Have you noticed that NSA/CIA/FBI just cannot keep their hands off the top owners of bitcoins worldwide?

Perhaps some sort of one-for-all and all-for-one -approach by the 100 richest would be in order. If one of us gets harassed by the old regime, the top strategists, lawyers etc. would be instantly available.

Divide et impera no more.

Where are all the addresses whose balance went down? Not in the chart above at least.. I haven't found the methodology yet.

It is possible to get yourself included to the list (and I would encourage people to do it) but there needs to be reasonable evidence of the holding. The claim of BTC100,000 is more difficult to prove than BTC10,000 etc. We do not require hard proofs such as list of addresses and messages signed with their private keys though.

He has more coins and his coins are more valuable than mine 

Sounds about right.

The reason why I keep my BTC/fiat ratio at about 20:1 almost always is that there is not so much regularity in bitcoin that would easily allow trading strategies that enable you to consistently increase your BTC holdings, relative to simple buy & hold.

The most difficult part is megamoves, such as Jan 15-Apr 10, 2013. Tell me about even one trader who managed to increase his bitcoin stash during this period! Yet all simpletons such as me managed to keep theirs intact by just refusing to trade. (Minimizes taxes also)

1. In high probability, Satoshi's bitcoin stash is the greatest. He was the first to generate coins, and continued mining throughout 2009. He has mined 980,000 coins that have never been spent, using a distinguishable pattern and a unique version of the miner software. Whether he has mined other coins with standard miner(s), and/or bought or sold them, is very hard to find out, because we don't even know who Satoshi is. The upper limit of Satoshi's fortune can be estimated to 1.5 million, although the more likely case is close to 1 million.

2. It is becoming accepted knowledge that the owner of Silk Road, "Dread Pirate Roberts a.k.a. DPR", is a San Fransisco man named Ross Ulbricht whom the FBI nabbed in October, 2013, suspected of federal crimes. Silk Road was a successful online marketplace which had generated BTC615,000 in commissions during the time of operation. There is no evidence that DPR had spent many of the coins before getting caught. SR operating costs were similarly low. The FBI has cracked open a wallet containing BTC144,000, but it is likely that DPR still controls a sizable stash of coins, although it is also possible that they are spent or given away. We do well to suspect everyone who claims to know the whole truth concerning this case.

4. According to knightmb, the holding is completely dissipated voluntarily. There is a thread discussing this, and the claim is not generally held to be credible. More research is needed.

5. Analysis on MtGox' monthly profit and loss is needed to better assess the stash Karpeles controls.  

6. Not owned by FBI, but this is the balance of two addresses in FBI's control. The coins are confiscated from Silk Road and its merchants. If they owners of the coins are found guilty of felonies, the coins revert to the federal government and will be auctioned for fiat money.

8. The Winklevoss' came public in [when] telling that they plan to launch a Bitcoin ETF and have accumulated 1% of all (outstanding?) bitcoins.

11. Provably owns a single address with a balance of BTC40,000. Total holdings may reach up to BTC100k-200k.

12. Estimate based on his winning BTC11,000 in Just Dice, and having BTC15,000 invested in the "house bankroll" of Just Dice and Lets Dice. If his claim that he owns an ASIC manufacturer is true, the total stash may be larger than estimated.

13. Lost BTC15,000 in early 2013 with his business mpex.co without going broke. Has made thousands before and after that according to published records. Except from illiquid positions in bitcoin companies, holds all his wealth in bitcoins.

14. Long-time forum VIP member, not disclosed his bitcoin holdings but estimate is based on several anecdotal evidence such as 400,000 LTC holding which is secondary to BTC holding, and BTC5,000 bet with Matthew that the latter defaulted.

15. Claimed in October 2013 to have 5 million dollars worth of bitcoins.

17. Claimed to have a million dollar worth of bitcoins at the time when it would have amounted approximately this many.

51. Cypherdoc exchanged his lifetime savings of gold and silver for bitcoins starting in April 2011. Total holding estimated based on his likely lifetime savings, likely average conversion price, and stories how difficult it was to sell or even transport such an amount of silver.

52. A middle point between rpietila's claim that he has "never after 1.1.2012 been in control of any less than BTC2,400 or any more than BTC35,000. Number includes family and corporate holdings.

102. Koch became famous in Oct 2013 when he bought a house for 1/5 of the $24 investment he had made in bitcoins in 2009. It is generally assumed that he still holds the balance of BTC4,000 since the recent article does not mention further sales.

202. Wikileaks' public balance is more than BTC1,000, but it is likely that large donations have always been made with unique receiver addresses. The estimate may well be conservative.

BITCOIN TOP-500: 51-100
At present you will earn a place in this list if your balance is at least BTC7,000.

50.  BTC10,500*. cypherdoc

51.  BTC10,000*. rpietila

Others in this category, awaiting for more sources & confirmations:
byronbb
NewLibertyStandard
laszlo
allinvain
John K.
sirius
HostFat
Timo Y
zhoutong
01BTC10


BITCOIN TOP-500: 101-200
At present you will earn a place in this list if your balance is at least BTC3,500.

101.  BTC6,000. Jaakko Paakkari

102.  BTC4,000*. Kristoffer Koch.

FreeMoney
jimbobway

BITCOIN TOP-500: 200-500
At present you will earn a place in this list if your balance is at least BTC2,100 as a tribute to Vladimir's Club.

