Tag: Top
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Top 10,000 Bitcoin investors control one-third of the supply
Key Takeaways
- Bitcoin is a decentralised asset, yet large amounts are controlled by a select few
- The top 114 addresses hold nearly 3 million BTC, 15.5% of the total supply
- The anonymous Satoshi Nakamoto holds 5.2% of the supply
- MicroStrategy hold 0.68% of the supply
Whether you love or hate Bitcoin, the world’s first cryptocurrency has thrown the word “decentralised” into the modern vernacular.
But while Bitcoin is the closest thing to a decentralised asset out there, it is worth noting that it does possess pressure points. Not central points of failure, but rather large holders who do possess significant amounts of the currency. In some cases, enough to cause a serious stir should those coins ever hit the market all at once.
Satoshi Nakamoto
The most obvious of the large holders is anonymous founder Satoshi Nakamoto. Whether one person or a group, Nakamoto possesses approximately 1 million bitcoins from the early days. That is equivalent to about 5.2% of the total supply – a very large number.
Nobody knows who Nakamoto is, but it is certainly a risk to have this amount of coins in the hands of one person/entity.
Coinbase even listed this factor as a risk to its business on its S-1 form when it went public in April 2021. Under the risk section, the company outlined “the identification of Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous person or persons who developed Bitcoin, or the transfer of Satoshi’s Bitcoins” as a risk to Bitcoin and, by extension, Coinbase’s business.
While speculating on Nakamoto’s identity is a fool’s game, and these coins could easily be lost forever, it is easy to see how Coinbase listed this as a risk on its filing. The fact is that one entity or person holds 5.2% of the supply, and nobody has any idea who.
Bitcoin whales
Looking beyond Nakamoto, there are plenty of wallets which contain a lot of Bitcoin. One study by the National Bureau of Economic Research outlines that the top 10,000 bitcoin investors control one-third of the total supply.
That figure is an estimate and is “likely an understatement since we cannot rule out that some of the largest addresses are controlled by the same entity”, according to the study. For example, it doesn’t include the aforementioned 5.2% of coins controlled by Nakamoto, as it cannot be known whether Nakamoto is one individual.
Seeing as Bitcoin returned the equivalent of 230% compounded annually between 2011 and 2021, and in doing so outperformed every major financial asset class in the world, perhaps it is not surprising that a small group of early adopters control significant amounts of the supply.
A $2,000 investment in 2010 would have netted you 10,000 bitcoins, which today is worth over $26 million. The select few who got involved in those early days and held onto their stash today hold significant amounts of the supply.
Today, only 114 addresses contain 10,000 BTC or more (with exchange addresses likely some of those) and those 114 addresses contain nearly 3 million BTC, or 15.5% of the total supply.
The below table shows quite how much Bitcoin is locked up in a small number of the top addresses.
Entities that hold large amounts of Bitcoin
Branching out from individuals, there are also entities which hold massive amounts of Bitcoin.
The first to spring to mind is Michael Saylor and MicroStrategy, who own 130,000 bitcoins, 0.68% of the total supply. This is the most by any public company and some fear that should this ever hit the market, then the Bitcoin price may be dented downward, such is the quantity of bitcoins that MicroStrategy hold.
While MicroStrategy is the public company which holds the most Bitcoin, the private Chinese company Block.one, which developed the cryptocurrency EOS, owns 140,000 bitcoins. This makes it the largest known holding by any one company.
MicroStrategy has purchased an additional 301 bitcoins for ~$6.0 million at an average price of ~$19,851 per #bitcoin. As of 9/19/22 @MicroStrategy holds ~130,000 bitcoins acquired for ~$3.98 billion at an average price of ~$30,639 per bitcoin.https://t.co/5kYW98ij4I
— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) September 20, 2022
Final thoughts
It is true that Bitcoin’s unique fundamentals make it a uniquely decentralised asset. The way the proof-of-work mechanism functions and the fact that no insiders started with any coins (even Nakamoto had to mine that stash) have helped make this decentralised quality a reality.
