Key takeaways:
Approximately 70% of all ETH is concentrated in just 10 addresses, predominantly belonging to staking contracts, exchanges, or funds rather than individual whales.
Almost half of all ETH is contained within a single smart contract: the Beacon Deposit Contract that underpins Ethereum’s proof-of-stake mechanism.
Large institutions like BlackRock, Fidelity, and publicly traded companies now possess millions of ETH, elevating Ether to a major treasury asset.
ETH ownership has evolved beyond early adopters; it’s now focused on the platforms and services that operate on it.
As of August 2025, on-chain data indicates that the top 10 Ether (ETH) holders manage about 83.9 million ETH (around 70% of the total circulating supply).
The community is increasingly questioning: Who actually owns the majority of ETH? The findings reveal the prominence of protocol-level smart contracts, major exchanges, ETF trusts, and even publicly traded companies.
This article investigates the Ether wealth distribution of 2025, examining the Beacon staking contract, Coinbase’s hot wallets, BlackRock’s ETHA trust, and Vitalik Buterin’s renowned holdings.
Top Ether addresses by balance
As of mid-2025, Ether’s circulating supply is approximately 120.71 million ETH. Following the Pectra upgrade in May, issuance has stabilized near a net-zero level, providing context for the distribution of Ether ownership.
As noted, the top 10 Ether addresses collectively hold 83.9 million ETH as of August 4, 2025 (roughly 70% of the total supply).
Expanding the scope, the top 200 wallets account for over 52%, holding more than 62.76 million ETH (most of these belong to staking contracts, exchange liquidity, token bridges, or custodial funds). Unlike dormant Bitcoin whale addresses, these Ether whale addresses operate as active infrastructure, highlighting ETH’s capacity to support staking, decentralized finance (DeFi), and institutional operations.
Who owns the most Ether in 2025?
As of August 4, 2025, the Beacon Deposit Contract holds approximately 65.88 million ETH, which constitutes about 54.58% of the total circulating supply of 120.71 million ETH.
These numbers are generally consistent with reports from March 2025, which estimated the share at around 55.6% (see figure below).
This smart contract serves as the entry point for Ethereum validators, each of whom must deposit at least 32 ETH to help secure the network.
Even after withdrawal capabilities were introduced in 2023, funds are not instantly available. Validators must exit the active set, endure approximately 27 hours for the unbonding period, and then depend on a protocol-controlled sweep to access their ETH.
This makes the Beacon contract the largest holder of ETH—not an individual, but the network itself.
With slashing penalties and structured exits in place, it guarantees accountability among validators. Nonetheless, some critics express concerns that concentrating half the supply in one contract poses systemic risks in cases of coordinated exits or protocol-level bugs.
Did you know? The Wrapped Ether (WETH) smart contract also ranks as one of the largest ETH holders, currently possessing over 2.26 million ETH (approximately 1.87% of the circulating supply).
The second-largest ETH wallets
As of August 22, 2025, these exchanges and custodians are among the largest ETH holders:
Coinbase: 4.93 million ETH (about 4.09% of supply)
Binance: 4.23 million ETH (approximately 3.51%)
Bitfinex: 3.28 million ETH (around 2.72%)
Base Network bridge: 1.71 million ETH (about 1.4%)
Robinhood: 1.66 million ETH (around 1.37%)
Upbit: 1.36 million ETH (approximately 1.13%).
These addresses form a layer of active infrastructure where Ether is utilized to support exchange liquidity, staking derivatives like cbETH, and asset bridging across chains.
Biggest ETH wallets in 2025
As of late July 2025, BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) has significantly influenced institutional ETH ownership. With $9.74 billion in net inflows, ETHA currently holds over 3 million ETH (approximately 2.5% of the total supply), marking it as one of the largest ETH wallets of 2025.
