Inside Vitalik Buterin’s Wallet: How Much Ethereum (ETH) Does He Actually Own?

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

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

Buterin’s Portfolio Composition and Recent Transactions

The Arkham investigation, printed on February 17, provided an in depth breakdown of Buterin’s recognized crypto property. His Ethereum holdings have progressively declined through the years, from 662,810 ETH in December 2015, which represented 0.91% of the whole 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. Beyond ETH, Buterin holds smaller positions in a number of tokens, together with 10 billion WHITE value 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 Tornado Cash’s TORN token, reflecting previous utilization of the privateness mixer for donations, together with funds despatched to Ukraine. Recent on-chain exercise reveals Buterin moving vital sums in alignment along with his public commitments, together with a 16,384 ETH withdrawal in late January 2026, value round $43 million at present costs, to help open-source infrastructure growth.

This adopted his announcement that the Ethereum Foundation is coming into a interval of “delicate austerity,” with Buterin personally assuming funding tasks for sure initiatives to make sure the Foundation’s long-term sustainability. Subsequent 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 reduce market impression.

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

Notably, the only largest particular person holder is Rain Lohmus, who possesses 250,000 ETH value $786 million. However, these funds are inaccessible because of misplaced non-public keys, a state of affairs Lohmus acknowledged publicly in 2023.

Wealth Trajectory and Philanthropic Focus

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

Nonetheless, the next bear market lowered his wealth by near 75% by December 2022. In 2025, rising ETH costs once more pushed his web value above $1 billion throughout August’s all-time high close to $5,000, although latest 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 University of Waterloo and dedicate himself absolutely to Ethereum growth.

Unlike many crypto founders who’ve amassed substantial stakes in centralized corporations, Buterin’s wealth stays nearly solely liquid and tied on to the community he helped create.

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