ETH2 Beacon Deposit Contract Seizes Majority Stake in Ethereum—What This Means for the Future of Crypto
Imagine buying $75,000 worth of Ethereum back in 2014 only to watch it balloon into a staggering $871 million fortune—only to discover you can’t spend a single dime because you lost the keys. That’s the bittersweet saga of Rain Lohmus, a tale that’s both astonishing and a tad ironic in the wild world of crypto. Now, get this—the biggest Ethereum wallet isn’t owned by a flashy billionaire or a bustling exchange, but by the very staking contract that keeps the Ethereum network ticking. With over 72 million ETH locked up and worth a jaw-dropping $252 billion, it makes you wonder: who really holds the power in this decentralized empire? From secretive individuals like Lohmus and Vitalik Buterin to colossal exchanges and even government seizures, the Ethereum ecosystem is a mosaic of locked fortunes and untouchable treasures. Curious about who’s stacking the most Ether and why some precious coins remain frozen in time? Dive deeper and uncover the surprising players shaping Ethereum’s future. LEARN MORE.
Rain Lohmus bought $75,000 worth of ETH in 2014, which is now worth $871 million. Yet, he cannot move even a single coin.
New on-chain research from Arkham Intelligence this week shows that the wallet address holding the most ETH today is not an individual, not an exchange, not an ETF issuer, but the staking contract that secures Ethereum.
According to Arkham, the ETH2 Beacon Deposit Contract currently holds more than 72.4 million ETH, worth around $252 billion at current market prices, and represents approximately 60% of the total supply.
Ethereum’s Power Center
In terms of individuals, the research firm confirmed that the largest known individual holder of ETH is still Rain Lohmus, the founder of Estonian bank LHV, who bought 250,000 ETH in the 2014 presale for around $75,000. Those coins would now be worth roughly $871 million, but Lohmus does not have access to them because he lost the private keys years ago.
The second largest identifiable individual holder is Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who currently holds around 240,000 ETH, worth around $840 million.
Beyond individual wallets, centralized exchanges and institutional entities collectively control some of the largest pools of Ether. Binance, for one, holds approximately 4.09 million ETH, while asset manager BlackRock holds around 3.94 million ETH, largely associated with its iShares Ethereum Trust ETF. Coinbase is the next largest institutional holder, with approximately 3.5 million ETH across multiple addresses, including cold wallets and staking reserves for its cbETH staking token.
Following suit are Upbit, Robinhood, Kraken, OKX, and Bitfinex, which appear among the top institutional holders.
Seized Funds, Stolen Funds, and Layer-2 Bridges
Arkham found that governments also appear on the leaderboard. For instance, the United States government controls around 60,000 ETH, which largely consists of seized criminal funds, including from the Potapenko/Turogin case and from seizures related to the Bitfinex hacker.
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Several high-profile hacker wallets remain among large holders, including the wallet controlled by the Gatecoin exploiter, which continues to hold more than 156,000 ETH stolen back in 2016. On the infrastructure side, the Wrapped Ether (WETH) contract holds over 2.2 million ETH, representing the supply of WETH minted to make ETH compatible with ERC-20 standards.
The dataset shows that native Layer 2 bridges also account for significant locked ETH, including 833,000 ETH deposited into Arbitrum’s native bridge and around 723,000 ETH deposited into Base’s bridge. Overall, the latest on-chain data identifies staking contracts, exchanges, ETF issuers, bridges, and custody platforms as the largest known entities holding Ether today.
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