Hodlers and whales: Who owns the most Bitcoin in 2022?

cointelegraph.com:

One of the main features of the Bitcoin blockchain is its transparency. Bitcoin lets anyone see every transaction that has ever been made on its network and check the balance of every address out there. Because of this transparency, we’re able to know who owns the most Bitcoin (BTC) in 2022.

It’s important to look at who owns the most BTC, as the cryptocurrency’s supply is limited to 21 million coins. In February, Kim Grauer, director of research at blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis, told Cointelegraph that an estimated 3.7 million BTC have been lost, effectively deflating the cryptocurrency’s circulating supply.

Experts estimate that as Bitcoin’s adoption rises, demand for it will skyrocket. As 3.7 million coins are estimated to be lost and a significant amount is being held on-chain by early investors, what may follow is a supply shock. Such a shock could only materialize if demand skyrockets in the future.

Those who own the most Bitcoin are set to greatly benefit from such a shock. Moreover, a significant supply being held by one entity is seen as a risk because if that entity ends up selling its war chest on the market, it could lead to a significant downside.

The entity that is widely acknowledged to hold the most Bitcoin is the cryptocurrency’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. Nakamoto is believed to have around 1.1 million BTC that they have never touched throughout the years, leading to several theories regarding their identity and situation.

A significant amount of analysis has been put into determining how many coins Nakamoto actually has. After bringing BTC into existence by mining the genesis block, Nakamoto mined a significant number of blocks through their hardware at the time, with each block coming with a 50-BTC