Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin Fortune Now Surpasses Bill Gates—Buffett Next in the Crosshairs
The anonymous Bitcoin creator's wallet just flipped a tech titan—and the Oracle of Omaha might be sweating.
Move over, Microsoft money. Satoshi Nakamoto's original Bitcoin stash—untouched since 2010—now outvalues Bill Gates' entire $128 billion net worth. At today's prices, those early-mined coins could buy three Berkshire Hathaways... with enough left over to short Wall Street's favorite boomer stock.
Funny how the 'fool's gold' crowd went quiet after the tenth straight year of crypto outperforming their index funds.
Can Satoshi sell?
The exact identity of Satoshi Nakamoto is unknown, despite many attempts over the years to unmask the cryptocurrency creator.
An HBO documentary last fall claimed that Bitcoin Core developer Peter Todd was crypto’s elusive inventor, but this theory was swatted away by viewers and Todd himself. Other early Bitcoiners like Adam Back and the late Hal Finney have been pegged as Satoshi, though both have denied the claims.
Others believe that Tesla CEO Elon Musk could’ve created Bitcoin, that a group rather than an individual is behind the technology, or that it was secretly government-created. Ultimately, no definitive answer has ever been reached.
“I think Satoshi was one person in terms of the number of entities that controlled his accounts, like the Bitcoin Talk Forum,” Econoalchemist, a pseudonymous Bitcoin miner, told Decrypt. “But I do believe Satoshi was well-connected among cryptographers, researchers, and cypherpunks, and he Leveraged those relationships to build Bitcoin.”
Wallets believed to be owned by Satoshi have never moved any Bitcoin, per Arkham, which has led many to believe that they may not even be alive anymore. After all, why wouldn’t you cash out at least a little bit, given Bitcoin’s immense gains?
But if the inventor isn’t dead, then there isn’t anything stopping him from selling.
“I do think Satoshi could still be alive, but I don't think he WOULD ever sell his coins,” Econoalchemist explained. “He built an alternative cash system, and I don't believe he did that for the gains in the failed system Bitcoin was designed to replace.”
On Tuesday, a Bitcoin Improvement Proposal was submitted that seeks to change the blockchain’s software to protect against quantum computers cracking the code. Although the proposal would affect only 25% of all Bitcoin—including the BTC tied to Satoshi—its creators argue the unprecedented threat of quantum computing requires unprecedented action.
The proposal comes as experts are becoming more concerned that quantum computing could be used to crack the private keys to highly lucrative wallets within the next decade. If this were to happen, theoretically, not just Satoshi’s BTC but 25% of the total supply, as estimated by Deloitte, could be stolen and flood the market, resulting in a “liquidation event,” experts warned.
