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Who Owns the Most Bitcoin in 2026? Arkham Data Reveals Top Holders

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Brian Armstrong's Bold Prediction: AI Agents Will Soon Dominate Global Financial

TLDR:

  • Satoshi Nakamoto holds 1.096 million BTC worth $77B, making him the largest Bitcoin holder globally.
  • Coinbase controls 5% of Bitcoin’s total supply, leading all exchanges with 982,000 BTC in holdings.
  • The U.S. Government holds 328,000 BTC seized from Bitfinex, Silk Road, and the LuBian Hacker address.
  • Strategy holds 738,000 BTC total, making it the largest public company Bitcoin holder as of 2026. 

Bitcoin ownership remains concentrated among a select group of entities as of 2026. On-chain data from Arkham Intelligence reveals that Satoshi Nakamoto holds the largest known share.

Exchanges, ETF issuers, and governments follow closely behind. Public companies like Strategy have also accumulated substantial reserves over the past few years.

The data provides a clear picture of where the world’s most valuable digital asset resides today, and who holds the most of it.

Satoshi Nakamoto Leads All Bitcoin Holders Worldwide

Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, remains the single largest known holder. Arkham’s research attributes 1.096 million BTC to Satoshi, worth approximately $77 billion. This figure rests on a known mining pattern called the Patoshi Pattern.

Arkham’s data links these holdings to around 22,000 blocks that Satoshi mined in the network’s early days. The identified addresses include the only known wallets from which Satoshi ever spent BTC. No movement has been recorded from most of these wallets in years.

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Among individual wallet addresses, a Binance cold wallet holds the most BTC. That single address contains nearly 250,000 BTC, worth around $17 billion. It ranks as the largest single-address Bitcoin wallet currently on record.

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Exchanges and ETF Issuers Command Billions in Holdings

Coinbase is the largest exchange entity by BTC holdings, controlling around 982,000 BTC. That figure represents roughly 5% of Bitcoin’s total circulating supply. Binance follows with approximately 655,000 BTC, equal to 3.3% of supply.

BlackRock leads all ETF issuers with 775,000 BTC held under its spot Bitcoin ETF. Fidelity Custody holds 460,000 BTC, while Grayscale, Bitwise, and ARK Invest also maintain on-chain positions. Arkham first identified these ETF holdings on-chain after the products launched in the U.S. in January 2024.

Grayscale’s Bitcoin holdings are spread across more than 1,750 separate addresses. Each address holds no more than 1,000 BTC. All assets are custodied through Coinbase.

Governments Hold Bitcoin Largely Through Criminal Asset Seizures

The United States Government holds 328,000 BTC, making it the top government holder by a wide margin. These holdings come from seizures tied to the Bitfinex hack, Silk Road, and the LuBian Hacker address. The FBI manages these wallets on behalf of the federal government.

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The United Kingdom holds 61,245 BTC, seized from Jian Wen and Zhimin Qian in 2018. El Salvador holds 7,500 BTC, accumulated through daily purchases and a legal tender policy. Bhutan holds 5,400 BTC, mined through its sovereign wealth fund using hydroelectric power.

Unlike seizure-based holdings, El Salvador and Bhutan acquired Bitcoin through active national strategies. El Salvador adopted it as legal tender and bought 1 BTC daily under President Bukele’s directive. Bhutan partnered with Bitdeer to expand mining operations backed by cheap hydroelectric energy.

Public and Private Companies Continue Accumulating BTC Reserves

Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, holds more Bitcoin than any other public company. Its total holdings stand at 738,000 BTC, though on-chain data confirms 443,000 BTC directly. The company has been buying consistently since August 2020.

MARA, a publicly traded mining company, reports a treasury stockpile of 53,200 BTC. Metaplanet, listed in Tokyo, holds 35,100 BTC as a hedge against yen depreciation. Both companies closely mirror Strategy’s long-term accumulation approach.

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Among private companies, Tether holds 96,300 BTC verified on-chain. SpaceX holds 8,300 BTC, down from a peak of 28,000 BTC in 2021. Block.one claims 164,000 BTC, though those holdings remain unverified through on-chain data.

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Crypto World

Ansem Says Ethereum Is in a Worse Spot Than 2023 as Thesis Weakens

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Ethereum Price Prediction

Crypto analyst Ansem argues that Ethereum (ETH) is in a “worse spot” in 2026 than it was in 2023, pointing to a thesis he says has been eroding for years.

His bearish take drew rebuttals from some members of the community. Meanwhile, on-chain activity and technical indicators elsewhere on the network flash bullish signals.

Ansem Lists Cracks in the ETH Thesis

Ansem argues that Solana (SOL) has dominated retail activity this cycle. Hyperliquid has taken the lead in perpetual futures trading, while rollups have failed to gain traction.

He also noted that Vitalik Buterin “publicly abandoned” the general-use rollup thesis. The ongoing Aave (AAVE) situation around the KelpDAO rsETH exploit, Ansem said, is a mark on  Ethereum’s core value proposition of “safety + security of defi & insto interest.

