Author: ARKHAM Research Team

Compiled by: Block unicorn

Vitalik Buterin's net worth is estimated to be at least $830 million, and the following information comes from the ARKHAM data archive.

This article will explore Vitalik Buterin's (founder of Ethereum) net worth and its fluctuation over time. We will study the known cryptocurrency holdings of this Ethereum co-founder and compare them with those of other top ETH holders and other Ethereum co-founders. In addition, we will examine Buterin's possible other sources of wealth and provide context for the scale of this wealth.

How did VITALIK BUTERIN become wealthy?

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has accumulated most of his known wealth through his involvement in the cryptocurrency space. In 2011, at the age of 17, Buterin entered the cryptocurrency field and co-founded "Bitcoin Magazine" with Mihai Alisie (who later became one of the co-founders of Ethereum). While founding "Bitcoin Magazine," Buterin and Alisie also worked on Egora, a decentralized Bitcoin eBay. He was dissatisfied with the limitations of Bitcoin (such as limited scripting language), which restricted the ability of Bitcoin to run more complex smart contracts and decentralized applications. Subsequently, in November 2013, at the age of only 19, Buterin released the Ethereum white paper, proposing Ethereum as an upgrade to Bitcoin.

In the months following the release of the white paper, Buterin met his co-founders. He first collaborated with Anthony Di Iorio, Charles Hoskinson, Mihai Alisie, and Amir Chetrit. Later, Joseph Lubin, Gavin Wood, and Jeffrey Wilcke joined, and together they established the Ethereum Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to the development of the Ethereum network. In June 2014, Buterin received a $100,000 grant from the Thiel Foundation, allowing him to drop out of the University of Waterloo and focus on the development of Ethereum.

In the summer of 2014, Ethereum conducted a presale, where participants purchased ETH with BTC. At that time, the initial supply of ETH exceeded 72 million, with 16.53% allocated to the founders. The ETH allocated to the founders constituted the majority of Buterin's net worth.

Ethereum officially launched on July 30, 2015. Buterin was the only founder still working on the network, as others had left to pursue other projects. He oversaw the development of the network, including the transition from proof of work (PoW) to proof of stake (PoS) in 2022.

Most of Buterin's known cryptocurrency holdings come from the ETH allocation he received at the launch of Ethereum. When the price of ETH surpassed $3,000 in 2021, he briefly became a billionaire. In addition, Buterin has also invested in some cryptocurrency companies, such as StarkNet (STRK), which has also contributed to his total wealth.

Buterin was born on January 31, 1994, in Kolomna, Russia. When he was 6 years old, his family moved to Canada, and he later graduated from the private high school Abelard in Toronto. Buterin has been talented since childhood, and there are unconfirmed and unfounded rumors online that his IQ is 257. Although this is almost impossible in any reasonable IQ test, there is no doubt that he is very talented and has a high IQ, which has helped him achieve extraordinary wealth.

How wealthy is Vitalik Buterin? Overview of net worth

Vitalik Buterin's known net worth is estimated to be approximately $552.86 million (now $830 million). His actual net worth may be higher, as it includes his known cryptocurrency holdings, any unknown cryptocurrency holdings, and his non-cryptocurrency holdings, such as his equity in some investments.

In this section, we will explore his cryptocurrency holdings, including ETH and non-ETH holdings, and any non-cryptocurrency holdings he may have.

How much cryptocurrency does Vitalik Buterin own?

Currently, Vitalik Buterin's known cryptocurrency holdings amount to $552.86 million. Most of this comes from his ETH holdings, which are approximately 246,730 tokens. Buterin's cryptocurrency holdings can be estimated by viewing his known Ethereum wallet addresses. Although this does not rule out the existence of undisclosed wallets, given the scale of his holdings in known wallets, these holdings likely constitute the majority of his net worth.

We can see these holdings and their changes over time on Buterin's personal page on Arkham:

Vitalik Buterin's Ethereum holdings

According to a tweet from 2018, Buterin claimed that he has never held more than approximately 0.9% of the total ETH supply.

To verify Buterin's claim, we can check the amount of ETH he has held in known wallets from 2015 to the present to examine the proportion of the total ETH supply he holds. We can view the amount of ETH he has held over the years in the investment portfolio section of his personal profile on Arkham.

With this information, we can estimate the percentage of the total ETH supply that he has held each year. The table below shows his holdings on December 31 of each year as the baseline for the corresponding year. His holdings on December 8, 2023, are also included, representing his most recent known ETH holdings.

We can see that Buterin's claim appears to be accurate. His known ETH holdings have never significantly exceeded 0.9%, with 2015 being the year he held the highest percentage of the total ETH supply at 0.91%. In fact, due to the significant token sales and network inflation design increasing the total ETH supply each year, his ETH holdings have decreased each year.

Buterin's ETH holder ranking

To assess the significance of Buterin's ETH holdings, we will compare them with the holdings of other top ETH holders. The entities holding the most ETH tokens can be easily identified by viewing the top holders section in Ethereum's personal profile on Arkham.

Who are the largest holders of Ethereum?

The table below shows the top 20 ETH holders ranked by entity as of the writing of this article:

The ETH 2 deposit smart contract holds the top position with 34,259,215.29 tokens, as validators are required to deposit their ETH tokens into the contract to participate in the validation process.

