Bitcoin: 11 million BTC with no identified owner, but not necessarily lost

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The blockchain allows transactions and balances to be viewed, but it does not automatically provide the identity of the holders. To associate addresses with a platform, company or fund, analysts cross-reference fund movements with public information and already identified portfolios.

In its October snapshot, Galaxy Research attributes approximately 45% of supply to known categories. Its ranking also includes approximately 1.12 million BTC associated with the "Patoshi pattern", a set of mining characteristics from the early days of the network often compared to Satoshi Nakamoto. This attribution remains an analytical hypothesis, not a demonstrated identity.

The remaining 11.1 million BTC therefore constitute the unallocated part of this count. Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy, believes that this volume suggests a still significant presence of individuals in self-preservation, despite the institutionalization of the market.

Self-custody involves controlling your own private keys rather than entrusting your bitcoins to an intermediary. It allows you to hold and transfer your funds without depending on a platform. It also involves taking responsibility for their security and transmission.

However, the absence of a label does not make it possible to determine the profile of the holder. An unknown address may belong to a small saver, a historical whale or a company whose portfolios have not been identified.

The distinction is essential: an unallocated bitcoin can remain perfectly accessible to its owner. This was simply not identified by the analyst. Conversely, a known address may contain funds whose keys have disappeared.

Actual lost bitcoins can result from a destroyed backup, forgotten keys, or death without transmission. But long inactivity does not prove a permanent loss. A holder can hold their funds for years and then move them.

Conservation structures also make reading difficult. The same actor can distribute his bitcoins across numerous addresses, while a custodian can hold the funds of thousands of clients. Counting addresses is therefore not the same as counting investors, and identifying a depository does not necessarily reveal the economic owners.

Finally, these 11.1 million BTC do not measure the supply immediately available for sale. Unallocated funds can join an exchange quickly; Identified institutional assets may remain immobilized for a long time.

The Galaxy figure thus describes a limit of knowledge, more than a certain distribution between individuals and professionals. Bitcoin has a public ledger of movements, but still no comprehensive directory of those who control the funds. And maybe that’s so much the better.

Machine-translated from French