How A lot Ethereum (ETH) Does He Really Personal?

Information from Arkham reveals the vast majority of Buterin’s wealth stays tied on to token value swings relatively than diversified holdings.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin holds greater than 240,000 ETH, presently valued at roughly $467 million, in accordance with blockchain intelligence platform Arkham’s investigation into his on-chain holdings.

The evaluation established Buterin as the most important accessible particular person holder of Ethereum, though institutional gamers and trade wallets dominate the highest rankings of ETH possession.

Buterin’s Portfolio Composition and Current Transactions

The Arkham investigation, revealed on February 17, provided an in depth breakdown of Buterin’s identified crypto property. His Ethereum holdings have steadily declined over time, from 662,810 ETH in December 2015, which represented 0.91% of the overall provide, to the present 240,010 ETH, which now accounts for about 0.20% of all ETH in circulation.

This discount stems from each periodic gross sales and the community’s inflationary provide will increase over time. Past ETH, Buterin holds smaller positions in a number of tokens, together with 10 billion WHITE price about $1.16 million, 30 billion MOODENG tokens valued at about $442,000, and 869,509 KNC tokens.

His portfolio additionally contains roughly $11,000 in Twister Money’s TORN token, reflecting previous utilization of the privateness mixer for donations, together with funds despatched to Ukraine. Current on-chain exercise reveals Buterin transferring important sums in alignment together with his public commitments, together with a 16,384 ETH withdrawal in late January 2026, price round $43 million at present costs, to assist open-source infrastructure improvement.

This adopted his announcement that the Ethereum Basis is coming into a interval of “delicate austerity,” with Buterin personally assuming funding duties for sure initiatives to make sure the Basis’s long-term sustainability. Subsequent gross sales of round 2,961 ETH over three days in early February, valued at about $6.6 million, had been routed by way of CoW Protocol utilizing small swaps to attenuate market impression.

Arkham’s evaluation of the broader Ethereum holder panorama revealed that establishments and exchanges occupy the highest positions. As an example, the ETH2 beacon deposit contract holds over 60% of the overall provide, with Binance, BlackRock, and Coinbase rating among the many largest entities.

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Notably, the only largest particular person holder is Rain Lohmus, who possesses 250,000 ETH price $786 million. Nevertheless, these funds are inaccessible as a result of misplaced non-public keys, a scenario Lohmus acknowledged publicly in 2023.

Wealth Trajectory and Philanthropic Focus

Buterin’s internet price has adopted Ethereum’s unstable value historical past intently, on condition that ETH constitutes over 99% of his identified portfolio. He briefly achieved billionaire standing in 2021 when the token crossed $3,000, together with his holdings peaking at $2.09 billion in November of that yr.

Nonetheless, the following bear market decreased his wealth by near 75% by December 2022. In 2025, rising ETH costs once more pushed his internet price above $1 billion throughout August’s all-time excessive close to $5,000, though current market corrections, which pushed ETH beneath $2,000, have introduced valuations again to present ranges.

His wealth originated primarily from the 2014 Ethereum pre-sale, the place 16.53% of the preliminary 72 million ETH provide was allotted to founders. A $100,000 Thiel Fellowship grant that very same yr allowed Buterin to go away the College of Waterloo and dedicate himself totally to Ethereum improvement.

Not like many crypto founders who’ve accrued substantial stakes in centralized firms, Buterin’s wealth stays virtually solely liquid and tied on to the community he helped create.