At what price will Bitcoin become the richest man in the world?

It is estimated that if the price of Bitcoin reaches around $182,000, Bitcoin's creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, will become the world's richest man.

As of March 2021, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is the richest person in the world with a net worth of $181.6 billion.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is close behind with $163.7 billion, giving him more than 20% of the electric car maker.

How many Bitcoins does Satoshi Nakamoto have?

In October 2008, Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto released the Bitcoin white paper under MIT's public license.

On January 3, 2009, the first Bitcoin block, the Genesis Block, was mined. This marked the launch of the Bitcoin network, which also launched the cryptocurrency and blockchain movement.

Although the exact number is unknown, it is estimated that Satoshi Nakamoto mined more than 1 million Bitcoins from January to July 2009. This means that at the current Bitcoin price, Satoshi's Bitcoin is worth about $54 billion.

In other words, if the price of Bitcoin reaches $182,000, then Satoshi Nakamoto's net worth will be around $182 billion, which is higher than Bezos' current net worth.

In 2010, Sergio Demian Lerner, a well-known cryptocurrency researcher, published a research paper estimating the number of bitcoins held by Satoshi Nakamoto.

By analyzing the early blocks mined by Satoshi Nakamoto, Lerner estimated that Satoshi Nakamoto may own 1 million bitcoins. He wrote:

“According to my estimate, Satoshi Nakamoto has about 1 million bitcoins. I believe that many people will carefully analyze the source data set and come up with a more accurate number. Although this data will be very close, they will still disagree with my judgment.”

Lerner’s analysis of the blocks mined by Nakamoto Source: Sergio Lerner

Can Bitcoin Price Reach $182,000?

While there are many price models predicting that Bitcoin will be priced between $200,000 and $1 million, the most well-known model is the Stock-to-Flow (S2F) model.

The S2F model predicts that the Bitcoin price will reach between $100,000 and a “conservative” $288,000 by the end of 2021. The model is based on the relationship between Bitcoin’s value and the existing supply (inventory) and the number of newly mined Bitcoins entering the market (flow).

In November 2020, PlanB, the creator of the S2F model, said:

“People ask me if I still believe in my model. To be clear: I have no doubt that the S2FX model of Bitcoin vs. other assets is correct and that Bitcoin will reach $100k-288k by December 2021.”

Stock-to-flow model Source: PlanB

If Bitcoin rises to $288,000 according to the S2F model, Satoshi Nakamoto's wealth will reach about $288 billion, which will put him far ahead of Bezos and Musk.

Meanwhile, some other Bitcoin price forecasts for this bull run have even higher estimates. For example, Bloomberg predicts that if Bitcoin becomes a “risk-off” reserve asset, its value could be as high as $400,000.

However, the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto remains a mystery, and it is not even known whether this person is still alive. Industry experts believe that Hal Finney, Adam Back and Paul Le Roux are potential candidates, and there are others who believe that Satoshi Nakamoto may be a group of people.