CryptoSlate Reports:
Vitalik Buterin’s estimated net worth is now at least $830 million, according to ARKHAM data files.
This article explores Vitalik Buterin’s (co-founder of Ethereum) net worth and its fluctuations over time. We’ll delve into the cryptocurrency holdings of this Ethereum co-founder, comparing them with those of other top ETH holders and fellow Ethereum co-founders. Additionally, we’ll examine potential alternative sources of Buterin’s wealth and provide context on the scale of these assets.
**How Vitalik Buterin Became Wealthy**
Vitalik Buterin has amassed the majority of his known wealth through his role as a co-founder. In 2011, at the age of 17, Buterin entered the cryptocurrency domain and co-founded Bitcoin Magazine with Mihai Alisie, who later became one of Ethereum’s co-founders. Concurrently with the magazine, Buterin and Alisie developed Egora, a decentralized Bitcoin eBay. His dissatisfaction with Bitcoin’s limitations, such as its restricted scripting language, hindered more complex smart contracts and decentralized applications. Consequently, Buterin released the Ethereum whitepaper in November 2013, proposing Ethereum as an upgrade to Bitcoin.
In the months following the whitepaper’s release, Buterin collaborated with co-founders, initially partnering with Anthony Di Iorio, Charles Hoskinson, Mihai Alisie, and Amir Chetrit. Subsequently, Joseph Lubin, Gavin Wood, and Jeffrey Wilcke joined, forming the Ethereum Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to Ethereum network development. In June 2014, Buterin received a $100,000 grant from the Thiel Foundation, enabling him to drop out of the University of Waterloo and focus on Ethereum’s development.
During the summer of 2014, Ethereum conducted a presale where participants purchased ETH with BTC. Initially supplying over 72 million tokens, 16.53% of which were allocated to founders, these constitute the majority of Buterin’s net assets.
Ethereum officially launched on July 30, 2015, with Buterin remaining the sole founder actively involved online, while others departed for other projects. He oversaw the network’s development, including its transition from Proof of Work (PoW) to Proof of Stake (PoS) in 2022.
Most of Buterin’s known cryptocurrency holdings stem from the ETH distribution he received at Ethereum’s inception. He briefly became a billionaire when ETH prices surpassed $3,000 in 2021. Additionally, Buterin has invested in crypto companies such as StarkNet (STRK), further contributing to his total wealth.
Born on January 31, 1994, in Kolomna, Russia, Buterin moved with his family to Canada at age six and later graduated from Toronto’s Abelard School, a private high school. Though unconfirmed, rumors online suggest his IQ is 257, an extremely unlikely score on any credible IQ test, yet indicative of his exceptional talent and high intellect, facilitating his extraordinary wealth.
**Overview of Vitalik Buterin’s Net Worth**
Vitalik Buterin’s known net worth is estimated at approximately $552.86 million (now $830 million). His actual net worth could be higher, encompassing known cryptocurrency holdings, any undisclosed cryptocurrency holdings, and non-cryptocurrency holdings such as equity in various investments.
In this section, we will explore his cryptocurrency holdings, including ETH and non-ETH holdings, as well as any non-cryptocurrency holdings he may possess.
**How Much Cryptocurrency Does Vitalik Buterin Own?**
Currently, Vitalik Buterin’s known cryptocurrency holdings total $552.86 million. Most of this is derived from his ETH holdings, amounting to approximately 246,730 tokens. Buterin’s cryptocurrency holdings can be estimated by examining his known Ethereum wallet addresses. While this does not preclude the existence of undisclosed wallets, given the scale of holdings in known wallets, these holdings likely comprise a significant portion of his net worth.
We can view these holdings and their fluctuations over time on Buterin’s personal page on Arkham:
**Vitalik Buterin’s Ethereum Holdings**
According to a 2018 tweet, Buterin claimed never to hold more than approximately 0.9% of the total ETH supply.
To verify Buterin’s claim, we can examine his ETH holdings from known wallets from 2015 to present to check the proportion of the total ETH supply he has held. We can view his ETH holdings over the years in the portfolio section of his Arkham profile.
Based on this information, we can estimate the percentage of the total ETH supply he held annually. The following table shows his holdings as of December 31st each year as a benchmark for ETH holdings in respective years. His holdings as of December 8, 2023, are also included, representing his most recent known ETH holdings.