But despite this decentralisation, there do exist several big holders who hold enough coins that the market could be rocked, at least in the short-term, were anything to ever happen that led to those coins hitting the market.
The scale of Bitcoin’s rise has been so staggering that some of those early casuals who bought in for pennies are now in possession of monster stacks worth millions upon millions. As for Satoshi Nakamoto’s net worth in November 2021 at the Bitcoin all-time high? A cool $70 billion, good for 15th richest person in the world.
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BTC invalidates double top formation
- Bitcoin price rose to around $22,600 on Sunday after rallying 11% from below $20,000.
- Technical analyst Rekt Capital says Bitcoin has cancelled a double top formation.
- A successful retest of $21,700 zone could see BTC continue short term upside recovery.
Bitcoin has retested the $22,600 level after dropping sharply to trade under $20,000 last week.
While the benchmark cryptocurrency currently trades around $22,350 and is 9% up in the past 24 hours, the short term outlook suggests an invalidation of a bearish pattern that had bears eyeing another leg towards the low $19,000s.
Bitcoin price prediction: What next after weekly close at $21,770?
Crypto analyst Rekt Capital has updated his outlook for BTC price after the coin’s value successfully broke from below $20,000.
This recent #BTC drop to ~$19550 and this recent recovery to ~$22600 just shows how a great opportunity can quickly come by and then equally quickly pass by$BTC #Crypto #Bitcoin
— Rekt Capital (@rektcapital) March 13, 2023
According to the technical analyst, the weekly close above $21,770 could provide fresh bullish impetus as it has cancelled a double top formation on the weekly chart.
“It’s incredible how the #BTC Weekly Close of last week invalidated the Double Top formation. The Double Top initially played out to see price drop into the $19000s, but ultimately, $BTC Weekly Closed above $21770 to cancel out the Double Top,” the popular crypto analyst shared via Twitter.
As noted above, Bitcoin price rose to highs of $22,600 across major cryptocurrency exchanges late Sunday. This was after positive news around the collapsed Silicon Valley Bank buoyed stock futures and saw the de-pegged USDC bounce to just shy of its US dollar parity.
Trading Monday has seen some profit taking deals force BTC to give up gains. However, the flagship cryptocurrency has successfully retested its range low as immediate support. It is possible BTC/USD will continue this intra-range consolidation, Rekt Capital has predicted.
Looking at the technical picture as seen on the daily chart, we see another successful daily close above $21,700. While Bitcoin could continue higher, a pullback to the level might happen. Breaking higher from this zone once again could catalyse further upside momentum, with next targets in the $23,400 region.
#BTC has performed a strong Daily Close above the $21770 level$BTC could see a dip soon into that same level for a retest attempt
Successful retest there and BTC would enjoy continuation to the upside#Crypto #Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/7VU0Zf73KN
— Rekt Capital (@rektcapital) March 13, 2023
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Top 10 Coins To Buy For Massive Gains in 2023
With 2023 only just getting underway, this year is already looking much more positive than the rough 2022 experienced by practically all crypto projects. With hopes that the space has now reached the bottom of its bear market, investors are turning their attention to identifying which projects have the potential to deliver incredible profits in 2023 and beyond.
Figuring out which project offers the highest bang for your buck is easier said than done, though. As such, here are the top 10 coins supporting the most highly regarded projects investors agree could offer massive gains in 2023:
- Metacade (MCADE)
- Chainlink (LINK)
- Avalanche (AVAX)
- Hedera (HBAR)
- Bitcoin (BTC)
- LTO Network (LTO)
- Ripple (XRP)
- Monero (XMR)
- Shiba Inu (SHIB)
- Polygon (MATIC)
1. Metacade (MCADE)
Metacade is already taking the investment world by storm with a presale that is amazing onlookers, having raised a phenomenal $7m in only 13 weeks since it launched. Fundraising continues at pace, with the presale now in stage 4 and an increasing number of investors scrambling to get on board while they can. This alone could place it comfortably at the top of the list of top 10 coins, but it is the features of the platform which really stand out.