Coinbase and Binance rank second and third, and most entities ranking ahead of Buterin seem to be exchanges like Kraken and Robinhood, as well as institutional managers like Grayscale, which hold large amounts of ETH for operational purposes. Exchanges hold large amounts of ETH for user withdrawals and token exchanges, while Grayscale's ETH holdings reflect its investment in ETH tokens.

Buterin appears to be the primary individual ETH holder with access to his token permissions. Although Rain Lohmus holds approximately 250,000 ETH, which he purchased for $75,000 in the ETH presale, he cannot access these tokens because he forgot the private key.

Fluctuations in Vitalik Buterin's Cryptocurrency Net Worth Over Time

By examining Buterin's investment portfolio profile on Arkham, we can clearly see the fluctuations in his known cryptocurrency holdings over the years. The table below records his known cryptocurrency holdings on December 31 of each year as the baseline for the corresponding year. The table also includes his estimated cryptocurrency net worth on November 18, 2021, when ETH briefly reached a peak price of $4,891—representing the peak of Buterin's known net worth.

From December 31, 2015, to the present, Buterin's net worth has increased by over 900 times, from $596,760 to $551.22 billion. The highest annual percentage increase in his 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 influenced by the fluctuation in ETH prices, as ETH constitutes over 99% of his investment portfolio. Therefore, whenever the price of ETH rises, Buterin's net worth also increases. Conversely, when the price of ETH falls, his net worth also decreases from historical highs.

In 2021, when the price of ETH 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 the price of ETH reached a historical high of $4,891.

However, the cryptocurrency bear market struck again, and the price of ETH declined. By December 31, 2021, Buterin held $1.2 billion worth of ETH, but by December 31, 2022, his account was only worth $300.58 million. Since then, his known cryptocurrency net worth has rebounded, reaching $550 million at the time of writing, with the price of ETH at $2,234 (now approximately $8.375 billion).

Another factor affecting the fluctuation in his known cryptocurrency net worth is that his known ETH holdings seem to decrease every year. Buterin has been known to sell his ETH holdings multiple times. For example, in May 2023, Buterin sent 200 ETH to a cryptocurrency exchange, and then the Ethereum Foundation sold 15,000 ETH. It is worth noting that Buterin claims that he has not sold ETH for personal gain since 2018. He further clarified that when he sent ETH to the exchange, it was for donations rather than sales.

Non-ETH Cryptocurrency Holdings

According to data from Arkham's investment portfolio profile, we can see Buterin's non-ETH holdings. As of the time of writing, some of his major non-ETH token holdings include:

1. 869,500 KNCL tokens (tokens of the decentralized liquidity protocol Kyber Network, for which Buterin serves as an advisor), worth approximately $609,780.

2. 196.42 Wrapped Ether (WETH) tokens, worth approximately $436,920.

3. 101 million THE tokens, worth approximately $127,950.

Although not Buterin's primary non-ETH holdings, the following tokens are also noteworthy:

1. TORN tokens from Tornado.Cash worth $1,290. This is related to Vitalik's use of the notorious mixer. His Arkham profile shows multiple fund transfers using Tornado Cash, including donations to Ukraine, according to him.

2. 6.345 million Shiba Inu ($SHIB) tokens, worth $60.65 billion. In 2020, Vitalik received 50% of the token supply directly from the developers when the token was launched, briefly boosting his known cryptocurrency net worth to approximately $10 billion. This move was intended to create significant hype for the token by associating it with one of the most prominent figures in the cryptocurrency space. Subsequently, Buterin burned 410 trillion $SHIB tokens, which accounted for over 90% of the total tokens he received, valued at approximately $60 billion. Then, he donated the remaining 50.69 trillion $SHIB tokens to CryptoRelief in India, valued at $15.6 billion at the time.

Non-Cryptocurrency Holdings

Buterin participated in the seed round financing of StarkWare, a zero-knowledge proof technology developer, whose valuation has reached $8 billion as of 2022.

Due to the lack of public data on his non-cryptocurrency assets, it is difficult to estimate the value of his non-cryptocurrency holdings and their impact on his overall net worth—however, it can be speculated that if he still holds his investment in StarkWare, the value of this investment would add to a portion of his net worth, as well as the value of any other undisclosed investments.

Like Buterin, other co-founders of Ethereum have also gained significant financial benefits from their ETH holdings. In this section, we will compare Buterin's estimated net worth with the net worth of other Ethereum co-founders. For the purposes of this section, we will consider his known cryptocurrency holdings of $5.5286 billion (as of June 30, 2024, now valued at $8 billion) as all or most of his net worth, as we cannot ascertain the specific scale of his non-cryptocurrency holdings.

Below is a table of publicly estimated net worth of other co-founders (Note: as the estimated net worth for some co-founders in 2023 may not necessarily be available, some data is from the last known available point, which may represent the peak of their net worth, or significantly lower than the current situation):

Conclusion

In conclusion, we have estimated the composition of Vitalik Buterin's net worth and its fluctuations over time. The majority of his wealth, over $500 million (now approximately $8.3 billion due to price increase), comes from his holdings of Ethereum (ETH), which fluctuate with the price of Ethereum. Stay tuned for updates on his profile to get the latest developments on Buterin's wealth. ```

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