It appears Buterin’s claim is accurate. His known ETH holdings have never significantly exceeded 0.9%. The highest year he held the ETH total supply was 0.91% in 2015.
Indeed, due to significant token sales and network inflation designs annually increasing ETH total supply, his ETH holdings decrease each year.
**Buterin’s ETH Holder Ranking**
To assess the importance of Buterin’s ETH holdings, we compare them with other top ETH holders. The entities holding the most ETH tokens can be easily identified by viewing the top holders section of the Ethereum profile on Arkham.
**Who Holds the Most Ethereum?**
The following table shows the top 20 ETH holders ranked by entity at the time of writing:
The ETH2 Deposit Contract ranks first with 34,259,215.29 tokens, as validators must deposit their ETH tokens into the contract to participate in the validation process.
Coinbase and Binance rank second and third, respectively, with most entities ranking ahead of Buterin seemingly being exchanges like Kraken and Robinhood, as well as institutional managers like Grayscale, which hold substantial amounts of ETH for operational needs. The exchanges hold large amounts of ETH for facilitating withdrawals and token exchanges, whereas Grayscale’s ETH holdings reflect its investments in ETH tokens.
Buterin appears to be the main individual ETH holder with access to his token permissions. While Rain Lohmus holds approximately 250,000 ETH, acquired for $75,000 in the ETH presale, he cannot access these tokens due to forgetting the private key.
**Changes in Vitalik Buterin’s Cryptocurrency Net Worth Over Time**
By examining Buterin’s portfolio profile on Arkham, we can clearly see fluctuations in his known cryptocurrency holdings over the years. The table below records his known cryptocurrency holdings as of December 31st each year as a benchmark for holdings in respective years. The table also includes his estimated cryptocurrency net worth as of November 18, 2021, when ETH briefly reached a peak price of $4,891—a peak for Buterin’s known net worth.
From December 31, 2015, to the present, Buterin’s net worth has increased over 900 times, from $596,760 to $51.22 billion. The highest percentage annual increase in net worth was from $4.23 million on December 31, 2016, to $27.837 billion on December 31, 2017, during the 2017 bull market.
Buterin’s known cryptocurrency net worth is greatly affected by ETH price fluctuations, as ETH constitutes over 99% of his investment portfolio. Therefore, his net worth rises with increases in ETH price and declines from historical highs when ETH price falls.
In 2021, when ETH prices surpassed $3,000, Buterin became a billionaire at the age of 27, with his known cryptocurrency net worth exceeding $1 billion. At the peak of the bull market on November 18, 2021, Buterin’s net worth briefly reached $20.9 billion as ETH reached its historical high of $4,891.
However, the cryptocurrency bear market struck again, causing ETH prices to decline. Before December 31, 2021, Buterin held $1.2 billion worth of ETH, reducing to $300.58 million by December 31, 2022. Since then, his known cryptocurrency net worth has rebounded to $550 million as of the time of writing, with ETH priced at $2,234 (now $3,395, approximately totaling $8.375 billion).
Another factor affecting changes in his known cryptocurrency net worth is that his known ETH holdings seem to decrease annually, with Buterin known to have sold his ETH holdings multiple times. For example, in May 2023, Buterin sent 200 ETH to a cryptocurrency exchange, followed by the Ethereum Foundation selling 15,000 ETH. Notably, Buterin claims he has not sold ETH for personal profit since 2018. He further clarified that when sending ETH to exchanges, these were used for donations rather than sales.
**Non-ETH Cryptocurrency Holdings**
According to data in Arkham’s portfolio profile, we can see Buterin’s non-ETH holdings. As of writing, some of his major non-ETH token holdings include:
1. 869,500 KNCL tokens (tokens for the decentralized liquidity protocol Kyber Network, where Buterin serves as an advisor), valued at approximately $609,780.
2. 196.42 Wrapped Ether (WETH) tokens, valued at approximately $436,920.
3. 101 million THE tokens, valued at approximately $127,950.
Though not his primary non-ETH holdings, the following tokens are also notable:
1. TORN tokens from Tornado.Cash, valued at $1,290. This is related to Vitalik’s use of the infamous mixer, with his Arkham profile showing multiple fund transfers, including donations to Ukraine.