The main driver pushing up presale figures is Metacade’s comprehensive plans provided in the platform’s whitepaper. It outlines an innovative blueprint for reaching the project’s goals, objectives, and roadmap. Metacade is en route to revolutionize the video game business, in part, by constructing the largest play-to-earn (P2E) arcade on the planet.
The P2E arcade looks certain to attract a huge number of the millions of global gamers out there, due to the extensive rewards mechanisms implemented across the ecosystem. Gamers of all stripes will reap rewards, earned across both casual gaming and more competitive community play. By taking this approach, Metacade establishes a broad appeal that can provide the project with a potentially huge total addressable market (TAM).
Rewards will also be implemented for user actions that benefit the broader Metacade ecosystem. Users who contribute in ways like writing game reviews or engaging with the community will be eligible for rewards. This incentivizes all users to constantly improve the platform. It creates a significant driver for user retention and growth that many other projects out there cannot compete with.
The project uses a utility token known as MCADE to power the ecosystem, and MCADE plays a key role in how the platform operates. As well as being used to distribute rewards, MCADE more broadly represents the currency of the platform, meaning that for all exchanges of value across the entire ecosystem — such as for tournament entry fees or for buying merchandise — MCADE is crucial.
The token design also features staking options for holders, which allows investors who are holding for the likely price appreciation of the MCADE token to benefit from a passive income by putting their tokens to work while they wait.
One feature that is often referenced is the Metagrants program, providing significant value at all levels of user engagement. It achieves this simply, by allowing game developers and teams to pitch game ideas to the Metacade community. MCADE holders can then vote on the projects which are most deserving of funding from the Metacade treasury. This level of involvement will help improve user retention by giving them a meaningful role in the future of the gaming library.
>>> You can participate in the Metacade presale here <<<
2. Chainlink (LINK)
Chainlink is a project that is taking on the so-called ‘oracle problem,’ which deals with the challenge faced by Web3 in being able to access accurate and secure data from off-chain in a trustless way.
The Chainlink decentralized oracle network (DON) is a complex system of nodes that supply information to the network and stake their LINK tokens to do so. Any node trying to game the system is penalized via a system known as slashing, where providing incorrect data is punished with the loss of LINK tokens by the node.
Chainlink boasts more partnerships than any other Web3 project, and the price feeds it provides on the up-to-date prices of trading pairs is a critical part of the way that the most mature end of DeFi (such as Aave) operates. If DeFi continues to grow and Chainlink remains central to it, then we could well see the price of the LINK token increase dramatically over the course of 2023, making it a solid contender for the list of top 10 coins.
3. Avalanche (AVAX)
Avalanche is a layer-1 project competing with the likes of Ethereum and Solana for market share in the public permissionless space. The project uses three separate blockchains known as the C-Chain, P-Chain and X-Chain to enable the creation of sub-networks called subnets.
These subnets allow an amount of flexibility in the features of the Avalanche network, meaning that the parameters can be tailored to the specific use case at hand. This has led to calls from the passionate Avalanche community that the scalability of the Avalanche network is unbeatable, which makes investing in the native token, AVAX, a promising opportunity.
The Avalanche network hasn’t seen much growth following the surge in the 2021 bull run, however, with a large and passionate community behind it, 2023 could be the year that the project secures more market share and those who have invested in the AVAX token reap the rewards.
4. Hedera (HBAR)
The Hedera network isn’t actually a blockchain at all; the project uses a technology known as directed acyclic graphs (DAG) to enable the Hedera network to provide fast and secure transactions at scale.
The project also takes decentralization seriously but has adopted to take a different approach than most projects by appointing a council of corporate and educational institutions under time-limited terms to hold a seat on the Hedera council.
