The secretive mind behind Bitcoin is approaching the status of the world’s 10th richest person.

Bitcoin’s Unknown Founder Approaches World’s Wealthiest Ranks as Price Hits Record

The mysterious mind behind Bitcoin, known only as Satoshi Nakamoto, is inching closer to joining the ranks of the world’s richest people—all without ever revealing their identity or touching their vast fortune.

With Bitcoin surging above $122,000 on Monday, Satoshi’s estimated 1.1 million BTC stash is now valued at over $134 billion, blockchain data shows. That figure places Nakamoto just shy of the global top ten wealthiest individuals, ahead of business titans like Michael Dell and Rob Walton, and nearing the fortunes of Steve Ballmer, Warren Buffett, and Sergey Brin, whose net worth sits around $142 billion, according to Forbes’ real-time billionaire rankings.

All of Satoshi’s coins were mined in Bitcoin’s earliest days when the network could run on just a few laptops. Remarkably, none of those coins have ever moved since 2010, sparking endless theories over the years about whether Nakamoto is deceased, missing, or intentionally choosing not to interfere.

Unlike traditional billionaires who built businesses or went public, Satoshi launched Bitcoin anonymously and disappeared. Sixteen years later, that innovation has grown into a crypto ecosystem valued at over $2.4 trillion.

Bitcoin’s latest all-time high has been driven by renewed ETF inflows, growing institutional interest, and narratives around crypto as an inflation hedge. While Satoshi’s wealth remains theoretical—since none of the holdings have been sold or proven accessible—the enormous valuation highlights just how dramatically the crypto landscape has evolved since Nakamoto’s last message to the community in 2011.