The mysterious Bitcoin billionaire is Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin who vanished in 2011. Holding an estimated 1.1 million BTC, valued at over $130 billion as of July 2025, Nakamoto is one of the world's richest individuals, though their true identity remains unknown.
Satoshi Nakamoto is a pseudonym for the creator(s) of Bitcoin, whose identity remains unknown. Nakamoto introduced the Bitcoin concept in a 2008 paper and was active until about 2010.
James Howells, the man who accidentally threw away a hard drive with thousands of Bitcoin (originally around 7,500 to 8,000 BTC) in 2013, has spent over a decade trying to get it back from a landfill in Wales, but has largely given up after numerous failed attempts and rejections from local authorities, with a judge ruling his quest unlikely to succeed, though he's explored tokenizing the assets and even buying the landfill site.
Yes, someone really did pay 10,000 Bitcoin for two pizzas in a historic transaction on May 22, 2010, by programmer Laszlo Hanyecz, marking the first real-world purchase with cryptocurrency and becoming famous as Bitcoin Pizza Day. At the time, those 10,000 BTC were worth about $41, but now (in recent years, as Bitcoin's price has soared) they'd be worth over a billion dollars, demonstrating Bitcoin's massive growth in value.
Ricardo Benjamín Salinas Pliego, a billionaire from Mexico and one of the three richest people in the country, has put 70% of his wealth in bitcoin.
James Howells accidentally threw away the hard drive that allows him to access his bitcoin. Buried deep in a Welsh landfill, beneath layers of years-old garbage, there is a hard drive that holds the key to almost $800 million in bitcoin – or so James Howells believes, after accidentally throwing the drive away in 2013.
As of 2025, an estimated 2.3 to 4 million BTC, or about 11 to 18 percent of Bitcoin's 21 million cap, are believed to be permanently lost. A 2024 River Financial report put the figure at 3.8 million, much of it tied to long-dormant addresses that have not moved coins in over a decade.
After 2140 all of the reward for miners to secure the network will be transaction fees but sending bitcoin will still be inexpensive because most transactions will occur on other layers like lightning and in aggregate settle onchain .
By the end of 2010, his public activity ceased. In April 2011, he sent a final email to developer Gavin Andresen, saying simply, "I've moved on to other things." And with that, Satoshi Nakamoto disappeared—for good.
Laszlo Hanyecz, a programmer and early Bitcoin miner, famously traded 10,000 Bitcoin for two Papa John's pizzas on May 22, 2010, marking the first documented commercial transaction for physical goods with cryptocurrency, a day now celebrated as "Bitcoin Pizza Day". At the time, the Bitcoins were worth only about $41, but the value of those coins would later grow to be worth hundreds of millions, even over a billion dollars, making it one of history's most expensive pizzas.
If Nakamoto is an individual person, then his bitcoin holdings make him one of the world's wealthiest people. His wallet, which has been untouched since 2010, holds an estimated 1.1 million bitcoins. At their July 14, 2025 price of more than $123,000 each, these were worth nearly $135 billion.
Key Takeaways. The IRS treats cryptocurrency as property, meaning that when you buy, sell or exchange it, this counts as a taxable event and typically results in either a capital gain or loss. When you earn income from cryptocurrency activities, this is taxed as ordinary income.
When the last Bitcoin is mined (around 2140), no new coins will be created, and miners will rely solely on transaction fees to validate transactions and secure the network, with scarcity potentially increasing demand, though some experts worry about the long-term viability if fees aren't high enough to cover costs and incentivize miners.
An estimated 3-4 million BTC (up to 20% of total supply) are permanently lost, significantly tightening effective market liquidity.
Mining today takes on two forms: Solo mining, where the miner attempts to generate new blocks on his own, with the proceeds from the block reward and transaction fees going entirely to himself, allowing him to receive large payments with a higher variance (longer time between payments)