Meet the whales: Bitcoin’s biggest holders and their market influence

Despite cryptocurrency’s decentralized ideals, a select few hold vast amounts of Bitcoin, wielding outsized influence. Who owns the most Bitcoin, and how do these whales sway the market?

It has been 15 years since the invention of Bitcoin (BTC), the cryptocurrency that kicked off what is now a multibillion-dollar digital asset industry. In that time, the coin has become one of the largest peer-to-peer (P2P) networks in terms of the total number of users.

However, there have been concerns regarding Bitcoin’s centralized distribution, which seems counterintuitive to its original purpose.

It is becoming increasingly clear that a small number of companies and individuals control the vast majority of Bitcoin’s current supply. These entities are often called “whales,” who, because of their massive holdings, can cause significant ripples across the BTC market.

These whales often command attention from other market participants due to their outsized trading activity and capacity to influence prices.

In this article, we’ll look at who these people and organizations are and what their ownership of such large chunks of BTC means for the crypto market.

Overview of Bitcoin’s ownership distribution

Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, had the idea for a decentralized P2P payment system based on a digital currency that was universally accessible for purchase, storage, and use.

Importantly, Satoshi hoped to erase the influence of governments and traditional financial institutions in his new monetary system.

But while Satoshi’s ideals certainly help to explain Bitcoin’s increasing popularity and value, there is a nagging worry that the system is becoming more centralized as its ownership becomes concentrated in only a few hands.

The general feeling is that the greater the concentration of BTC’s supply, the fewer coins will be available to the general public, especially given that there will only ever be 21 million Bitcoins in circulation.

Data from BitInfoCharts shows that of the 48,766,860 BTC addresses currently in existence, the vast majority, about 47,775,437, hold 1 BTC or less. Another 1,013,080 hold between 1 and 1000 BTC, while 2,0

Go to Source to See Full Article
Author: Julius Mutunkei

Did you like this?
Tip BTC Newswire with Cryptocurrency