There are rumors abound that the Hedera network may well see some large use cases go live in 2023, which could see the utility token HBAR benefit in the form of price rises. With some positive movement already seen, it could be the start of a significant stint of price appreciation for the HBAR token.
5. Bitcoin (BTC)
Bitcoin may be seen by many as the most conservative investment in the crypto space, but there’s no doubt that it remains the flagship project of Web3. With more and more regulation likely to arrive in 2023, the project stands to benefit from the absence of a centralized party running it, alongside the fame that the project holds.
If regulation continues to err on the side of defining Bitcoin as a commodity, it could well open the floodgates for institutional investors to flood funds into the market over 2023 and beyond, meaning that the price of BTC could well increase far above what we’ve already seen so far when TradFi starts to drive green candles instead of just the movement of the occasional crypto whale.
6. LTO Network (LTO)
LOT Network is a Netherlands-based project that focuses primarily on use cases where a hybrid solution is needed. These are usually use cases that require private data storage but public verification, and so LTO Network hopes to secure a big chunk of the enterprise market in this way.
The project already boasts some impressive partners, having worked with both the United Nations and IBM on different use cases. The project has also explored developing a Digital Identity (DID) product, which could open the door to more use cases in the future.
As the LTO token is used for all transactions on the project, we’re likely to see the price of LTO increase in line with the usage of the network, and so should more projects with high transaction volume appear in 2023, LTO holders might be in for a pleasant surprise.
7. Ripple (XRP)
Ripple has been locked in its legal battles with the SEC for years now, and for the dedicated community of supporters behind it, there is the belief that 2023 will be the year that the lawsuit is over.
Most analysts believe that it’s likely that Ripple will win the lawsuit with the SEC, which could mean that many established use cases gain the green light to formally acquire the XRP token for use in the primary Ripple use case — cross-border payments.
Should that happen, then we’re sure to see the price of XRP climbing to the highs it has not seen for years, if not even higher.
8. Monero (XMR)
Monero is a privacy-focused project that is looking to build an anonymous digital cash that allows for untraceable transactions across the globe, for everyday transactions all the way through to those of a crypto whale.
Monero faces an uncertain future in light of the increasing focus on regulation that governments have going into 2023. However, XMR holders are confident that the technical complexity of the project means that it cannot be stopped, and so should regulators reach some sort of cease-fire with the project, it could benefit the price of XMR.
9. Shiba Inu (SHIB)
Shiba Inu is a project that has built and maintained a passionate community of followers known as the Shib Army. The project may have started out as a meme coin following in the footsteps of the Dogecoin (DOGE) project, but the team has used the popularity of the project to pivot to a more utility-based DeFi offering.
The advantage that Shiba Inu has over Dogecoin is that the DeFi utility allows the project to continue to evolve over time, and this could help build and maintain excitement about the project as time progresses.
10. Polygon (MATIC)
Polygon is a layer-2 project for Ethereum, and the project aims to enable platforms on the Ethereum network to access its benefits in a more scalable way.
Polygon’s network has its own validators, but crucially also has the MATIC bridge — a bridge to the Ethereum network. This means that other projects built on Polygon are able to store data back on the Ethereum network periodically while benefitting from cheaper and faster transactions on Polygon in the meantime.
Polygon has already managed to secure a number of big enterprise projects, such as Starbucks and Nike, so it would not be a surprise to see the price of MATIC post big gains throughout 2023.
What project is the best choice for investors?
Metacade looks like an excellent choice from the top 10 coins for investors looking for major gains. By providing investors with incredible potential found in the platform’s features and implementation, not to mention significant discounts available in the presale, there’s no question that the largest potential upside is to be found in investing in MCADE.
As MCADE is so closely tied to the usage of the platform, 2023 is likely to see huge increases in token price. As the platform goes live and gamers flood the platform, those that take advantage of the presale for the limited time it remains open are certain to have an amazing journey ahead of them.
You can participate in the Metacade presale here.
