Vitalik Buterin’s net worth is estimated to be at least $830 million, according to ARKHAM data files.
This article will explore the net worth of Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, and its fluctuations over time. We will examine the known cryptocurrency holdings of this Ethereum co-founder and compare them with other top ETH holders and other Ethereum co-founders. Additionally, we will review possible other sources of Buterin’s wealth and provide context for the scale of this wealth.
How did VITALIK BUTERIN get rich?
Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, accumulated most of his known wealth through his involvement in the cryptocurrency field. In 2011, at the age of 17, Buterin entered the cryptocurrency space, co-founding Bitcoin Magazine with Mihai Alisie, who later became one of Ethereum’s co-founders. While establishing Bitcoin Magazine, Buterin and Alisie were also developing Egora, a decentralized Bitcoin eBay. Dissatisfied with Bitcoin’s limitations, such as its limited scripting language, which hindered the ability to run more complex smart contracts and decentralized applications, Buterin published the Ethereum white paper in November 2013, proposing Ethereum as an upgrade to Bitcoin.
In the months following the white paper’s publication, 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 developing 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 to focus on Ethereum’s development.
In the summer of 2014, Ethereum conducted a pre-sale where participants bought ETH with BTC. At that time, the initial supply of ETH exceeded 72 million, with 16.53% allocated to the founders. This allocation forms a significant part of Buterin’s net worth.
Ethereum officially launched on July 30, 2015. Buterin remains the only co-founder still working on the network, while others have left to pursue other projects. He has overseen 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 come from the ETH allocated to him at the time of Ethereum’s release. When the price of ETH surpassed $3,000 in 2021, he briefly became a billionaire. Additionally, Buterin has invested in several crypto companies, such as StarkNet (STRK), contributing to his overall wealth.
Buterin was born on January 31, 1994, in Kolomna, Russia. His family moved to Canada when he was six, and he later graduated from the Abelard School in Toronto, a private high school. Buterin has shown exceptional talent from a young age, with unverified and unfounded rumors online suggesting an IQ of 257. While such an IQ is almost impossible on any reasonable test, there is no doubt that he is highly gifted and intelligent, which has helped him achieve extraordinary wealth.
How rich is Vitalik Buterin? Overview of net worth
Vitalik Buterin’s known net worth is estimated to be around $552.86 million (now $830 million). His actual net worth may be higher, including his known cryptocurrency holdings, any unknown cryptocurrency holdings, and his non-crypto holdings, such as his equity in some investments.
In this section, we will explore his cryptocurrency holdings, including ETH and non-ETH holdings, as well as any non-crypto 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, approximately 246,730 tokens. Buterin’s cryptocurrency holdings can be estimated by looking at his known Ethereum wallet addresses. While this doesn’t rule out the existence of any undisclosed wallets, given the scale of Buterin’s holdings in known wallets, these holdings likely constitute most 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 2018 tweet, Buterin claimed that he had never held more than about 0.9% of the total ETH supply.
To verify Buterin’s statement, we can check his known ETH holdings in known wallets from 2015 to the present. We can view the ETH quantities he has held over the years in the portfolio section of his Arkham profile.
With this information, we can estimate his annual holdings as a percentage of the total ETH supply. The following table shows his holdings as of December 31 each year as a benchmark for the corresponding year’s ETH holdings. His holdings as of December 8, 2023, are also included, representing his most recently known ETH holdings.
We can see that Buterin’s claim appears to be accurate. His known ETH holdings have never significantly exceeded 0.9%. 2015 was the year he held the highest percentage of the total ETH supply, at 0.91%. In reality, due to evident token sales and the network’s inflation design, which increases the total ETH supply annually, his ETH holdings have decreased each year.
Buterin’s ETH Holder Ranking
To assess the importance of Buterin’s ETH holdings, we will compare them with other top ETH holders. We can easily identify the entities holding the most ETH tokens by viewing the top holders section on Ethereum’s Arkham profile.
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 ETH2 deposit smart contract tops the list 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 are second and third, respectively. Most entities ranked before Buterin appear to be exchanges like Kraken and Robinhood and institutional managers like Grayscale, which hold large amounts of ETH due to their operations. Exchanges hold significant ETH to facilitate user withdrawals and token exchanges, while Grayscale’s ETH holdings reflect its investments in ETH tokens.
Buterin appears to be the primary individual ETH holder with access to his tokens. While Rain Lohmus holds around 250,000 ETH, which he purchased for $75,000 during the ETH pre-sale, these tokens are inaccessible because he forgot the private key.
Changes in Vitalik Buterin’s Crypto Net Worth Over Time
By examining Buterin’s portfolio in his Arkham profile, we can clearly see the fluctuations in his known cryptocurrency holdings over the years. The table below records his known cryptocurrency holdings as of December 31 each year as a benchmark for the corresponding year’s holdings. 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 increased by over 900 times, from $596,760 to $5.5286 billion. His highest annual percentage growth in net worth was from December 31, 2016, when it rose from $4.23 million to $2.7837 billion on December 31, 2017, during the 2017 bull market.
Buterin’s known cryptocurrency net worth is significantly influenced by ETH price fluctuations, as ETH constitutes more than 99% of his portfolio. Therefore, whenever ETH prices rise, Buterin’s net worth also increases. Conversely, whenever ETH prices fall, his net worth also drops from historical highs.
In 2021, when ETH prices surpassed $3,000, Buterin became a billionaire at 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 $2.09 billion as ETH prices hit an all-time high of $4,891.
However, the crypto bear market struck again, and ETH prices fell. Before December 31, 2021, Buterin held $1.2 billion worth of ETH. By December 31, 2022, his holdings had dropped to $300.58 million. Since then, his known cryptocurrency net worth has rebounded to $552.86 million as of the writing of this article, with ETH prices at $2,234 (now $3,395, making his total assets approximately $830 million).
Another factor influencing the changes in his known cryptocurrency net worth is that his known ETH holdings seem to decrease annually, with Buterin being known to sell his ETH holdings multiple times. For example, in May 2023, Buterin sent 200 ETH to a cryptocurrency exchange, and the Ethereum Foundation sold 15,000 ETH. It is worth noting that Buterin claims he hasn’t sold ETH for personal gain since 2018. He further clarified that when he sends ETH to exchanges, these ETH are for donations rather than sales.
Non-ETH Cryptocurrency Holdings
According to the data in the portfolio section of Arkham’s profile, we can see Buterin’s non-ETH holdings. As of the writing of this article, some of his major non-ETH token holdings include:
1. 869,500 KNCL (token of decentralized liquidity protocol Kyber Network, where Buterin serves as an advisor), worth approximately $609,780
2. 196.42 Wrapped Ether (WETH) tokens, worth approximately $436,920
101 million THE tokens, worth approximately $127,950
Though not major non-ETH holdings, the following tokens are also worth noting:
1. $1