
After Bitcoin jumped beyond $120,000 on Sunday, its anonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, rose to the eleventh spot on the world wealth list. Nakamoto is thought to possess over 1.096 million Bitcoin, spread across several wallets, which translates to a theoretical fortune of more than $131 billion, according to blockchain analytics data from Arkham.
Theoretically, this would put Nakamoto ahead of Michael Dell, the founder of Dell Technologies, whose estimated net worth is $125.1 billion. However, Forbes’ official billionaire rankings do not include cryptocurrency wallet holdings; instead, they rely on publicly provable financial assets like stocks.
The Rise of Bitcoin Drives Nakamoto’s Wealth Path
On Monday, according to Nansen, Bitcoin momentarily reached $122,362, a new all-time high. But more rallying is still needed to propel Nakamoto to the top of Forbes’ billionaire rankings. With a net worth of about $404 billion, Elon Musk is presently the richest person on the list. Larry Ellison, a co-founder of Oracle, and Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta Platforms, are next in line with him, each with about $274 billion.
If all other net worths stay the same, Bitcoin would need to increase by another 208% to reach about $370,000 in order for Nakamoto to overtake Musk.
Analysts Forecast More Growth
According to a recent analysis by Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, if Bitcoin continues to generate the 50% yearly average return that it has historically, Nakamoto would become the second richest person in the world by the end of 2026. He compared Nakamoto’s strategy to that of Vanguard founder Jack Bogle, saying, “It’s great to think that the creator of something so successful never cashed in.”
Numerous commentators have expressed optimism on the future course of Bitcoin. 10x Research’s Markus Thielen believes there is a 60% probability that Bitcoin will reach $133,000 by September, while Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan anticipates a surge to $200,000 by the end of 2025 due to growing institutional demand. Arthur Hayes, a co-founder of BitMEX, predicts that Bitcoin will hit $250,000 before the year is over.