The cybercurrency is deliberately opaque, making it nearly impossible to track who holds it, but a few bitcoin owners have outed themselves proudly. Meet the known — and still-mysterious — bitcoin tycoons.
Jim Urquhart / Reuters
Bitcoin, the exclusive and elusive controversial cybercurrency is, by its very nature, mysterious. Holders of the currency, which just hit $900 in value yesterday and which only 12 million are in existence, are only identifiable by their "brain wallet" number.
As a result, tracking down who's getting rich off the rapidly rising currency is beyond difficult. That is, unless Bitcoin holders like to brag.
And a handful of them do, while others are trying to generate publicity for their institutional funds that are invested in Bitcoin, like a few hedge funds that have recently come out in support of the currency.
Here's a look at the world's known bitcoinaires, and others who are shrouded in mystery. We calculated the worth of their stakes by using today's exchange rate of $720 for one Bitcoin. The price of Bitcoin is highly volatile, so the dollar value of these Bitcoin owners' investments can change considerably.
"Satoshi Nakamoto"
Jim Urquhart / Reuters
The inventor of Bitcoin, "Satoshi Nakamoto" (a pseudonym that could very well represent a group of people) is widely thought to hold one of the largest Bitcoin hoards. Because of the anonyminity built into the system, estimates vary about how many Nakamoto has, but one estimate puts it at 1,148,800, which would be worth $827 million.
