Vitalik Buterin is worth at least $530 million as of October 2026, according to blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence. That figure counts only the crypto in wallets publicly linked to him. Most of it is about 224,000 ETH, so the number rises and falls with the price of ether. Arkham says the estimate leaves out crypto it cannot identify and anything he owns off-chain, so his real net worth could be higher.
Most of the wallet data in this article comes from one source, Arkham. Where other outlets report the same transactions, they mostly cite Arkham or analysts who use its data.
The latest change: about 16,000 ETH out in early 2026
On 30 January 2026, Buterin said in a post on X that he had withdrawn 16,384 ETH, about $45 million at the time, according to The Block. He said the money would fund an "open-source, secure and verifiable full stack" of software and hardware over the next few years. The areas he named were finance, communication, governance, operating systems, secure hardware, and biotech for personal and public health. He called it his "own share of the austerity", because the Ethereum Foundation was entering what he described as a "period of mild austerity". He also said he was looking at secure decentralised staking options, so that future staking rewards could keep funding these projects.
The selling began soon after:
- 24 February 2026: The Block reported, citing the on-chain analysts Onchain Lens and Lookonchain, that Buterin had sold 10,723 ETH since 2 February for about $21.7 million, at an average price of $2,027.
- 24 February 2026: Cointelegraph, citing Arkham data, reported that his tracked balance had fallen from about 241,000 ETH to about 224,000 ETH. The sales went through a decentralised exchange aggregator in many small swaps.
- Arkham's own summary: Buterin sold more than 18,600 ETH (about $38 million) in early 2026 to fund open-source software, privacy tools and security-critical infrastructure. Arkham also says he has not sold ETH for personal gain since 2018.
The totals do not match exactly. They cover different time windows and different groups of wallets.
What his net worth is made of
| Component | What is known | Source |
|---|---|---|
| ETH in known wallets | About 224,000 ETH (Arkham, figure dated May 2026) | Arkham |
| Other tokens | Small positions, including about 1.76M AETHLUSD (~$1.76M), 398K ZCHF (~$498K), plus meme tokens such as WHITE and MOODENG worth a few hundred thousand dollars or less. Arkham does not date these values. | Arkham |
| StarkWare equity | Arkham says he took part in StarkWare's seed round, and that StarkWare reached an $8 billion valuation in 2022. Arkham does not confirm whether he still holds the stake or what it is worth. | Arkham |
| Cash, property, other private stakes | Not disclosed | — |
| Wallets not linked to him | Cannot be detected | — |
Arkham says ETH makes up more than 95% of his known portfolio. In practice, his on-chain net worth is roughly his ETH balance multiplied by the ETH price. At 224,000 ETH, every $100 change in the price moves the total by about $22.4 million.
How his ETH balance has changed, 2015 to 2025
Arkham's year-end snapshots of his known wallets:
| Date | ETH held | Total ETH supply | Share of supply |
|---|---|---|---|
| 31 Dec 2015 | 662,810 | 72M | 0.91% |
| 31 Dec 2016 | 519,010 | 90M | 0.57% |
| 31 Dec 2017 | 376,160 | 97M | 0.39% |
| 31 Dec 2018 | 368,410 | 103M | 0.36% |
| 31 Dec 2019 | 351,440 | 109M | 0.32% |
| 31 Dec 2020 | 333,790 | 114M | 0.29% |
| 31 Dec 2021 | 330,920 | 118M | 0.28% |
| 31 Dec 2022 | 250,150 | 121M | 0.21% |
| 31 Dec 2023 | 246,030 | 120M | 0.20% |
| 31 Dec 2024 | 240,610 | 121M | 0.20% |
| 31 Dec 2025 | 240,010 | 121M | 0.20% |
Two separate things drive the falling share. His balance went down through transfers and sales, and total supply grew, which shrinks his percentage even in years when his balance barely changed.
On 10 October 2018, replying to criticism from economist Nouriel Roubini, Buterin wrote that he "never personally held more than ~0.9% of all ETH, and my net worth never came close to $1b." Arkham's data supports the first part: his highest share was 0.91%, at the end of 2015.
Where the money came from
His wealth comes from early ETH. He had no company equity and no founder's salary of note. The dates:
- 2011: Co-founded Bitcoin Magazine with Mihai Alisie.
