How rare is it to own 1 Bitcoin?
As such, Bitcoin's ownership structure reflects the decentralized, open-source nature of Bitcoin's technology. In reality, only 2.3% of all Bitcoin owners own 1 BTC or more (worth around $35K per Bitcoin as of November 6th, 2023).
However, some estimates can be made based on blockchain data and surveys of Bitcoin holders. According to data from Bitinfocharts, as of March 2023, there are approximately 827,000 addresses that hold 1 bitcoin or more, representing around 4.5% of all addresses on the Bitcoin network.
Yes, there are a reported 40,500 Bitcoin millionaires. But there are also 1 million crypto wallets worldwide that hold at least one whole Bitcoin. Thus, just based on these figures, your chance of becoming a millionaire (even if you choose to invest $43,000 for a whole Bitcoin today) could be less than 5%.
Since people may have several addresses with Bitcoin, it is possible that people may have several addresses with amounts less than 1 BTC but whose cumulative amount exceeds 1 BTC. Nevertheless, it is quite conceivable that less than 1 million people own at least 1 Bitcoin on Earth.
Yes, you can buy fractions of a bitcoin. Bitcoin is divisible, and the smallest unit is called a satoshi, named after its pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.
One Million Individual Wallets Now Hold a Whole Bitcoin (BTC)
Satoshi Nakamoto owns the most bitcoin with an estimated 1.1 million BTC. Satoshi not only invented but also kickstarted Bitcoin, by being the first miner to create blocks of transactions.
Some individuals became wealthy through Bitcoin relatively quickly, while others took several years or even a decade. Here are a few notable examples: Early Adopters: Some of the earliest Bitcoin adopters, who purchased or mined Bitcoin in its early days (2009-2010), saw substantial returns on their investments.
Cryptocurrency is a very volatile asset and unlike stocks, often does not have rationale behind price movements apart from market sentiment. However, based on all of this analysis, I believe that $100K BTC is definitely possible, which means you would need about 10 BTC to be a millionaire by 2030.
Solana vs. Ethereum
That brings us to the No. 1 reason why I think Solana has the potential to skyrocket in value between now and the end of 2025: Solana is the one blockchain most capable of supplanting Ethereum as the market leader.
Why is 1 Bitcoin worth so much?
Scarcity: As the supply of unrewarded coins diminishes, demand increases. There will only ever be 21 million bitcoins in existence. Divisibility: Bitcoin is much more divisible than fiat currencies. One bitcoin can be divided into up to eight decimal places, with constituent units called satoshis.
So, who are the top holders of BTC? According to the Bitcoin research and analysis firm River Intelligence, Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous creator behind Bitcoin, is listed as the top BTC holder as of 2024. The company notes that Satoshi Nakamoto holds about 1.1m BTC tokens in about 22,000 different addresses.
As of 2023, Bitcoin's highest price ever recorded is $68,789. However, soon after reaching its highest point, the BTC price fell below $46,000 and then, eventually, hit the 2022 crypto winter when it even dipped below $16,000.
So, if you put $1 in Bitcoin, you will get 0.000036869 BTC. However, it is important to note that the price of Bitcoin is volatile and can fluctuate wildly. So, the amount of Bitcoin you get for $1 could be more or less than 0.000036869 BTC depending on the time of purchase.
USD | BTC |
---|---|
20 USD | 0.00041719 BTC |
50 USD | 0.00104297 BTC |
100 USD | 0.00208594 BTC |
200 USD | 0.00417188 BTC |
A survey estimates that there are 88,200 millionaires around the world who have become rich through crypto assets, highlighting how this sector affects the wealth landscape.
Year | Minimum Price | Average Price |
---|---|---|
2029 | $377,387.26 | $387,964.20 |
2030 | $542,734.72 | $558,253.17 |
2031 | $759,925.00 | $787,838.21 |
2032 | $1,116,477.34 | $1,155,869.40 |
The supply of bitcoins is replenished at a set rate of one block every ten minutes. The system design reduces the number of new bitcoins in each block by half every four years. There are only about 2 million bitcoins left. Experts predict that the last bitcoins will be mined by 2140.
Topline. El Salvador, the first country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender, purchased 410 bitcoin for $15 million Friday with the currency trading at its lowest point in six months, President Nayib Bukele announced on Twitter.
Who really runs bitcoin?
Bitcoin is not controlled by any single group or person. Instead, it is governed by multiple stakeholders — including developers, miners, and users. Developers write the code that makes Bitcoin run; miners validate transactions; and users put the software to work by trading, transacting, holding, and more.
The gender gap in the crypto world
When we look at the state of women in crypto, we're seeing the same unfortunate trend as we do in the finance or finTech sectors and overall general workforce: as per 2021, women only make up about 21% of total crypto owners and less than 5% of crypto entrepreneurs are women.
The co-founder of Tesla Inc. revealed on Twitter that he owns only a tiny fraction of one bitcoin token. "I literally own zero cryptocurrency, apart from . 25 BTC that a friend sent me many years ago," Musk confessed.
CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME), Canaan Inc. (NASDAQ:CAN), NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), and Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBKR) are some hot crypto stocks being bought by billionaires.
Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao (commonly known as CZ) was the crypto billionaire who lost the most money following the crypto crisis of 2022, with a net worth drop amounting to 82 billion U.S. dollars.