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Bitcoin, established in 2009, is the first cryptocurrency that introduced the most secure and transparent payments infrastructure. Since then, the crypto asset has seen notable growth and attention. Indeed, since the beginning of this year, we have observed that the asset has witnessed mainstream adoption. However, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) has recently released an exciting study report. Notably, the report claims that only 0.01% of the BTC holders control 27% of all circulating supply. Moreover, the report also underscored that only a single percent of the flagship crypto coin controls a more significant share of an asset than the wealthiest US households control in dollars.
Bitcoin survey report by NBER
According to the latest study report shared by NBER, less than 1% of the biggest BTC hodlers are allegedly controlled over a quarter of all Bitcoin in circulation. Moreover, the report claims that about 10k of all BTC investors, which is nearly 0.01% of all hodlers, own 5 million coins, which is about 27% of the total circulating supply. The amount of the asset held by the single percent of hodlers is estimated near $232 billion as a report shared by Wall Street Journal.
On the other hand, analyzing the data highlighted in the report, we have observed that the top hodlers of the flagship crypto-asset control a more significant share of Bitcoin. Indeed, the figure is more prominent than the wealthiest American households controls in dollars. Furthermore, the US Federal Reserve (FED) data has highlighted that the report notes that the top 1% of US households hold nearly a third of all wealth.
BTC is not entirely decentralized
Financial Professor Antoinette Schoar at the MIT Sloan School of Management and Igor Makarov at the London School of Economics introduces some demonstrations. Notably, these professionals aim to demonstrate that the Bitcoin network is not as decentralized as we think. According to Schoar, despite being around for 14 years and observing the hype that the industry has ratcheted up, it’s significant to note that it’s a very robust ecosystem.
Where major BTC proponents promote the decentralized nature of the coin designed by Satoshi Nakamoto as one of its most essential principles, the report may sound alarming for the entire community.
Bitcoin’s creator is still the controller
Mati Greenspan, the founder of Quantum Economics, believes that much of the circulating BTC supply is controlled by Satoshi Nakamoto. Indeed, Satoshi is the pseudonymous creator of the BTC whitepaper. Mati further illustrated that Satoshi’s coin alone makes up more than 5% of the current circulating supply. Moreover, Mati believes that the ownership of the digital asset is designed to get more distributed over time, but the opposite tends to happen. It is worth noting that much of the circulating supply is also apparently not controlled by anyone and seems to have already been lost forever.
