Who Actually Owns All Ethereum? On-Chain Study Reveals Surprising Names

Arkham Intelligence has published an in-depth analysis of the largest Ethereum
ETHUSD
holders in 2026, revealing that staking contracts, exchanges, and financial institutions currently control most of the supply.

The report uses on-chain data from the Arkham Intel Platform and discusses various entities ranging from centralized exchanges to individual presale investors.

Staking and Exchange Dominate Most ETH

The ETH2 Beacon Deposit Contract is at the top of the list with holdings of more than 82 million ETH, worth approximately US$169 billion.

This figure represents about 66% of the total ETH supply, which is currently locked by validators to secure the network.

Among exchanges, Coinbase leads with 4.2 million ETH (US$8.6 billion), followed by Binance with 3.6 million ETH (US$7.3 billion).

South Korea’s Upbit exchange ranks third with 1.7 million ETH. All of these holdings are custodial, meaning they are stored in users’ names for trading, withdrawals, and staking services.

From the financial institutions side, BlackRock holds more than 3 million ETH (US$6 billion) through its iShares Ethereum Trust ETF.

Bitmine’s treasury company claims it has a total of 4.7 million ETH, although Arkham has only verified 914,000 ETH on-chain so far.

Bitmine aims to collect 5% of the total ETH supply.

Individual Holders and Lost Wealth

Among individuals, Estonia-based presale investor Rain Lohmus is technically the largest ETH holder with 250,000 tokens worth US$530 million.

Even so, he lost access to his private key after buying those assets for US$75,000 during the 2014 presale.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin is the largest individual holder with funds still accessible, who now holds 224,000 ETH (US$480 million).

Ethereum Foundation Shifts from Selling to Staking

Separately, Arkham reports that the Ethereum Foundation has staked an additional ETH worth US$46.64 million, which became the largest single-day deployment.

The Foundation’s total staked funds are now about US$96.59 million.

This move is part of the plan announced last February to stake 70,000 ETH from their treasury. Rewards from staking will become a source of funding for research, ecosystem grants, and protocol development.

Previously, the Foundation relied on periodic ETH sales, which drew criticism from the community for causing selling pressure.

With institutions, exchanges, and now the Ethereum Foundation also locking supply into validators, ETH distribution is increasingly leaning toward long-term holders rather than the liquid market.