What Happens to Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin Fortune? On-Chain Analyst Highlights 2 Key Possibilities ⋆ ZyCrypto

Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous architect who introduced Bitcoin in a 2008 white paper and solved the double-spending problem, remains one of the most enigmatic figures in modern finance.

Nakamoto was active until roughly 2010, before disappearing, leaving behind what is widely considered the largest single Bitcoin holding: 1.096 million BTC spread across numerous early addresses.

Despite speculation linking Dorian Nakamoto, Craig Wright, Nick Szabo, and Peter Todd to the identity, none has been definitively proven to be Bitcoin’s creator.

Recent social media claims suggested that Satoshi’s fortune could be unlocked with a simple 24-word seed phrase. That assertion was dismissed by Galaxy Digital research head Alex Thorn as “fake news” and “dumb slop.”

Early Bitcoin wallets predate the 2013 BIP 39 standard, which introduced 12- and 24-word seed phrases. Moreover, the holdings are distributed across many pay-to-public-key addresses rather than a single wallet, eliminating the notion of a single master phrase controlling the entire trove.

A deeper concern now centers on quantum computing. CryptoQuant founder Ki Young Ju argues that a future Bitcoin security upgrade may require freezing dormant coins to prevent exposure to quantum attacks.

Bitcoin’s cryptography is secure against classical computers, but sufficiently advanced quantum machines could theoretically derive private keys from exposed public keys. Once a public key is revealed on a chain, vulnerability becomes permanent.

With that, an estimated 6.89 million BTC may be at risk of quantum computing attacks, including 1.91 million BTC in inherently exposed P2PK addresses and up to 4.98 million BTC from prior spends.

Roughly 3.4 million BTC have been dormant for over a decade, including about 1 million attributed to Satoshi. Achieving consensus to freeze such coins would be contentious, just like past governance battles.

At a current price of $68,358, Satoshi’s reported holdings are valued at roughly $75 billion, highlighting both the technical and philosophical stakes.