Technically, Bitcoin was worth less than 10 cents per bitcoin since its inception in 2009. The cryptocurrency has steadily increased since then and is now worth around $8000 per Bitcoin. This is the most remarkable appreciation of the value and has created many millionaires in the last decade.

Here is a list of some of the richest bitcoin owners over time and in no particular order:

Satoshi Nakamoto

The mysterious creator of Bitcoin, widely known as Satoshi Nakamoto, remains the major holder of bitcoins. The number of bitcoins that Nakamoto owns today is estimated at around 1.1 million, based on the early mining that he did. This is the equivalent of almost $8 billion at today’s exchange rate.

Reports suggest that Nakamoto has never touched most of his bitcoins, and neither converted them into real-world currencies nor used them for any other purpose. If he were to sell his entire holdings, the value of Bitcoin could take a nosedive in an instant.

Roger Ver

Roger Ver, otherwise known as Bitcoin Jesus, is one of the first Bitcoin billionaires and believed to hold or held at least 100,000 bitcoins. The renowned libertarian allegedly dropped out of college to focus on his bitcoin-related projects.

Unlike other crypto billionaires out there who are throwing their cash in the typical private Islands or luxury jets, Ver’s dream is to establish his own libertarian nation where every individual is the absolute owner of their own life and are free to do whatever they wish with their person or property.

Roger Ver renounced his U.S. citizenship in 2014 and relocated permanently to a small Caribbean Island.

Charlie Shrem

Charlie Shrem is one of the youngest of our richest Bitcoin owners list. He purchased many Bitcoins when it was trading only at $3- 4 dollars. He then bought another batch of hundreds of BTC when it was trading at $20.

At the age of 22, Shrem founded BitInstant while being an active member of the Bitcoin Foundation.

By the end of December 2014, Shrem had been found guilty of money laundering and received a two-year prison sentence. After his release from federal custody, he unveiled a startup called Intellisys Capital, a company that sells investment portfolios in blockchain companies.

Silbert

Silbert is a venture capitalist and founder of Digital Currency Group. He was an early adopter of Bitcoin. He purportedly walked away with an eye-watering 48,000 Bitcoins in an auction held by the U.S. Marshals Service in 2014.

The US government had confiscated much of the crypto coins from Ross Ulbricht, the alleged operator of the dark web marketplace for drugs and other illegal products. Bitcoin was then worth $350, which means Silbert’s coins have skyrocketed in value from $16.8 million to $288 million.

Tim Draper

Tim Draper has to be one of the richest bitcoin owners on our list. He has invested in many projects and ventures and has made billions.

His most known investment is probably Skype and his purchase of 30,000 Bitcoins from the same government auction in which Silbert participated in 2014. The bitcoins were estimated to be valued around $19 million at that time.

Draper reportedly has a net wealth of over $1 billion.

Dave Carlson

Dave Carlson is among the few millionaires that have made their wealth just by mining Bitcoin. He bought all his hardware and started mining intensely. After that, he founded MegaBigPower, which allowed him to mine and reap rewards on a much bigger scale.

In 2016, Carlson was said to have made about $8 million per month from his mining warehouse, which is over 2,000 square feet.

Tony Gallippi

A famous business magnate Tony Gallippi is also believed to be one of the big holders of bitcoins. He is the brain behind BitPay, one of the most popular Bitcoin payment service providers in the world.

The company was launched in May 2011 and processes over one million dollars per day. Bitpay is also one of the companies to sign contracts with major companies including Microsoft, Dell, TigerDirect, and Newegg.

Conclusion

It is estimated that the 1000 main bitcoin addresses have approximately 35% of the total bitcoins in circulation. There are also thousands of people who have large bitcoin funds but have chosen to remain anonymous.

To start earning Bitcoin, you can make optimum use of Bitcoin trading software to build a solid portfolio or cloud mining services where clients get to buy hashpower to mine Bitcoins.

However, you’re always required to have a wallet where you can store your earned Bitcoins.