Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin holds approximately 240,000 ETH, currently valued at around $467 million, according to an investigation by blockchain intelligence platform Arkham. This makes him the largest known individual holder of Ethereum with direct control over his assets, though institutional entities like Binance, BlackRock, and Coinbase hold larger aggregate amounts on behalf of customers.
The analysis, published on February 17, 2026, details the composition and history of Buterin's holdings. His Ethereum balance has declined significantly from its peak of 662,810 ETH in December 2015, which represented 0.91% of the total supply. Today, his 240,010 ETH accounts for about 0.20% of the circulating supply. This reduction is attributed to periodic sales, donations, and the network's inflationary supply increase over time.
Buterin's wealth is almost entirely tied to Ethereum's price. He briefly achieved billionaire status in 2021 when ETH crossed $3,000, with his holdings peaking at $2.09 billion in November 2021. His net worth fell by about 75% during the subsequent bear market by December 2022, before rising again above $1 billion in August 2025 when ETH hit an all-time high near $5,000. Analysts note that if ETH price were to climb back to $4,000, his known holdings would be worth approximately $960 million, pushing him close to billionaire status once more.
Beyond ETH, Buterin's portfolio includes smaller positions in tokens such as 10 billion WHITE (worth ~$1.16 million), 30 billion MOODENG (~$442,000), 869,509 KNC, and roughly $11,000 in Tornado Cash's TORN token. Recent on-chain activity shows Buterin moving significant sums in line with his public commitments. In late January 2026, he withdrew 16,384 ETH (worth ~$43 million) to support open-source infrastructure development. This followed his announcement that the Ethereum Foundation is entering a period of "mild austerity," with Buterin personally assuming funding responsibilities for certain projects.
Subsequent sales of around 2,961 ETH over three days in early February, valued at about $6.6 million, were routed through the CoW Protocol using small swaps to minimize market impact. His wealth originated primarily from the 2014 Ethereum pre-sale, where 16.53% of the initial 72 million ETH supply was allocated to founders. A $100,000 Thiel Fellowship grant that same year allowed him to leave university and focus full-time on Ethereum development.
Separately, Buterin recently drew attention for his public warnings about artificial intelligence, criticizing claims about self-improving AI systems. He argued that reducing human control creates serious risks and that technology must serve people first, emphasizing that Ethereum was created to give users freedom, not to replace human decision-making.
