In mid-November 2021, Satoshi Nakamoto, the inventor of bitcoin, was one of the world’s richest men with over $69 billion in bitcoin, and was among the top 20 on the Forbes 2021 billionaires list. Seven months have passed since then, and the unknown creator of bitcoin has dropped from the top 20 and is now ranked 79th among the world’s 100 richest people.
Satoshi Nakamoto’s Net Worth Drops 70% – Bitcoin Inventor Still in Top 100 Richest Billionaires
On the low end, it is estimated that bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, mined at least 600,000 to 700,000 bitcoins (BTC) during the blockchain’s initial launch period. High estimates suspect that Nakamoto mined up to 1.1 million BTC with a high-end PC.
It is safe to say that it is generally accepted that Nakamoto owns approximately 1 million bitcoins, and all forks that stem from the original creation. This means that if Nakamoto still had a stockpile of coins, the inventor’s portfolio would have a net worth of over $20.5 billion using today’s BTC exchange rates.
With a net worth of over $20.5 billion, Satoshi Nakamoto is today the 79th richest person in the world. Nakamoto, the vice-chairman of Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), is just above billionaire Huang Shilin. His business is one of China’s largest electric car battery manufacturers and Shilin is worth $20.3 billion today, according to the Forbes 2022 billionaires list.
Just above Nakamoto is Jensen Huang, co-founder of graphics processing unit (GPU) chip maker Nvidia. In 2022, Huang is ranked 78th in terms of the world’s richest people, as Huang has a net worth of $20.6 billion today.
While Nakamoto’s portfolio declined, CATL and Nvidia executives saw their net worth increase.
The difference between Nakamoto and billionaires Shilin and Huang is that the net worth of bitcoin inventors fell by more than 70% after a mid-November 2021 high, with Huang and Shilin rising.
CATL’s vice president saw his net worth increase by 57.36% from last year and a 74.57% increase in Huang’s assets since 2021. Both Shilin and Huang also moved up a few places on the Forbes billionaires list from 2021 to 2022, while Satoshi’s position was dropped.
Nakamoto is ranked 79th on the Forbes list today, but as of October 17, 2021, the inventor of bitcoin was the 20th richest person. In fact, at that time Nakamoto was just below Walton’s three siblings. Members of the Walton family Jim Walton, Alice Walton and Rob Walton own and operate the mega retail chain Walmart.
In October, when Nakamoto was the 20th richest person, the inventor of bitcoin didn’t spend a dime out of the then-$60.9 billion crypto wealth. Funds reportedly owned by Satoshi have never moved during the past 13 years, and many believe that the creators of bitcoin will not move BTC under any circumstances.
While Nakamoto’s wealth has declined significantly, this is not the first time this has happened. The crypto creator’s net worth has dropped by 70-80% several times since bitcoin’s inception.
What do you think about the 70% drop in Satoshi Nakamoto’s net worth in eight months? Let us know what you think about this topic in the comment section below.
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