201.  BTC3,000. Vladimir

202.  BTC2,500. Wikileaks

If the information in this thread is not correct, please send PM or comment with links to the more accurate information. If you don't want to show on the list, make a truthful statement that you don't have so many coins and you will be removed.


The long-awaited thread is here. From public sources, let us collect information on people/institutions who have disclosed their holdings. Only actual bitcoins count, similarly as in this collective thread.

Methodology comments OK (there is a lively debate on how to determine a bitcoin holding; let's try to find a common sense way). If the number of coins is marked with (*), there is additional explanation here.

The list is intended to help the people in question to identify themselves as Bitcoin powercenters, help networking and organization and boost their Bitcoin businesses. Free links are provided with list entry.

Please post your additions to the list to this thread or PM!


BITCOIN TOP-500: 1-50

1.  BTC980,000*. Satoshi Nakamoto

2.  BTC400,000*. HD Moore (AHA)

3.  BTC400,000*. Dustin D. Trammell (AHA)

4.  BTC400,000*. Tod Beardsley (AHA)

5.  BTC350,000*. "Dread Pirate Roberts" a.k.a. "DPR"

6.  BTC300,000.  Roger Ver

7.  BTC300,000*. "knightmb"

8.  BTC200,000. Mark Karpeles

8.5  BTC182,592. "Loaded"

9.  BTC174,000*. FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation, USA)

10.  BTC119,000. AsicMiner Management Team of 3 (names?)

11.  BTC110,000. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss

12.  BTC100,000. "klaus"

13.  BTC100,000. "mezzomix"

14.  BTC75,000. "artforz"

15.  BTC70,000. Erik Voorhees

17.  BTC30,000. "nakowa"

18.  BTC30,000. Mircea Popescu

19.  BTC30,000. "Goat"

20.  BTC25,000. Chamath Palihapitiya

21.  BTC25,000. Gavin Andresen

22.  BTC20,000. Max Keiser

23.  BTC20,000. "Theymos"

Others in this category, awaiting for sources:
Jon Matonis
Tony Galippi
Peter Vessenes
Luke Dashjr
Mike Caldwell (Casascius)

BITCOIN TOP-500: 51-500 (link)

The more bears in the forum, the better. 

Golden rule: Bears are bulls that are caught short of their full position. They try to talk the price down. It never works, so they have to buy higher, increasing the price even more in the process.

Read my old post even I growled a week ago in want of $150 coins that never happened. Bought back at $195.

It doesn't seem like he worked much, but he withdrew BTC5,000 from the market through good and bleak months, enabling a higher price, more interest, higher difficulty, more security, etc.

Now he is a true supporter given the fact that he sold only 20% after an unbelievable runup. Any man from the street would have sold all.

It is all probabilities ofcourse, but I don't see anymore, how sales would overwhelm buys.

The story might be a final push for many who have just waited over the months and years.

Btw. the most interesting part IMO was that despite a million percent gain, he only sold 20%. With the remaining 4000 bitcoins he is among the top 200 worldwide and why not - Norway is one of the remaining independent countries. Even the taxman was curious to make the regulations conform to bitcoin and not the other way round.

Perhaps the bitcoin distribution model is carefully designed to retain the coins in hands of the intelligent, the honest and the simple:
- intelligent hear about it first and being relatively rich and/or tech-savvy, can acquire many
- honest have distrust and disdain towards fiat, so convert to bitcoin easily and have no urge to sell
- simple see that others have become rich and just imitate them by buying and holding.

Yes I was hoping to use my authority to take it to $150-$160 area to scoop more coins. But it didn't obey so I bailed out and sold all my USD at about 195. Now it can go whereever it will. I am always anxious when I hold USD or EUR. Gold, silver and bitcoin give me peace.

(The silver spoons joke was pretty good, since at times I have owned thousands of them, but not now.)

+1. And real estate is dirt cheap. In Berlin everything costs half of what it costs in Helsinki (except housing is 70% cheaper)

5) Ultimate believers that measure all their gains and losses in bitcoins and are hell-bent on increasing their bitcoin balance in every opportunity. "Selling" in their terminology is obtaining more bitcoins and USD is only relevant in the timing of gaining more coins.

I think we need to decide now, whether it is $500 or $750. Rules must be clear.

My proposal is $750.

(Bitcoin's average growth rate is 0.65% per day and using this average, it takes 44 days from $750 to $1000.)

I disagree with you; As long as bitcoins are easily exchangeable for dollars, I don't think the scheme would matter.

"They" have been able to suppress silver's use as medium of exchange, and even gold's, but I have always paid all taxes due and never had more than 5% of balance in fiat. To pay taxes you don't need to have much balance in that currency, you just save up from the cash flows in the days preceding the due date, or dip to your savings and exchange.

There are all sorts of insidious capital controls possible, but in today's world the result is massively more misery than good. The more people are harassed financially, the higher bitcoin rises.

If we honestly value bitcoin more than dollars, the scheme would not cause an actual disturbance, since it is already in effect.

The Pizza happened in 22.5.2010. It is good to read the whole history.

I would be tempted to use 0.0025 (set by the pizza) as the exchange rate throughout 2009-2010 until end of June. In July Mt.Gox opened, and after that the volume-weighted price of Mt.Gox. At some point of time in mid-2013 a switch to Bitstamp.

Bitcoin has been operational for 1760 days, and in this period the price has risen by a factor of 80,000. This is 10.39x per year, or +21.5% per month.

Yeah, the times are back..