New on-chain research from Arkham Intelligence highlights that the ETH2 Beacon Deposit Contract is the largest holder of Ethereum, controlling approximately 60% of the total supply. This contract currently holds over 72.4 million ETH, valued at around $252 billion at current market prices, underscoring its dominant role in securing the network.
Beyond the staking contract, the report identifies key individual and institutional holders. Rain Lohmus, founder of Estonian bank LHV, remains the largest known individual holder with 250,000 ETH purchased in the 2014 presale for about $75,000—now worth roughly $871 million, though he lost access due to misplaced private keys. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin follows with approximately 240,000 ETH, valued at $840 million.
Centralized exchanges and institutional entities collectively manage substantial Ether reserves. Binance holds around 4.09 million ETH, while BlackRock controls about 3.94 million ETH, largely tied to its iShares Ethereum Trust ETF. Coinbase is another major holder with roughly 3.5 million ETH across addresses, including cold wallets and staking reserves for cbETH. Other notable institutional holders include Upbit, Robinhood, Kraken, OKX, and Bitfinex.
Government-controlled wallets also feature prominently, with the United States government holding approximately 60,000 ETH from seized criminal funds, such as those from the Potapenko/Turogin case and Bitfinex hacker seizures. High-profile hacker wallets, like the Gatecoin exploiter's, retain over 156,000 ETH stolen in 2016.
On the infrastructure side, the Wrapped Ether (WETH) contract holds more than 2.2 million ETH to ensure ERC-20 compatibility. Additionally, native Layer 2 bridges lock significant amounts, with 833,000 ETH in Arbitrum's bridge and around 723,000 ETH in Base's bridge. Overall, staking contracts, exchanges, ETF issuers, bridges, and custody platforms represent the largest known entities holding Ether today.
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