<p>The blockchain is a public ledger and all transactions can be viewed.  But it doesn't contain any names or other personal information.  So you could determine that a particular bitcoin address owns 9% of all coins, but you couldn't determine who has the private key associated with that address.</p>

<p>That said, you can follow a chain of transactions and make inferences based on the addresses used.  For example, if address A and address B are both used as inputs in the same transaction, then you can assume that the addresses are owned by the same individual.  If you sent coins to somebody at address A and you know their identity, then there is a good chance that you know the identity of the owner of address B as well.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-09T16:54:11.783Z
2013-12-09T16:54:11.783Z
ScripterRon
<p>In this discussion:
<a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/9057/10490">https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/9057/10490</a>
One of the users mentions a wallet with 9% of all bitcoins.</p>

<p>My question is: Is this true? What could be the source of this information? Is the identity of users not kept secret?</p>

<wallet><security><privacy><satoshi-nakamoto>
Holding of 9% of all bitcoins?
user114618
# Holding of 9% of all bitcoins?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-12-09)

In this discussion:
<https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/9057/10490>
One of the users mentions a wallet with 9% of all bitcoins.

My question is: Is this true? What could be the source of this information? Is the identity of users not kept secret?

**Tags:** wallet, security, privacy, satoshi-nakamoto


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2013-12-09. Score: 2

The blockchain is a public ledger and all transactions can be viewed. But it doesn't contain any names or other personal information. So you could determine that a particular bitcoin address owns 9% of all coins, but you couldn't determine who has the private key associated with that address.

That said, you can follow a chain of transactions and make inferences based on the addresses used. For example, if address A and address B are both used as inputs in the same transaction, then you can assume that the addresses are owned by the same individual. If you sent coins to somebody at address A and you know their identity, then there is a good chance that you know the identity of the owner of address B as well.


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