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“ETH thesis has been weakening consistently for years,” the analyst wrote. ETH in 2026 is in a worse spot than it was in 2023, amplified by AI doing extremely well & tech stocks being much more favorable investments with real revenues / emerging narratives / increasing momentum, ETH is a $300B asset with a ton of overhang from Tom Lee topblasting + complacent ETH holders sitting idle in defi protocols.”

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Technically, the analyst noted that ETH remains in a sustained downtrend after failing to break multi-year resistance. He projected that the second-largest cryptocurrency could slip to 2025 lows near $1,300 and to the bear-market lows from 2022.

“Tight invalidation 2377 assuming problems worsen if you want to play it loose assuming other risk assets continues doing well & drags it up probably somewhere around 2700/2800 invalidation fundamentals wise would want to see breakout activity from some new vertical,” the post read.

Ethereum Price Prediction
Ethereum Price Prediction. Source: X/Ansem

Community Members Push Back

The take triggered notable pushback. Ryan Berckmans accused Ansem of not understanding fundamentals. Leo Lanza went further, sharply dismissing the analyst’s bearish case on X.

Another user pointed to a 56% drop in the SOL/ETH pair this cycle.

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“Soleth is down 56% after being up 12x+ *this cycle* because one guy decided to buy 5% of the eth supply after it had underperformed all cycle. idk why you guys act like i dont also bearpost solana i havent posted anything bullish about sol in over a year,” Ansem replied.

Not everyone shares the bearish view on Ethereum. BeInCrypto recently highlighted that network activity remains strong, while technical indicators like the Rainbow Chart and MACD are also flashing bullish signals.

With macro and geopolitical uncertainty still in play, the question is whether ETH slides further this year or stages a renewed rally.

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The post Ansem Says Ethereum Is in a Worse Spot Than 2023 as Thesis Weakens appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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Aave’s TVL Falls $8B After $293M Kelp DAO Hack

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Aave’s TVL Falls $8B After $293M Kelp DAO Hack

Total value locked on decentralized lending protocol Aave dropped by nearly $8 billion over the weekend after hackers behind the $293 million Kelp DAO exploit borrowed funds on Aave, leaving roughly $195 million in “bad debt” on the protocol and triggering withdrawals.

Data from DeFiLlama shows that Aave’s TVL fell from about $26.4 billion to $18.6 billion by Sunday, losing the top spot as the largest DeFi protocol. 

Aave v3’s lending pools for USDt (USDT) and USDC (USDC) are now at 100% utilization, meaning that more than $5.1 billion worth of stablecoins cannot be withdrawn until new liquidity arrives or borrows are repaid. 

$2,540 is available to be withdrawn from the $2.87 billion USDT pool on Aave v3 at the time of writing. Source: Aave

Aave’s TVL fall shows how rapidly risk from a single security incident can spread throughout the broader, interconnected DeFi lending market, potentially leading to a severe liquidity crisis.

The incident began on Saturday when hackers stole 116,500 Kelp DAO Restaked ETH (rsETH) tokens worth about $293 million from Kelp DAO’s LayerZero-powered bridge and used them as collateral on Aave v3 to borrow wrapped Ether (wETH).

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Crypto analytics platform Lookonchain said the move created about $195 million in “bad debt” on Aave, which contributed to the Aave (AAVE) token tanking nearly 20% from $112 on Saturday at 6:00 pm UTC to $89.5 about 25 hours later. 

Lookonchain noted that some of the largest crypto whales to withdraw funds from Aave were the MEXC crypto exchange and Abraxas Capital at $431 million and $392 million, respectively.

Source: Grvt

Several crypto networks and protocols tied to rsETH or the LayerZero bridge have paused use of the bridge until the problem is resolved, including DeFi platform Curve Finance, stablecoin issuer Ethena and BitGo’s Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC).

Aave has frozen several rsETH, wETH markets

Shortly after the Kelp DAO exploit, Aave said it froze the rsETH markets on both Aave v3 and v4 to prevent any suspicious borrowing and later stated that rsETH on Ethereum mainnet remains fully backed by underlying assets.

WETH reserves also remain frozen on Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, Mantle and Linea, Aave said.

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This incident marks the first significant stress test of Aave’s “Umbrella” security model, which was introduced in June 2025 to provide automated protection against protocol bad debt while enabling users to earn rewards.

Related: Aave DAO backs V4 mainnet plan in near-unanimous vote

Earlier this month, the Bank of Canada found that Aave avoided bad debt in its v3 market by using overcollateralization, automated liquidations and other strategies that shifted risk to borrowers.

In comments to Cointelegraph, Aave defended its liquidation-based model, framing it as a core safety mechanism that protects lenders while limiting downside for borrowers.

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It comes as Aave parted ways with its longest-standing DeFi risk service provider, Chaos Labs, on April 6, following disagreements over the direction of Aave v4 and budget constraints.

Magazine: Are DeFi devs liable for the illegal activity of others on their platforms?