The single largest holder of Ethereum isn’t an exchange, a whale investor, or an ETF provider—it’s the network’s own staking contract. According to new on-chain research from Arkham Intelligence, the ETH2 Beacon Deposit Contract now holds over 72.4 million ETH, valued at approximately $252 billion and representing 60% of the total circulating supply.

Major Holders: From Founders to Exchanges

While the staking contract dominates, the report also sheds light on the largest individual and institutional holders. The biggest known individual wallet belongs to Rain Lohmus, founder of Estonian bank LHV, who acquired 250,000 ETH for about $75,000 during the 2014 presale. Though his holdings are now worth around $871 million, Lohmus famously lost access to the private keys years ago. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin is the second-largest individual holder, with about 240,000 ETH valued at roughly $840 million.

Centralized exchanges and institutional players also control massive pools of Ether. Binance leads the pack, holding approximately 4.09 million ETH. Asset manager BlackRock follows closely with 3.94 million ETH, primarily for its iShares Ethereum Trust ETF. Coinbase holds around 3.5 million ETH across various addresses, including its cold storage and reserves for the cbETH staking token. Other major institutional holders include Upbit, Robinhood, Kraken, OKX, and Bitfinex.

Seized Funds, Stolen Coins, and Network Bridges

Arkham’s research also highlights government and illicit holdings. The United States government, for example, controls about 60,000 ETH, much of it seized from criminal activities like the Potapenko/Turogin case and the Bitfinex hack. Some high-profile hacker wallets also remain significant holders, including one linked to the 2016 Gatecoin exploit that still contains over 156,000 ETH.

Key blockchain infrastructure accounts for another large portion of locked ETH. The Wrapped Ether (WETH) contract, which makes ETH compatible with ERC-20 standards, holds over 2.2 million ETH. Native Layer 2 bridges also lock up substantial amounts, with Arbitrum’s bridge holding 833,000 ETH and Base’s bridge holding 723,000 ETH. The data confirms that staking contracts, exchanges, ETF issuers, and infrastructure platforms are the primary entities holding Ether today.