Bitcoin Ownership Distribution Maturing: Scott Melker’s Insights
Scott melker, the creator of the “Wolf of All Streets” podcast, recently updated his well-known “Bitcoin rich list.” This table reveals how Bitcoin is distributed among wallets of various sizes.
Melker noted that this is the first time since 2023 that he has revised the list. The update sheds light on changes in Bitcoin ownership over the past two years. Surprisingly, addresses with at least 1 BTC represent the top 98% of Bitcoin holders. however,the most noticeable shift is that the number of addresses holding up to 0.0001 BTC has doubled.
- More people are starting with smaller amounts of BTC.
- This trend likely reflects increased interest in Bitcoin as a viable investment.
Melker emphasizes that owning just 0.1 BTC already places someone in the top 8% of bitcoin holders, meaning you don’t have to be a “wholecoiner” to be considered wealthy in Bitcoin. With BTC currently trading around $108,500, owning even a fraction of a Bitcoin makes you richer than most Bitcoin holders globally.
The data excludes bitcoins held in exchange wallets. Only eight out of 20 wallets holding the most BTC (between 36,000 and nearly 250,000 bitcoins) belong to unknown holders.
The growth in number of Bitcoin addresses has been steady over the past few years, increasing by 10 million to over 56 million. A significant rise has been observed in the number of addresses holding between 0.00001 and 0.0001 BTC, which grew from 3.5 million to 6.9 million.
Alongside these developments, the amount of Bitcoin dust reached its peak in 2025 at 1.58 thousand BTC. Bitcoin dust consists of tiny amounts of BTC left over and too small to transfer due to low value compared to transaction fees.
The number of dormant wallets shows that 12.5 million Bitcoins have not moved in a year, while over 10 million have been inactive for more than two years. This data reflects a stable and maturing distribution of Bitcoin ownership.
