Satoshi's Top Spot at Risk as BlackRock's BTC Pile Grows!

Eric Balchunas predicts that BlackRock could become the largest Bitcoin holder by late next year.

Author

Danielle du Toit
August 14, 2024

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  • Satoshi Nakamoto May Lose Title as Largest Bitcoin Holder by Year-End

  • Pump.fun Daily Revenue Outpaces the Next 24 Protocols Combined

  • Tether Faces Legal Battle Over $3 Billion Bitcoin Dispute with Celsius

  • Ethereum L2 Ecosystem Processes a Record 12.4M Transactions in a Day

❓️ Satoshi Nakamoto May Lose Title as Largest Bitcoin Holder by Year-End

Eric Balchunas predicts that Satoshi Nakamoto may soon lose his title as the largest Bitcoin holder due to rapid accumulation by U.S.-based Bitcoin ETFs.

  • U.S. Bitcoin ETFs collectively hold about 909,000 Bitcoins, and BlackRock's IBIT alone holds close to 347,767 BTC.

  • Balchunas predicts that BlackRock could become the largest Bitcoin holder by late next year and maintain that position for quite some time.

  • There is still some debate over Satoshi Nakamoto's actual Bitcoin holdings. BitMEX Research suggests the figure might be closer to 700,000 Bitcoins, instead of the commonly believed 1.1 million.

🤑 Pump.fun Daily Revenue Outpaces the Next 24 Protocols Combined

Solana memecoin deployer Pump.fun generated more than $5.3 million in revenue in the last 24 hours.

  • Pump.fun generated more revenue than Ethereum and Solana, which together earned $2.3 million and $1.6 million, respectively.

  • The token deployer generates revenue by charging a 1% fee on all trades that happen on its platform.

  • Pump.fun has recently faced criticism from some people in the crypto community for allegedly "killing" meme coins, as it allows token creators to launch new tokens for as low as $2.

Tether has vowed to defend itself against what it calls a “shakedown” lawsuit that was initiated by the bankrupt crypto lender Celsius.

  • Celsius filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court demanding that Tether return 57,428.64 Bitcoin or pay the equivalent value of close to $3.3 billion at current prices.

  • The lawsuit is based on a loan agreement that Celsius claims was manipulated by Tether during the crypto market crash in mid-2022.

  • Celsius alleges that Tether engaged in “preferential and fraudulent transfers” of Bitcoin in the ninety days before Celsius filed for bankruptcy.

📊 Ethereum L2 Ecosystem Processes a Record 12.4M Transactions in a Day

Ethereum’s layer-2 scaling ecosystem has reached a new daily transaction all-time high.

  • On Aug. 12, daily transactions across the Ethereum layer-2 ecosystem reached a record 12.42 million, according to data from Growthepie.

  • The L2 ecosystem has experienced a 140% increase in daily transactions since the start of 2024.

  • The growth is mainly driven by the Coinbase L2 blockchain, Base, which saw transactions peak at over 4 million in late July.

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