Grayscale’s ETHE also plays a critical role, managing 1.13 million ETH. Fidelity’s Ethereum Fund (FETH), launched in 2024, has garnered $1.4 billion in inflows, while Bitwise shifts from Bitcoin-only exposure to ETH-focused mandates with staking features.
In total, these institutions control over 5 million ETH (4.4% of the supply), altering the landscape for ETH holding patterns. They represent a new class of DeFi millionaires who are regulated, ETF-based, and cognizant of staking.
Corporate Ether whale addresses
An increasing number of public companies are adopting a strategy akin to Strategy’s Bitcoin (BTC) approach (but with staking) to treat ETH as a treasury asset. Notable examples include:
Bitmine Immersion Technologies (NYSE: BMNR) maintains over 776,000 ETH (around $2 billion), funded through a $250-million PIPE round.
SharpLink Gaming (Nasdaq: SBET) has acquired about 480,000 ETH (worth $1.65 billion) since June.
Bit Digital (Nasdaq: BTBT) holds around 120,000 ETH, shifting from Bitcoin after an equity raise.
BTCS (Nasdaq: BTCS) reports possession of around 70,028 ETH (about $275 million), financed by convertible notes.
Most of this ETH is actively staked, earning around 3%-5% APY. These companies cite Ethereum’s programmability, the stablecoin ecosystem, and regulatory clarity (like the GENIUS Act) as foundational for their ETH strategies.
This new list of ETH billionaires encompasses not only individuals but also corporate treasuries investing in Ether’s long-term potential.
The ETH billionaire list
While smart contracts and institutions dominate the Ethereum rich list for 2025, a few individuals still emerge as significant ETH holders.
Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, is widely believed to control between 250,000 and 280,000 ETH (around $950 million), mainly across a limited number of non-custodial wallets, including the well-known VB3 address.
Rain Lõhmus, co-founder of LHV Bank, acquired 250,000 ETH during the 2014 initial coin offering (ICO) but has lost access to the private key. His coins remain untouched, now valued at nearly $900 million.
Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, early investors and founders of Gemini, are estimated to personally own between 150,000 and 200,000 ETH, distinct from Gemini’s exchange treasury of over 360,000 ETH.
Joseph Lubin, co-founder of Ethereum and head of ConsenSys, is thought to hold around 500,000 ETH (approximately $1.2 billion), although this has never been officially validated.
Anthony Di Iorio, another Ethereum co-founder, is rumored to possess between 50,000 and 100,000 ETH.
Did you know? As of early 2025, Etherscan data indicated over 130 million unique addresses, yet fewer than 1.3 million hold at least 1 ETH, constituting less than 1% of the total. That single ETH places you in elite company on the Ether rich list of 2025.
How to track Ethereum ownership distribution
Identifying the leading Ether holders in 2025 is facilitated by tools like Nansen’s Token God Mode, Dune Analytics, and Etherscan. These platforms categorize wallets by behavior, linking them to exchanges, funds, smart contracts, or individuals.
Token God Mode visualizes wallet clusters to known entities, tracks inflows/outflows, and ranks the largest ETH wallets in 2025.
Dune dashboards utilize schema tables such as “labels.addresses” to distinguish externally owned accounts (EOAs) from smart contracts and exchanges, offering insights into public Ethereum addresses and ETH holding trends.
Etherscan categorizes wallets based on transaction history, attribution, or user-submitted evidence, promoting crypto wallet transparency. Together, these tools outline Ether ownership distribution.
Nonetheless, limitations persist. Reused deposit addresses can inflate numbers, cold wallets may evade tracking, and privacy methods obscure true control. Even the top 200 Ethereum addresses by balance likely consist of fragmented or misidentified entities. ETH address rankings demonstrate a mix of certainty and statistical estimation, not complete clarity.
Did you know? One of the oldest untouched ETH wallets (probably from the 2014 ICO) holds around 250,000 ETH (roughly 0.2% of the supply) and has not transacted in nearly a decade.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move carries risk, and readers should perform their own research when making any decisions.
