Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency and worldwide payment system. It is the first decentralized digital currency, as the system works without a central bank or single administrator. The network is peer-to-peer and transactions take place between users directly, without an intermediary.

These transactions are verified by network nodes through the use of cryptography and recorded in a public distributed ledger called a blockchain. Bitcoin was invented by an unknown person or group of people under the name Satoshi Nakamoto and released as open-source software in 2009.

Bitcoins are created as a reward for a process known as mining. They can be exchanged for other currencies, products, and services. As of February 2015, over 100,000 merchants and vendors accepted bitcoin as payment. Research produced by the University of Cambridge estimates that in 2017, there were 2.

9 to 5.8 million unique users using a cryptocurrency wallet, most of them using bitcoin.

Bitcoin has been criticized for its use in illegal transactions, its high electricity consumption, price volatility, thefts from exchanges, and the possibility that bitcoin is an economic bubble. Bitcoin has also been used as an investment, although several regulatory agencies have issued investor alerts about bitcoin.

The identity of Nakamoto remains unknown. In October 2008, Nakamoto published a paper on the cryptography mailing list at metzdowd.com describing the Bitcoin protocol. Later that month, he sent a private email to a fan of cryptographic research stating “I’ve been working on a new electronic cash system that’s fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party.

” This note has been interpreted as both a timestamp of when the genesis block was created and as confirming Nakamoto’s identity. In January 2009, Nakamoto released the first bitcoin software that launched the network and the first units of the bitcoin cryptocurrency called bitcoins. Satoshi Nakamoto created the first block of the chain, known as the genesis block, on January 3rd, 2009 at 18:15:05 UTC possibly in an attempt to thwart attempts at timejacking attacks by setting its timestamp to early January 2009[1][2][3] On October 31st 2008 he sent Hal Finney[4] 10 bitcoins[5] He also created an additional key pair with which he signalled readiness to support The New York Times’ claim that he was indeed Satoshi Nakamoto.[6] Since then others have claimed to be Nakamoto,[7][8] but none have provided evidence sufficient to be considered conclusive.[9].

Nakamoto was active in developing early versions of what would eventually become Bitcoin Core,[10] occasionally corresponding with other developers on its mailing list about various improvements to the codebase.[11] He also made contributions towards developing Tor[12] anonymity software.[13][14][15] In his final messages on P2P Foundation’s forum before disappearing from all online activity,[16][17] Nakamoto stated that he had “moved on to other things”.[16][18] His English had broken down towards the end of his involvement with Bitcoin,[19][20] and forum posts by him were signed using various pseudonyms including “Satoshi”,[19][20] “Szabo”,[20] “Timothy C May”,[21] “Hal Finney”,[22][23] and others.[24][25][26][27]”I am not Dorian Nakamoto.”[28][29]”Satoshi Nakamoto” is presumed to be a pseudonym for one or more people who designed both the Bitcoin protocol and original reference implementation,[30][31]:5 creating what would become one of the largest digital currencies in circulation.

[32]:215–222 Transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public dispersed ledger called blockchain. Bitcoin design provides an incentive for users to contribute their processing power to verify and record payments into this ledger.[33]:215 Users send payments by broadcasting digitally signed messages to all nodes in the network; these messages are then verified through cryptography and recorded in global distributed ledger called blockchain.[33]:214–215 Miners are rewarded with transaction fees (paid in bitcoins) as well as newly minted bitcoins (paid out in proportion to one’s contribution towards verifying payments).[33]:216.

There is no central repository or single administrator for Bitcoin; however some legal authorities such as FinCEN have begun to issue rulings regarding cryptocurrencies’ decentralized nature making some classification possible.[34]:221–222 In October 2013 FinCEN issued guidelines for de-centralized virtual currencies such as Bitcoin,[34]:215 taking action against anonymous currency transactions conducted on Silk Road—an anonymous marketplace website where illegal drugs were bought using bitcoins—and shutting down accounts involved in money laundering activities.[34]:223 No exchanges or marketplaces accept bitcoins without proper identification; however some websites such as Meetup allow its members buy bitcoins with cash only if they meet face-to-face first while others such as LocalBitcoins do not require any form of identification except for an email address when buying or selling small amounts inside their own country only while larger transactions requiring AML/KYC compliance can only be done via traditional banking channels after submitting identity information like SSN or Tax ID etc which goes against original idea behind cryptocurrency – being pseudoAnonymous / permissionless / borderless digital cash system available globally without need for any KYC compliance except when exchanging back into fiat currencies via traditional banking channels which again defeats purpose of having cryptoCurrencies like Bitcoin in first place unless one wants speculate/trade them instead actual use them Digital Cash system globally without need permission anyone else except owner himself/herself same way we don’t need permission from anyone use regular fiat / physical cash system globally – we just need go local store buy stuffs we need it’s our own personal business not anyone else concern what we spending our money same goes for cryptoCurrencies like Bitcoin – it should be our own personal business how we spending our cryptocurrencies not anyone else concern whether we buying illegal drugs / weapons etc with it unless we caught red handed same time it’s not guaranteed even if we caught red handed because police / law enforcement agencies can’t track who behind those pseudonymous BTC addresses used those illegal transactions unless law enforcement agencies manage somehow get access those BTC wallets (which good luck doing it because most people who understand how cryptoCurrencies work tend store their BTC wallets offline aka cold storage making impossible track them down) just my two cents worth.

:).

In conclusion, there is no definitive answer when it comes to who is richest bitcoin holder? However, based on available information and data – it is safe to say that Satoshi Nakamoto – creator of Bitcoin – is likely candidate for that title given he/she/they hold around 1 million BTC which worth around $7 billion USD at current market prices give or take.