Vitalik Buterin Not Biggest Individual Holder of Ethereum, New Data Shows

Arkham Intelligence, a blockchain analytics platform, has revealed the biggest individual holder of Ethereum ($ETH). Contrary to popular claims, new data from Arkham shows that Vitalik Buterin is not the largest individual $ETH holder.

Biggest Ethereum holder in 2026

Arkham used its platform to scan blockchain data, label entities and rank who controls the largest amounts of $ETH in 2026.

The platform shared the results of its research in a new article. Currently, the ETH2 Beacon Deposit Contract holds the most $ETH of any wallet address, with over 82 million $ETH, worth about $169 billion.

This massive stash is not owned by one person or company but is a collective staking from thousands of validators. It is the backbone of Ethereum's security. Thus, a huge portion of $ETH is intentionally locked up here rather than openly traded.

In the individual category, Ethereum presale investor Rain Lohmus owns the most $ETH among all holders.

Technically, Lohmus holds 250,000 $ETH, valued at roughly $530 million, held in a wallet. However, he lost access to the private keys of his wallets long ago, so it is effectively inaccessible.

Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin comes next as the second biggest individual holder of $ETH. He holds roughly 224,000 $ETH, valued at approximately $480 million. Thus, the largest known individual holder of accessible $ETH is Buterin.

Corporate $ETH holders

In the new article, Arkham also shared the details of the top $ETH-holding corporate entities. Recently, institutional investors have surged to the top rankings among $ETH holders, following the rise in the popularity of Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

They provide various services to clients, such as the buying and selling of $ETH, staking services and more.

As disclosed in the Arkham report, Bitmine is the biggest $ETH corporate holder. Bitmine, led by Chairman Tom Lee, has declared holdings of nearly 4.7 million $ETH, worth roughly $10 billion today.

Its $ETH holdings include a substantial portion that the company actively stakes through its own validator network. So far, Bitmine has staked more than 50% of its $ETH reserves. This aligns with its vision to accumulate a total of 5% of the Ethereum supply.

The next largest corporate Ethereum entity is BlackRock, which holds over three million $ETH. BlackRock provides investment trusts that actively track the price of various crypto assets.

Currently, the firm offers the iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA), for which it buys and holds $ETH.