According to a new study, less than 1% of the largest Bitcoin (BTC) hodlers control more than a quarter of all BTC in circulation.
The National Bureau of Economic Research, an American private nonprofit research organization, has published a study claiming that 10,000 Bitcoin investors, or 0.01% of all BTC holders, have 5 million BTC or 27% of all 18.9 million in circulation own coins.
The amount of BTC held by the “one percent” is roughly equivalent to $ 232 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
The study, conducted by finance professors Antoinette Schoar of the MIT Sloan School of Management and Igor Makarov of the London School of Economics, aims to show that Bitcoin is not as decentralized as one might think.
“Even though it’s been around for 14 years and there’s been a hype, it’s still a very concentrated ecosystem,” said Schoar.
According to the WSJ report, top hodlers control a greater proportion of BTC than the richest American households in dollars. Citing data from the US Federal Reserve, the report finds that the top 1% of US households own about a third of all wealth.
The new report may sound alarming to the crypto community as major Bitcoin proponents have promoted decentralization as one of the key principles of the Bitcoin network.
Related: Fish food? Data shows that retail investors are buying Bitcoin, selling whales
According to Quantum Economics founder Mati Greenspan, much of the circulating BTC supply is controlled by Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin. “Satoshi’s coins alone account for more than 5%,” Greenspan told Cointelegraph, adding:
“Over time, the ownership of Bitcoin should be more distributed. The opposite happens at Fiat. “
It’s worth noting that much of the circulating supply of BTC does not appear to be controlled by anyone either and is likely to be lost forever. According to the crypto insurer Coincover, around 4 million BTC have been withdrawn from circulation due to a lost access.
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