While it's hard to know the exact number of individuals, recent data (late 2025/early 2026) suggests around 900,000 to 1.5 million unique individuals own at least one full Bitcoin, with roughly 1 million wallet addresses holding ≥1 BTC, though many of these belong to exchanges or early investors, making individual ownership lower. The exact figure varies as one person can use multiple addresses, and exchanges pool many users' funds.
Blockchain data shows that there are just under 1 million wallet addresses that hold one full bitcoin. Many large holders, such as cryptocurrency exchanges, hold their bitcoin across multiple wallets, which puts the estimate for individual owners of at least one bitcoin closer to 800,000.
On May 22, 2010, known now as "Bitcoin Pizza Day." Laszlo Hanyecz, a programmer from Florida, made history by using Bitcoin to purchase two pizzas from Papa John's. Hanyecz paid 10,000 Bitcoins for the pizzas, an amount that was worth about $41 at the time.
In July 2022, Tesla quietly dumped roughly 75% of its Bitcoin holdings, worth about $936 million, during a period of macroeconomic uncertainty and market stress.
5 years ago: If you invested $1,000 in Bitcoin in 2020, your investment would be worth $9,689. 10 years ago: If you invested $1,000 in Bitcoin in 2015, your investment would be worth $496,927. 15 years ago: If you invested $1,000 in Bitcoin in 2010, your investment would be worth about $1.62 billion.
If You Bought Tesla Stock 10 Years Ago
Currently, shares trade at $429.52, meaning your investment's value could have grown to $297,658 from stock price appreciation. Tesla has never paid dividends. If you had invested $10,000 in Tesla stock 10 years ago, your total return would have been 2,876.58%.
Launched in 2009, Bitcoin is the world's first decentralized cryptocurrency. In the beginning, nobody took Bitcoin very seriously. In fact, a computer programmer spent 10,000 BTC to buy two Papa John's pizzas on May 24, 2010, when the asset was worth $0.0041 only.
15 years ago, a software developer paid for two pizzas with 10,000 bitcoin. Those pies would be worth $1.1 billion today.
Bitcoin Can Go Lower, But Probably Not to Zero.
Most advisors recommend limiting your investment in bitcoin to 1% to 5% of your net worth, he says. The real question to ask yourself isn't if now is a good time to invest in bitcoin. Rather, your focus should be on whether it "has a long-term place in your portfolio, depending on your goals and risk tolerance."
If you're holding crypto, there's no immediate gain or loss, so the crypto is not taxed. Tax is only incurred when you sell the asset, and you subsequently receive either cash or units of another cryptocurrency: At this point, you have “realized” the gains, and you have a taxable event.
In contrast to 36.7 million American individuals owning gold, around 50 million Americans own Bitcoin, as per a recent report by Ohio-based financial services company River. In fact, 14.3% of Americans own Bitcoin — the largest share of the BTC-owning population anywhere in the world.
British bank Standard Chartered projects that Bitcoin's price will reach $500,000 in 2030. Multiple prominent figures, including Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Block CEO Jack Dorsey, have expressed their belief that it could reach $1 million or more.
The growth of a $100 investment in Bitcoin
If you had invested $100 in Bitcoin 10 years ago, you would have about $20,000 today, as the leading cryptocurrency has grown by nearly 20,000% (as of Dec. 22). The S&P 500, on the other hand, delivered a total return of about 300% during the same period.
On May 22, 2010, known now as "Bitcoin Pizza Day." Laszlo Hanyecz, a programmer from Florida, made history by using Bitcoin to purchase two pizzas from Papa John's. Hanyecz paid 10,000 Bitcoins for the pizzas, an amount that was worth about $41 at the time. Today, that is the equivalent of $1,012,030,000!
Bitcoin's price finally broke through the US$1 mark in 2011, and moved as high as US$29.60 that year. However, in 2012 Bitcoin pulled back and remained relatively muted. Bitcoin's price saw its first significant growth in earnest in 2013, the year it broke through both US$100 and US$1,000.
If you had invested $1,000 in Bitcoin five years ago (around mid-2020), your investment would have grown significantly, potentially turning into anywhere from roughly $9,000 to over $14,000 by late 2024/early 2025, representing huge returns, though it wouldn't have been a smooth ride due to Bitcoin's volatility and price swings. The exact value depends on the specific date you invested, as Bitcoin's price fluctuates, but holding it through its major bull runs and pullbacks would have yielded substantial profits.
Once the last bitcoin is mined, block rewards disappear. Miners will then rely entirely on transaction fees to earn revenue. These fees are paid by users whenever they send Bitcoin, and they'll need to be high enough to keep miners incentivized to secure the network.
But if you were smart enough to invest $1,000 in Apple stock at the start of the year 2000, you'd be sitting on a monster gain of 21,230%. This means that modest investment would be worth a whopping $213,000 today (as of July 27).
Investing $1,000 in Nvidia (NVDA) stock 20 years ago (around early 2006) would have yielded a massive return, with estimates placing its value at roughly $900,000 to over $1.2 million by late 2024/early 2025, thanks to significant growth from gaming to AI, despite stock splits and volatility, turning an investor into a near-millionaire.