0.01% of Bitcoin Holders Control 27% of Total Circulation: Research

“One percent” of Bitcoin reportedly controls a greater proportion of BTC than the wealthiest US dollar households control.

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According to a new study, less than 1% of the largest Bitcoin (BTC) sellers are believed to control more than a quarter of all BTC in circulation.

The National Bureau of Economic Research, an American private nonprofit research organization, published a study claiming that 10,000 Bitcoin accounts, or 0.01% of all BTC holders, have 5 million BTC, or 27% of the total of 18.9 million in circulation own coins.

The amount of BTC held by “one percent” is roughly equivalent to $ 232 billion, the Wall Avenue Journal reported in December.

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 prove that Bitcoin is not as decentralized as one might think.

“Even though it has been around for 14 years and the hype has grown, there is still one case where it is a very centralized ecosystem,” Schoar said.

As reported by the WSJ, the top households control a larger proportion of BTC than the richest US households in dollars. Citing data from the Federal Reserve, the report finds that the top 1% of households in the United States own about a third of all assets.

The new report appears alarming to the crypto community as big advocates of Bitcoin have promoted decentralization as one of the key principles of the Bitcoin network.

Related: Fish food? Data shows that private investors buy Bitcoin, sell whales

According to Quantum Economics founder Mati Greenspan, much of the circulating supply of BTC is controlled by Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous creator of Bitcoin. “Satoshi’s funds 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 is worth noting that much of the circulating BTC supply does not appear to be controlled by anyone and is likely to be lost forever. According to the crypto insurance company Coincover, around 4 million BTC have been withdrawn from circulation due to loss of access.