impossible for even the most determined attacker to take control of it.

Bitcoin’s maximum supply of 21 million coins is a fundamental principle of the project’s design, intended to ensure it remains a scarce asset and that no new coins are created to inflate its value. Given the estimated 3.7 million coins permanently lost in inaccessible wallets, the actual total supply is even lower.

Through Arkham’s coin page, users can easily monitor the top holders of Bitcoin, find the largest inflows and outflows, and filter for specific Bitcoin transactions.