Guess who has the most bitcoins in the world?

In terms of total bitcoins? It's rumoured to be the currency's creator, who no one has ever identified. His supposed name is Satoshi Nakamoto, but really it could be anything as nobody knows anything about the man (if it is even is a man or a single person at at all). However, if we're talking about the largest single bitcoin wallet, the owner would be the FBI.

This is thanks to the shutdown of tor accessible drugs marketplace Silk Road, which saw its alleged owner Ross Ulbricht arrested and his and the site's wallets seized. Within them the FBI found over 160,000 bitcoins, netting the authority over $100 million worth of bitcoin at the time. Today it's closer to $80 (£50) million due to the downturn the currency has taken in recent days due to Chinese legislation.

FBI staff must love seeing this notice on Christmas shopping sites

Of course the FBI isn't the only big player in the bitcoin game. With so many having been mined and sold, there's a lot of them out there now but most are being hoarded by a select few. Some are with the exchanges, but there's more than a few big bitcoin owners out there. Due to the frequency that people have their wallets hacked though, it's no surprise those people are keeping quiet.

None of them likely compare to the mythical Nakamoto though, who is thought to have upwards of a million bitcoins, which would give him over half a billion dollars if he emptied his coffers right now.

KitGuru Says: It's amazing to think that at just the start of this year, Nakamoto's mined fortune was worth perhaps $10 million. Today, it's 50 times that much and bitcoin isn't even strong right now.

[Thanks Wired]

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