- 27 November 2013: Published the Ethereum whitepaper (ethereum.org).
- 2014: Received a $100,000 Thiel Fellowship grant and left university.
- 22 July 2014: The ether presale opened and ran for 42 days. Buyers paid in BTC (ethereum.org).
- 30 July 2015: The Frontier network went live at 15:26:13 UTC (ethereum.org).
- 31 December 2015: Held 662,810 ETH, his highest year-end balance on record (Arkham).
What is his ETH worth at a given price?
Enter an ETH balance and an ETH price to see the value of those coins, which the article says is roughly his on-chain net worth.
| ETH held in his known wallets | ETH price | Value of that ETH |
|---|---|---|
| 224,000 ETH | 1,825 $ | 408.8 $ million |
| 224,000 ETH | 1,500 $ | 336 $ million |
| 240,010 ETH | 4,953 $ | 1,188.8 $ million |
- The balance and the price are your inputs. The defaults come from figures in the article, but no source fixes today's values.
- ETH is more than 95% of his known portfolio, so this result is close to his on-chain total, but it is not the whole total.
- At 224,000 ETH, every $100 change in the price moves the result by about $22.4 million.
This only multiplies a balance by a price. It leaves out his other tokens, the StarkWare stake, off-chain assets and wallets not linked to him, and it cannot tell you what ETH will be worth. It is not investment advice.
Peaks and drawdowns
- May 2021: Forbes-based reports said Buterin, then 27, became the youngest crypto billionaire after ETH passed $3,000. His main wallet held 333,520 ETH, worth about $1.09 billion at $3,278 per ETH.
- 18 November 2021: His net worth briefly reached $2.09 billion, with ETH at $4,891 (Arkham).
- 31 December 2021: About $1.2 billion (Arkham).
- 31 December 2022: $300.58 million, down about 75% in a year (Arkham).
- August 2025: Back near $1.2 billion as ETH hit an all-time high of nearly $4,953 (Arkham).
- February 2026: ETH traded around $1,825, about 63% below that high (The Block, 24 February 2026).
- June 2026: ETH fell to $1,500 before recovering (Arkham).
- October 2026: At least $530 million (Arkham).
The SHIB episode: the biggest transfers on record
In 2021, the Shiba Inu team sent a large share of the SHIB supply to Buterin's public wallet without asking him. He gave it away and then burned most of the rest:
- Week of 12 May 2021: He sent 50 trillion SHIB, worth about $1.2 billion at the time, to the India Covid Relief Fund set up by Sandeep Nailwal (Decrypt). Other outlets put the value at about $1.14 billion. Arkham gives 50.69 trillion SHIB worth $1.56 billion. The value depends on which moment's price you use.
- 16 May 2021: He sent 410.24 trillion SHIB, worth about $6.74 billion at the time and more than 40% of SHIB in circulation, to a dead address. That was 90% of what was left in his wallet (Decrypt). He said he did not want to hold the tokens for security reasons, and wanted to avoid fuelling "unnecessary speculation". He said the remaining 10% would go to a charity he had not yet chosen.
In the same period he gave other meme tokens to other fundraisers. Reports name recipients such as GiveWell, the Methuselah Foundation and the Machine Intelligence Research Institute. Amounts for these gifts are not verified here.
The burned SHIB never counted toward his wealth in any usable sense. Selling it at the quoted prices would have been impossible, so the "$6.74 billion" describes the market price, not money he gave up.
Kanro and ongoing giving
Kanro is a biotech and public-health fund Buterin set up in 2023. Benzinga reports that he periodically sells tokens sent to him unsolicited and gives the proceeds to Kanro. In one January 2025 sale, meme tokens were converted into about 984,000 USDC for it. Kanro's total funding is not disclosed.
How to check the numbers yourself
- Arkham Intelligence keeps an entity page for Buterin that values his labelled wallets live. Its research page publishes the year-end history used above.
- Any labelled address can be cross-checked on a public block explorer such as Etherscan.
- When reading a headline figure, check three things: the date, the ETH price used, and whether off-chain assets are included. A figure that does not state its date is usually out of date.
This article is not investment advice.
Limitations: Wallet figures come mainly from Arkham's labelling of addresses linked to Buterin. Off-chain assets and unlabelled wallets are not included.
