From “Shrimp” to “Whale”: Who Are the Top Bitcoin Holders in 2026

How to Find Top Bitcoin Holders in 2026

The beauty of blockchain is that it's open, transparent, and public. Everyone can see all transactions, but the main challenge is linking wallet addresses to their real-world owners. To complete this task, there are several methods based on big data and mathematical analysis to find the richest BTC wallets.

Option 1. Automatic Blockchain Parsing

This is the simplest technical step. Specialized services, such as Bitinfocharts, Blockchain.com, or Glassnode, scan the blockchain, collect data on all existing addresses, and then sort them by balance.

As a result, Rich Lists have been formed. There you can clearly see a gradient: from "shrimps" (less than 1 BTC) to real "whales" (~1,000-10,000 BTC) to "humpback whales" (more than 10,000 BTC).

Option 2. On-Chain Analysis (Clustering)

Large investors rarely put all their eggs in one basket; to diversify and secure their holdings, they often spread funds across hundreds or thousands of addresses. To determine the actual size of their holdings, analytics firms such as Arkham Intelligence and Chainalysis use clustering.

Take change addresses, for example. When a user sends a fraction of a Bitcoin, the remaining change is automatically sent to a newly generated address. Specialized algorithms can detect these linked wallets.

Another method is the common-input heuristic. To send a large amount of crypto, a user might combine funds from several different addresses — say, five — into a single transaction. This implies that the private keys for all five addresses belong to the same person, allowing analytics tools to group them into a single cluster representing one entity.

Option 3. De-anonymization and Tagging

A blockchain ledger only shows strings of letters and numbers. To label an address as a “Binance exchange wallet” or a “U.S. government wallet,” analysts either conduct test transactions to identify the “hot” and “cold” wallets of specific platforms or leverage public court records.

This was notably the case with the investigation into Silk Road and the Bitfinex hack.

Option 4. Public Reporting and Auditing

This might be the most boring option, but it is exactly how corporate "whales" are tracked. Publicly traded companies are legally required to disclose their financial assets.

For example, companies like MicroStrategy (led by Michael Saylor), Tesla, and MARA regularly file reports with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These filings detail exactly how many Bitcoins they hold on their balance sheets, down to the single coin.

Who Are the Top Bitcoin Holders in 2026

We will use Bitinfocharts to find out who the holders of the richest BTC wallets are. Additionally, on 13 May 2026, Arkham released its latest report, which highlights the new top 10 crypto holders.

Since we have already covered the "10 Richest Bitcoin Wallets of 2026" in a previous article, we can now compare the data and see exactly how the rankings have shifted.

10 Richest Bitcoin Entities and Wallets (as of February-March 2026)

Top 10 Richest Crypto Holders (Arkham Research, as of May 2026)

As you can see, Satoshi Nakamoto remains among the top 10 crypto whales, but his ranking has dropped significantly. The biggest holders are still CEXs and the U.S. Government.

*Keep in mind that Lido is a liquid staking protocol for the Ethereum network, and it does not hold any BTC reserves. Arkham Research analyzed crypto holders in general, not only Bitcoin wallets.

However, looking at Bitinfocharts reveals a slightly different — and arguably more fascinating — picture.

Top 10 Bitcoin Wallets 2026 (Bitinfocharts, as of May 2026)

Here, the Binance and Robinhood cold wallets occupy the top spots. Notably, Satoshi Nakamoto’s wallets do not appear on this specific list. Instead, we see addresses linked to the Mt. Gox hack and the "Mr. 100." Who lies behind these names?

What Is Mt. Gox?

Mt. Gox was a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange that, between 2011 and 2014, handled over 70% of all global Bitcoin transactions. However, it is best known as the victim of the largest hack in early crypto history.

In March 2011, hackers compromised the exchange's private keys and quietly drained its reserves over the following years. A massive portion of these stolen funds — specifically 79,957 BTC — was moved into a single notorious wallet in one transaction.

This address became a prime example of a “dormant wallet.” For well over a decade, these ~80,000 Bitcoins have remained completely untouched. The hackers cannot cash them out because the entire crypto community monitors the address, and any regulated exchange would instantly freeze the funds upon arrival.

Who Is Mr. 100?

Mr. 100 is a legendary phenomenon in the crypto community of 2023–2024. The wallet earned its nickname due to a unique automated buying strategy.

Starting in late 2022, this mysterious address began purchasing exactly 100 BTC per transaction almost daily — sometimes multiple times a day — completely regardless of Bitcoin's price fluctuations. Wild theories circulated online, suggesting the wallet belonged to a Qatari sovereign wealth fund, a Saudi Arabian investment vehicle, or a major Hong Kong bank preparing for a spot ETF launch.

In the summer of 2024, the analytics firm Arkham Intelligence conducted a detailed on-chain analysis and identified this wallet. It turned out that Mr. 100 is a cold wallet belonging to the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Upbit.

The exchange’s system was automatically aggregating user deposits from hot wallets and routing them in fixed batches of 100 BTC to a cold wallet for secure, long-term storage.

Why Do Crypto Wallet Rankings Differ?

The primary reason is that analytical firms employ distinct methodologies and tools to interpret blockchain data.

Arkham Research calculates the aggregate balance of organizations. Large companies (such as Binance, Coinbase, or BlackRock) do not store all their Bitcoin in a single wallet for security reasons. Instead, they distribute it across thousands of different addresses. Arkham uses its AI algorithms to link these addresses together and reveal the total asset holdings.

In contrast, Bitinfocharts focuses strictly on individual, unique addresses on the blockchain ledger, without grouping them by owner.

These are two different approaches to identifying the richest crypto wallets.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who owns the most Bitcoin in 2026?

As an individual entity, Satoshi Nakamoto remains the largest Bitcoin holder. When grouping different wallets together into an entity, Satoshi Nakamoto — the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin — is in possession of approximately 1.096 million BTC, worth around $89 billion. However, among institutional players, the picture has shifted: spot Bitcoin ETFs now collectively hold 1.29 million BTC, surpassing even Satoshi’s legendary stash.

Which country holds the most Bitcoin?

The United States owns approximately 198,012 Bitcoin, making it the largest owner among countries. China holds around 194,000 Bitcoin despite a ban on crypto ownership and trading — Beijing seized this Bitcoin when it took down the PlusToken Ponzi scheme in 2019. In March 2025, President Trump signed an executive order establishing the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, directing the government to hold rather than auction seized Bitcoin.

What is a Bitcoin "whale" and how much BTC do you need to qualify?

A “whale” is a commonly used term in the crypto industry. It refers to individuals who own a substantial amount of Bitcoin — at least 1,000 BTC. This makes these individuals highly influential players in the crypto market. Wallets holding more than 10,000 BTC are sometimes called “humpback whales.”