- ETH2 Beacon Deposit Contract holds 76M Ethereum, 63% of the total supply.
- Binance, BlackRock, and BitMine top institutional ETH holders.
- Vitalik Buterin is the largest individual to hold Ether.
More than a decade after its launch, Ethereum has grown into a multi-hundred-billion-dollar network. While individuals, entities, institutions, and governments continue to accumulate ETH, many investors are asking a simple question: Who is the largest Ethereum holder in 2026?
According to research done by Arkham Intelligence, the answer to this question is not simple. From the ETH2 Beacon Deposit Contract securing the network to major players like Binande, BlackRock, and crypto treasury firms, the biggest Ether holders reflect how the ecosystem has matured.
Breaking Down Ethereum’s Largest Holders
Arkham Intelligence reveals the list of the largest Ethereum holders in 2026. As per research, the ETH2 Beacon Deposit Contract holds more Ether tokens than any other single wallet. It holds more than 76.3 million ETH, worth $240 billion. This isn’t owned by one person or company, but represents the total ETH deposited by users who are staking their coins.
Following this, some of the biggest ETH holders include major companies and institutions. Reportedly, crypto exchange Binance holds about 4.1 million ETH on behalf of its users. Asset manager BlackRock boasts 3.4 million ETH. Closely following is the largest Ethereum treasury company, BitMine, which currently has about 2.9 million ETH.
Among individuals, early Ethereum investor Rain Lohmus is believed to be the largest holder. He holds about 250,000 ETH. However, these funds are locked in a wallet that he can no longer access. Thus, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin is considered the largest individual holder, with around 240,000 Ether still under his control.
Exchanges Hold Major Share
Notably, crypto exchanges are some of the biggest institutional holders of ETH, with many of the top wallets belonging to centralized platforms. Almost every exchange supports ETH trading. For smooth trading, these platforms hold large amounts of ETH to provide liquidity, user deposits and withdrawals, as well as staking services.
Binance holds the most ETH among exchanges, with $13 billion in funds kept in cold wallets and ETH staking. Coinbase comes next with about 2.9 million ETH, worth arounf $9 billion, held across its storage and staking addresses. South Korea’s Upbit is among the major Ether holders.
How Public Network Contracts Hold a Large Share of Ether?
Public good addresses are wallets that support important parts of the Ethereum network. These addresses usually hold ETH on behalf of many users rather than a single owner. Projects like Arbitrum and Base also fall into this category, because a large share of the ETH they hold comes from users who bridge their assets to these L2 networks.
The ETH2 Beacon Deposit Contract is the largest of these, holding about 63% of the total Ether supply. Another major address is the Wrapped Ether contract, which holds over 2.6 million ETH used to create WETH, a version of ETH that works across more apps and blockchains.
Financial Institutions, Governments, and Top Individuals
Financial institutions hold large amounts of Ethereum to provide trading, staking, and investment services. BlackRock, for instance, owns more than 3.4 million ETH through its iShares Ethereum Trust ETF. BitMine is another major holder, making it the second-largest crypto treasury after Michael Saylor’s Strategy.
Governments also hold Ethereum, mostly from seized funds. The US government controls 64.7k ETH recovered from criminal activities like Silk Road and hacker exploits. Among individual holders, Vitalik Buterin boasts 240k Ether. Other notable individuals include ICO investor James Fickel and co-founders Joseph Lubin and Jeffrey Wilcke.
