Key takeaways:
Approximately 70% of all ETH is stored in just 10 addresses, primarily controlled by staking contracts, exchanges, or funds rather than individual investors.
Almost half of all ETH is located within a single smart contract: the Beacon Deposit Contract, which underpins Ethereum’s proof-of-stake mechanism.
Major institutions like BlackRock, Fidelity, and public companies are now holding millions of ETH, reinforcing Ether’s status as a significant treasury asset.
ETH ownership has shifted from early adopters to platforms and services built upon it.
As of August 2025, onchain data indicates that the leading 10 Ether (ETH) holders control around 83.9 million ETH (approximately 70% of the total circulating supply).
This has led the community to inquire: Who actually possesses the majority of ETH? The findings reveal that major smart contracts, top exchanges, ETF trusts, and even public corporations hold the bulk of it.
This article delves into the Ether rich list of 2025, covering everything from the Beacon staking contract and Coinbase’s hot wallets to BlackRock’s ETHA trust and Vitalik Buterin’s notable holdings.
Top Ether addresses by balance
Ether’s circulating supply by mid-2025 is roughly 120.71 million ETH. Following the Pectra upgrade in May, issuance has leveled out near net zero, setting the stage for understanding the distribution of Ether ownership.
The top 10 Ether addresses hold 83.9 million ETH as of Aug. 4, 2025 (about 70% of the total supply).
Broadening the scope, the top 200 wallets comprise over 52%, amassing more than 62.76 million ETH (most tied to staking contracts, exchange liquidity, token bridges, or custodial funds). Unlike dormant Bitcoin whale addresses, these Ether whale addresses are part of an active infrastructure that reflects ETH’s capability to support staking, decentralized finance (DeFi), and institutional functions.
Who owns the most Ether in 2025?
As of Aug. 4, 2025, the Beacon Deposit Contract holds around 65.88 million ETH, constituting approximately 54.58% of the total circulating supply of 120.71 million ETH.
These figures are broadly in line with reports from March 2025, which estimated the share at approximately 55.6% (see figure below).
This smart contract serves as the entry point for Ethereum validators, who must deposit a minimum of 32 ETH to help secure the network.
Even with withdrawal functionality enabled since 2023, funds aren’t immediately liquid. Validators must exit the active set, wait around 27 hours for the unbonding period, and then depend on a network-controlled process to release ETH.
This makes the Beacon contract the largest ETH holder, representing the network rather than an individual.
With slashing penalties and structured exits, it ensures that validators remain accountable. However, some critics argue that concentrating half the supply in a single contract presents systemic risks in case of coordinated exits or protocol-level bugs.
Did you know? The Wrapped Ether (WETH) smart contract is also one of the largest ETH holders, currently possessing over 2.26 million ETH (around 1.87% of the circulating supply).
The second-largest ETH wallets
As of Aug. 22, 2025, the following exchanges and custodians rank among the largest ETH holders:
Coinbase: 4.93 million ETH (around 4.09% of supply)
Binance: 4.23 million ETH (around 3.51%)
Bitfinex: 3.28 million ETH (around 2.72%)
Base Network bridge: 1.71 million ETH (around 1.4%)
Robinhood: 1.66 million ETH (around 1.37%)
Upbit: 1.36 million ETH (around 1.13%).
These addresses form a layer of active infrastructure where Ether is utilized to support exchange liquidity, staking derivatives like cbETH, and cross-chain asset bridging.
Biggest ETH wallets in 2025
By late July 2025, BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) significantly altered institutional ETH ownership trends. With $9.74 billion in net inflows, ETHA now (August 2025) holds over 3 million ETH (about 2.5% of the total supply), ranking it among the largest ETH wallets of 2025.
Grayscale’s ETHE remains significant, managing 1.13 million ETH. Fidelity’s Ethereum Fund (FETH), launched in 2024, has garnered $1.4 billion in inflows, while Bitwise is transitioning from Bitcoin-only exposure to ETH-based strategies with staking components.
Together, these institutions now control over 5 million ETH (4.4% of supply), fundamentally altering ETH holding dynamics. They represent a new class of DeFi millionaires who are regulated, ETF-oriented, and attuned to staking.
Corporate Ether whale addresses
An increasing number of public companies are adopting strategies similar to those used for Bitcoin (BTC), focusing on treating ETH as a treasury asset. These include, but are not limited to:
Bitmine Immersion Technologies (NYSE: BMNR) possesses more than 776,000 ETH (around $2 billion), financed by a $250-million PIPE round.
SharpLink Gaming (Nasdaq: SBET) has acquired around 480,000 ETH (approximately $1.65 billion) since June.
Bit Digital (Nasdaq: BTBT) retains about 120,000 ETH after shifting from Bitcoin post-equity raise.
BTCS (Nasdaq: BTCS) reports approximately 70,028 ETH (around $275 million), funded through convertible notes.
Much of this ETH is actively staked, earning around 3%-5% APY. These companies cite Ethereum’s programmability, stablecoin ecosystem, and regulatory clarity (like the GENIUS Act) as the basis for their ETH strategies.
This new list of ETH billionaires includes not only individuals but also corporate treasuries betting on Ether’s long-term value.
The ETH billionaire list
While smart contracts and institutions dominate the Ethereum rich list of 2025, a few individuals remain notable as major ETH holders.
Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s co-founder, is thought to hold between 250,000 and 280,000 ETH (around $950 million), primarily across a few non-custodial wallets, including the famous VB3 address.
Rain Lõhmus, co-founder of LHV Bank, acquired 250,000 ETH during the 2014 initial coin offering (ICO) but lost access to the private key. His assets are untouched, now valued at nearly $900 million.
Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, early backers and founders of Gemini, are believed to control 150,000-200,000 ETH, distinct from Gemini’s exchange treasury of over 360,000 ETH.
Joseph Lubin, co-founder of Ethereum and head of ConsenSys, is estimated to hold around 500,000 ETH (approximately $1.2 billion), though this has never been officially verified.
Anthony Di Iorio, another Ethereum co-founder, reportedly retains 50,000-100,000 ETH.
Did you know? By early 2025, Etherscan reported over 130 million unique addresses, but fewer than 1.3 million hold at least 1 ETH, which is less than 1% of the total. Holding a single ETH means you’re in rare company on the Ether rich list of 2025.
How to track Ethereum ownership distribution
Identifying the top Ether holders in 2025 utilizes tools such as Nansen’s Token God Mode, Dune Analytics, and Etherscan. These platforms categorize wallets by activity, associating them with exchanges, funds, smart contracts, or individuals.
Token God Mode maps wallet clusters to recognized entities, monitors inflows/outflows, and ranks the largest ETH wallets of 2025.
Dune dashboards apply schema tables like “labels.addresses” to distinguish externally owned accounts (EOAs) from smart contracts and exchanges, yielding insights into public Ethereum addresses and ETH holding trends.
Etherscan categorizes wallets based on transaction histories, attributions, or user-submitted data, bolstering crypto wallet transparency. Collectively, these sources help outline Ether ownership distribution.
Nevertheless, limitations persist. Reused deposit addresses can distort figures, cold wallets may evade classification, and privacy strategies can obscure actual control. Even the top 200 Ethereum addresses by balance may consist of fragmented or misidentified entities. ETH address rankings illustrate a combination of certainty and statistical inference rather than full transparency.
Did you know? One of the oldest untouched ETH wallets (likely from the 2014 ICO) still retains approximately 250,000 ETH (around 0.2% of supply) and hasn’t transacted in nearly a decade.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
