Satoshi Nakamoto Nears Top 10 Rich List as Bitcoin Hits New Highs

Bitcoin’s elusive creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, is now among the world’s richest individuals—without ever cashing out a single dollar or revealing their identity.

With Bitcoin soaring past $122,000 on Monday, Satoshi’s estimated stash of 1.1 million BTC has swelled to a value exceeding $134 billion, based on blockchain data. That places them just shy of the global top ten richest people, ahead of figures like Dell CEO Michael Dell and Walmart heir Rob Walton, and inching closer to the net worths of former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and legendary investor Warren Buffett, per the Forbes real-time billionaires list. Satoshi’s holdings are now approaching the fortune of Google co-founder Sergey Brin, whose net worth is estimated at $142 billion.

All of Satoshi’s coins were mined in Bitcoin’s earliest days when the network could run on just a few laptops. Remarkably, none of these funds have ever been moved since 2010, fueling speculation over whether Nakamoto is deceased, missing, or simply determined to stay uninvolved forever.

Unlike other billionaires who built companies, courted investors, or went public on stock markets, Satoshi created Bitcoin quietly and disappeared. Sixteen years later, that innovation has grown into a network valued at over $2.4 trillion.

Bitcoin set a fresh all-time high this week, lifted by renewed ETF inflows, inflation-hedge narratives, and strong institutional demand. Though Satoshi’s fortune remains theoretical—since none of the coins have been spent or proven accessible—the sheer valuation underscores how dramatically the crypto landscape has transformed since Nakamoto’s final forum post in 2011.