Arkham Intelligence has dropped a bombshell on the crypto market. According to data, legendary Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin holds over $800 million worth of ETH.
The majority of this incredible amount came from the initial ETH allocation he received during the launch of Ethereum, approximately 246,730 ETH. Besides Ethereum, Vitalik is said to have also invested in various projects such as StarkNet.
Source: Arkham Intelligence
How did Vitalik build his fortune?
Vitalik began his cryptocurrency journey in 2011 at the age of 17 by co-founding Bitcoin Magazine with Mihai Alisie. Dissatisfied with Bitcoin’s limitations, he published the Ethereum whitepaper in November 2013 at the age of 19, proposing Ethereum as a solution to Bitcoin’s shortcomings.
Vitalik quickly assembled a team including co-founders Anthony Di Iorio, Charles Hoskinson, Mihai Alisie, Amir Chetrit, Joseph Lubin, Gavin Wood and Jeffrey Wilcke.
Vitalik Buterin Net Worth. Source: Arkham Intelligence
They founded the Ethereum Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to developing the Ethereum network. In June 2014, Vitalik received a $100,000 grant from the Thiel Foundation, allowing him to leave the University of Waterloo and focus entirely on Ethereum.
“The Ethereum presale in the summer of 2014 saw participants exchange BTC for ETH, resulting in an initial supply of over 72 million tokens, with 16.53% allocated to the founders.”
Ethereum officially launched on July 30, 2015. Vitalik is the only founder still actively working on the network, overseeing its development, including the transition from Proof-of-Work ( PoW) to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) in 2022.
While he may not have disclosed his wallet, his known holdings likely represent the bulk of his wealth. According to an old tweet, Vitalik claimed he never held more than 0.9% of the total supply of ETH.
Source: X
Arkham’s data backs this up, showing his holdings have never exceeded 0.9%, with 2015 being the highest year at 0.91%. Vitalik’s initial allocation quickly made him a billionaire as ETH price exceeded $3,000 in 2021.
In addition to ETH, Vitalik’s portfolio also includes other tokens such as KNC and WETH. His estimated net worth is huge compared to other Ethereum co-founders and early individual ETH holders.
Source: Arkham Intelligence
Additionally, he holds Tornado Cash’s TORN token worth $1,290, using a mixer to donate to Ukraine, and 6.34 million Shiba Inu (SHIB), worth $107.23.
In 2020, Vitalik received 50% of SHIB’s supply, which quickly raised his net worth to $10 billion before burning 410 trillion SHIB, worth $6 billion, and donating the rest back to CryptoRelief India.
Financial Journey and Market Impact
Vitalik Buterin’s financial journey is extraordinary. In 2015, his net worth increased from $596,760 to $551.22 million. His highest year-over-year increase in net worth occurred during the 2017 bull run, increasing from $4.23 million to $278.37 million.
In 2021, when ETH price skyrocketed to over $3,000, Vitalik became a billionaire at the age of 27, with his net worth peaking at $2.09 billion as ETH hit an all-time high of $4,891.
However, the bearish cryptocurrency market caused ETH to lose value, reducing the value of his holdings by about 75% from $1.2 billion in December 2021 to $300.58 million in December 2022. .
His net worth has since rebounded, reaching $551.22 million with ETH price at $3,300. Vitalik’s net worth fluctuates with the price of ETH, as ETH makes up over 99% of his portfolio. Whenever the price of ETH increases, his net worth also increases and vice versa.
Vitalik occasionally sells ETH, with notable sales in May 2023 when he sold 200 ETH, followed by the Ethereum Foundation selling 15,000 ETH.
He has previously clarified that he has not sold ETH for personal gain since 2018 and when he sends ETH to exchanges, it is for donations, not for sale.
Itadori
According to Cryptopolitan
