Satoshi Nakamoto's Bitcoin Wallet: How Much Is It Worth Today?
Bitcoin's pseudonymous creator, known only by the name Satoshi Nakamoto, is widely believed to hold approximately one million BTC โ coins mined in the network's earliest days, largely before Bitcoin had any meaningful market price, and which have never moved since.
Where the estimate comes from
Blockchain researchers, most notably Sergio Demian Lerner in a widely cited 2013 analysis, identified a distinctive early mining pattern โ dubbed the "Patoshi pattern" โ believed to correspond to a single miner active during Bitcoin's first year. That pattern accounts for roughly one million BTC mined between January 2009 and early 2010, coins that have shown no on-chain movement since they were created.
What that stash would be worth
| BTC Price | Value of ~1,000,000 BTC |
|---|---|
| ~$58,500 (today) | ~$58.5 billion |
| ~$126,198 (Oct 2025 ATH) | ~$126.2 billion |
| ~$20,000 (Dec 2017 peak) | ~$20 billion |
At various points during Bitcoin's history, this hypothetical holding would have made Satoshi Nakamoto โ whose true identity remains unknown โ one of the wealthiest people in the world on paper, despite the coins never having been sold, moved, or in any way confirmed to still be accessible to whoever created them.
Why the coins have never moved
Nobody knows for certain why the presumed Satoshi wallets have remained untouched for over sixteen years โ theories range from lost private keys, to a deliberate decision to never spend the coins in order to preserve Bitcoin's decentralized narrative, to the possibility that Satoshi is no longer alive or able to access them. Because Bitcoin's ledger is fully public, any future movement of these coins would be immediately visible and would likely be one of the most closely watched events in the asset's history.
Patoshi pattern research originally published by Sergio Demian Lerner; holdings estimate is widely cited but not independently confirmable.