Bitcoin is not the currency of the people and likely never will be

[worhiper_-_]

The number of bitcoins owned by the richest holders is increasing as bitcoin grows older. Adoption could very well be a sham, because as a matter of fact the biggest holders keep accumulating more bitcoins, no matter how much bitcoin gets trader every day, this trend doesn't seem to be declining.


4.5m bitcoins are held by the top 500 richest addresses
15.5m bitcoins have been mined so far

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[katrimans]

Thats very strange. Maybe the one accumulating are not selling. But still i believe its the people currecny and it will remain for the people only.
Even if few hundreds holds major share, it still better the Fiat.

[OmegaStarScream]

If they are not selling then I don't see what's the issue honestly , they can hold as much as they want but that won't change anything for others .
Having less supply will simply make our bitcoins worth more .

[Shawshank]

How is that info calculated? It seems to me like an impossible job to pull through.

Not only because of the pseudonymous nature of Bitcoin but also because many addresses belong to exchanges that hold the funds of many users.

[Rubberduckie]

just like with any currency of course the richest own the most.. its
a currency of the people because governments dont own it and print it imo

[Herbert2020]

what is the source of this chart?

anyways the information can not be reliable when it comes to bitcoin. there is an anonymity with bitcoin and also the spread between bitcoin addresses that you can never make such conclusions and charts. nobody is keeping coins in one wallet so you can't find the real whales.

also, these top addresses are mostly mining pools, exchangers, services, .... that hold a lot of bitcoin because of the nature of their business.

[alani123]

what is the source of this chart?

anyways the information can not be reliable when it comes to bitcoin. there is an anonymity with bitcoin and also the spread between bitcoin addresses that you can never make such conclusions and charts. nobody is keeping coins in one wallet so you can't find the real whales.

also, these top addresses are mostly mining pools, exchangers, services, .... that hold a lot of bitcoin because of the nature of their business.

Pretty sure that this chart is from http://bitcoinrichlist.com/, the information is accurate but might be outdated by a few hundred blocks because that site isn't updated that regularly.

[Holliday]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle

[odolvlobo]

There are several ways that the chart can be misinterpreted. The following must be noted:

• Addresses are not the same as people. Most of the top 100 addresses are used by exchanges and wallet services, and they hold bitcoins for millions of people.
• Counting the number of bitcoins that each person owns is like counting the number of dollar bills that each person owns. The results have no relevance. A person with a lot of bitcoins could still be relatively poor if all their wealth is in bitcoins, and very wealthy person could own no bitcoins at all.
• Most importantly, the chart is very misleading. the reason the values in the chart are rising is that the number of bitcoins is increasing.

The number of bitcoins owned by the richest holders is increasing as bitcoin grows older. Adoption could very well be a sham, because as a matter of fact the biggest holders keep accumulating more bitcoins, no matter how much bitcoin gets trader every day, this trend doesn't seem to be declining.

That statement is false. 4 years ago, the top 500 addresses held nearly 40% of the bitcoins. Today, the top 500 addresses hold less than 30% of the bitcoins. The trend is declining.

[crazyivan]

What is the problem with that?

People who re already deep in BTC want to have more BTC. Sure, dont we all think that way.

BTW, I see BTC as a store of value, gold 2.0 and not as something I m gonna take into the shop and buy bread and milk with. I dont think it ll ever come to that point.

[bryant.coleman]

The chart doesn't mean anything. Most of the top 100 wallets belong to crypto-coin exchanges such as BTC-e, Bitstamp, Bitsinstant and Localbitcoins. A few of them are owned by the crypto-markets where crypto-equities are being sold, and dark markets such as Alphabay, Dream Market, and Valhalla. IMO, very few of these wallets are owned by individual Bitcoiners.

[alani123]

The number of bitcoins owned by the richest holders is increasing as bitcoin grows older. Adoption could very well be a sham, because as a matter of fact the biggest holders keep accumulating more bitcoins, no matter how much bitcoin gets trader every day, this trend doesn't seem to be declining.

That statement is false. 4 years ago, the top 500 addresses held nearly 40% of the bitcoins. Today, the top 500 addresses hold less than 30% of the bitcoins. The trend is declining.

It's not false, this statement is in accordance with that the chart in the OP shows. The chart is from here, a page which in its turn is sourced by publicly available data on the blockchain. The number of bitcoins held by the richest addresses indeed keeps increasing, but the percentage doesn't necessarily follow an upward trend.

[topiOleg]

• Most importantly, the chart is very misleading. the reason the values in the chart are rising is that the number of bitcoins is increasing.

It's not false, this statement is in accordance with that the chart in the OP shows. The chart is from here, a page which in its turn is sourced by publicly available data on the blockchain. The number of bitcoins held by the richest addresses indeed keeps increasing, but the percentage doesn't necessarily follow an upward trend.

This. To make the graph fair, change the number of Bitcoins held by top500 and top100 to % of available Bitcoin supply and you wont get increasing trend anymore.

[Dekker3D]

Or this could be treated as most bitcoins are being held by Chinese people since they have control on half of the mining industry and trading transactions.

[NUFCrichard]

Or this could be treated as most bitcoins are being held by Chinese people since they have control on half of the mining industry and trading transactions.

Do you actually know that they are being held by Chinese people/miners or is that just what you think is possible?
It is not great that so few addresses hold so many bitcoin, but it is probably preferable than that they keep dumping and keeping the price low!

I think some of the addresses will be old and now unused, others will be exchanges and ETFs, actual private people holding more than 10k Bitcoins must be very rare

[romero121]

Right now a huge percentage of the bitcoin is in the hands of richest person. If you take the entire count of users having more than one bitcoin, the count will be very low. This itself proves the statement bitcoin will serve to be a currency to a certain extent among the common man.

[Lutzow]

Or this could be treated as most bitcoins are being held by Chinese people since they have control on half of the mining industry and trading transactions.

Do you actually know that they are being held by Chinese people/miners or is that just what you think is possible?
It is not great that so few addresses hold so many bitcoin, but it is probably preferable than that they keep dumping and keeping the price low!

I think some of the addresses will be old and now unused, others will be exchanges and ETFs, actual private people holding more than 10k Bitcoins must be very rare

This is probably the result of news going around that majority of the mining industry is in China. There was also a rumor before that the big price pump when the bitcoin price rose to $500 was due to Chinese traders.

[avikz]

The accumulation of bitcoin is also an investment for the future. People have high hopes about bitcoin price and hence they are just accumulating it instead of trading or selling it.

That's human nature. Optimists will definitely accumulating the bitcoin for the future. For me, whatever the altcoins I get from various sources, I always buy bitcoins with that. That's accumulation for the future.

[Cuidler]

Or this could be treated as most bitcoins are being held by Chinese people since they have control on half of the mining industry and trading transactions.

About the trading volumes, you relly on numbers which cant be independly verified these are not faked.

But the mining industry is indeed controled by Chinese pools, though many individual miners can point their miners elsewhere if needed.

BTW my Bitcoin holdings increase over time as well, although Im not in top 500. If you draw the number of Bitcoins held excluding top 500, you get increasing graph line as well !

[Amph]

If they are not selling then I don't see what's the issue honestly , they can hold as much as they want but that won't change anything for others .
Having less supply will simply make our bitcoins worth more .

only if there is enough demand, that is willing to buy at higher price, demand is everything, without proper demand, it does not matter if you hold if you don't dump big, if your coin is rare, all pointless, versus the demand