Top 5 Richest Bitcoin Owners

Today, the financial service provider BitPay is the biggest bitcoin checkout processor worldwide. At the company’s helm is Gallippi, its current chairman. This co-founder (alongside Stephen Pair) has preached the bitcoin gospel on multiple media platforms, been invited to speak before the US Senate, and been involved with brokering multiple investment deals with powerful magnates like Richard Branson (founder of the Virgin Group) and Jerry Yang (co-founder of Yahoo!). Although Gallippi’s exact stake in bitcoins is uncertain, many estimates place his holdings at around $20 million.

This bad boy of bitcoin had early entrepreneurial leanings, starting a printer and computer business in high school. His ambitions were larger, though. He became the co-founder and vice-chairman of former payment processor BitInstant and a founding member of the Bitcoin Foundation. Arrested at JFK airport in 2014 for suspicious business dealings, including conspiring to launder $1 million worth of bitcoins, Shrem was sent to prison until 2016. Despite his legal troubles, he continues to be highly active in the bitcoin business, and some estimate that he owns around $45 million US in the cryptocurrency.

Known as Bitcoin Jesus, this American native (who subsequently renounced his citizenship and moved to Japan) became one of the first big advocates of bitcoin, accurately predicting its rise in both popularity and value. He is currently the CEO of Bitcoin.com, a website with a goal of bring bitcoins to the masses, and is widely recognized for his many startups, libertarian political stance and bitcoin advocacy. Although having run into his own legal troubles in connection to selling fireworks explosives online, today he is estimated to own over $50 million worth of bitcoins.

You may remember these twins as portrayed by actor Armie Hammer from 2010’s “The Social Network”. Although having lost out on their attempt to gain control of Facebook, as depicted in the film, they received a gigantic settlement of over $60 million dollars for their role in the website’s creation and development, much of which they were able to invest. One of their investments, namely their 2013 investment in $11 million worth of bitcoins, ended up paying off handsomely; they currently are estimated to own perhaps a billion dollars worth of bitcoin.Take that, Zuckerberg!

The largest holder of bitcoins also happens to be the most mysterious. After essentially inventing the cryptocurrency in 2008, the unknown figure retreated from the spotlight, leaving many guessing as to his identity. To date, there are only a couple of records proving his existence, including some purported e-mail correspondence. While some have stepped forward claiming that they are Nakamoto, the evidence is still murky, suggesting that the shadowy mastermind is still out there somewhere. Or does he even exist? Whoever he/she/it/they is, is estimated to hold around 1 million bitcoins, the net worth of which is over $6 billion.