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One of the most complex tasks in the crypto world is determining the magnitude of imbalance that lies within. Undoubtedly there are numerous custodial groups and exchanges, yet, a few significant players can end up owning a substantial portion of some cryptocurrencies in circulation.
What are the actual numbers?
Congregation of proprietorship over cryptocurrencies is nothing new. Since this is a decentralized system, some are bound to get more benefits as compared to the others. However, there are certain restrictions over how justifiable such wealth concentrations are in a decentralized system. Here are the numbers relating to some of the major altcoins and their concentration.
- Ethereum (ETH): 151 addresses own approximately 39% of the total supply in circulation.
- Bitcoin Cash (BCH): 112 addresses own about 29% of the total supply.
- Bitcoin SV (BSV): 103 addresses own around 24% of the entire supply.
- Litecoin (LTC): 131 addresses own close to 47% of the total supply.
- Tether (USDT): 132 addresses own about 63% of the supply in circulation.
- Cardano (ADA): 41 addresses own approximately 39% of the entire supply.
It is evident from these findings that Tether and Litecoin standout from the rest. Both of them have an excessive concentration of wealth as against the other crypto assets. What remains to be seen is how this will influence the route of these projects.
What does this imply?
Some people may dismiss the implication that excessive concentration of crypto assets in just a handful of addresses even amounts to a complication. If you have the ownership of a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin Cash then indeed it should not matter. Why? Because Bitcoin cash and other similar currencies do not have a model for jurisdiction.
In contrast to this, Cardano and Ethereum do have a governance model. So, wealth concentration can actually substantially impact the ecosystem. Many decisions taken in such a situation might go against the majority of Ethereum users out there.
Simply putting it, what impact this high concentration of assets will have depends on the individual ecosystem of every cryptocurrency. Governance can hardly come handy when there is such a high concentration over a significant portion in a decentralized network. This is an issue that the developers will have to bear in mind at the time of building governance models. By no chance can we let the cryptocurrency market be affected by the same issues as there are in the tradition fiat market.
Sujit is a Crypto enthusiast and a blogger by passion. He Works for a Crypto news Company Cryptoknowmics. Cryptoknowmics is one of the best companies in this industry because they have a passion to provide users the relevant updated crypto news, bitcoin, and altcoin news today. You can follow him on LinkedIn and Twitter too.
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