Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous creator of Bitcoin (BTC), has quietly climbed the global wealth rankings again. Blockchain data from Arkham Intelligence shows Nakamoto’s estimated Bitcoin holdings rose by about $4 billion this week alone. The total value now stands above $129 billion, making Nakamoto richer than Amancio Ortega, the founder of Zara, whose net worth sits near $120 billion according to the latest Forbes Billionaires Index.
Bitcoin’s market price has traded above $116,000–$120,000 this week, pushing the total crypto market cap near $2.2 trillion. Nakamoto’s fortune is based on roughly 1.1 million BTC mined during Bitcoin’s first year.
How the Fortune Was Created and Why it Still Matters
When Bitcoin launched in January 2009, Nakamoto mined the earliest blocks to secure the network. Each block then generated a 50 BTC reward. Researchers who traced these early blocks estimate Nakamoto mined about 1.1 million BTC from 2009 to mid-2010.
For comparison, about 19.64 million BTC have now been mined out of Bitcoin’s maximum 21 million supply cap. This means only 1.36 million coins remain to be mined through block rewards over the next 100+ years. Nakamoto’s coins alone make up more than 5% of all existing BTC and nearly 6% of the total supply that will ever exist.
Despite Bitcoin’s volatile price history, none of Nakamoto’s original coins have ever moved. While some early wallets from 2010–2011 have moved coins in the past decade, blockchain researchers generally agree these do not belong to Nakamoto. So far, every alert has proven false — some early wallets did move coins, but they were likely other early miners, not Nakamoto.
This long-term dormancy is seen by many as an anchor of trust. If these coins remain untouched, they do not flood the market with new supply. This dormancy helped Bitcoin maintain its scarcity narrative during the early adoption years.
If even 10% of Nakamoto’s coins — about 110,000 BTC — were suddenly sold, they could inject more than $12 billion of supply into the market overnight. Analysts believe this could cause Bitcoin’s price to drop sharply in the short term due to excess sell pressure. Because of this, traders keep watching these wallets for signs of movement.
Who Controls Satoshi Nakamoto’s Wealth Today?
Unlike other billionaires, Nakamoto never claimed the fortune publicly. After handing over Bitcoin’s development to other contributors in 2010, Nakamoto disappeared from all forums. Multiple people have been named as possible candidates — including Hal Finney, Nick Szabo, Craig Wright and Dorian Nakamoto — but no one has provided definitive proof.
Because Bitcoin is decentralized, whoever holds the private keys to these wallets controls the fortune. If the keys are lost, the coins are stuck forever. If the keys exist, only Nakamoto or someone with access could ever move them.
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How This Compares to Institutional BTC Holdings
In 2025, large institutions have accumulated record levels of Bitcoin. U.S. and European spot Bitcoin ETFs now hold more than 900,000 BTC combined. That is slightly less than Nakamoto’s original stash.
This shows a unique contrast: an anonymous founder’s dormant wealth quietly outweighs the holdings of some of the largest regulated funds. Unlike institutional reserves, Nakamoto’s wealth remains outside the reach of any government, bank, or regulator.
Could Governments Seize Satoshi’s Bitcoin?
Some legal experts argue that if Nakamoto’s true identity were revealed, authorities could attempt to tax or prosecute them. But in practice, Bitcoin’s design makes forced seizure nearly impossible. Without private keys, the coins cannot be moved by any third party.
This keeps Nakamoto’s hoard one of the world’s largest untouchable fortunes — a wealth that exists entirely as encrypted code on a global blockchain.
Nakamoto’s wealth is now larger than Zara’s prominent founder Amancio Ortega, yet the person behind this fortune remains a ghost. As Bitcoin grows into a mainstream asset for funds and even governments, the original 1.1 million BTC shows that one invisible figure still owns enough coins to shake the market in an instant.