Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, has an estimated net worth of at least $552.86 million as of January 2024, according to a report by cryptocurrency tracking platform Arkham. Buterin, who has been involved in the crypto industry for over a decade, is credited with creating Ethereum. He started his crypto journey in 2011 at the age of 17 when he co-founded Bitcoin Magazine with Mihai Alisie, who would later join him in co-founding Ethereum. In addition to Bitcoin Magazine, Buterin and Alisie also worked on Egora, a decentralized platform similar to eBay but for Bitcoin.
Buterin was reportedly dissatisfied with the limitations of Bitcoin, such as its restricted scripting language, which hinders its ability to execute more complex smart contracts and decentralized applications. In response, Buterin published the Ethereum Whitepaper in November 2013, when he was just 19 years old, proposing Ethereum as a solution to Bitcoin’s limitations.
The majority of Buterin’s known cryptocurrency wealth is in the form of ETH tokens, making him highly dependent on the fluctuating price of ETH. His crypto assets are estimated to be around $552.86 million, with the majority of it coming from his ETH holdings, amounting to approximately 246,730 tokens. His crypto holdings can be tracked by examining his known Ethereum wallet addresses.
Apart from ETH, Buterin also holds investments in various crypto companies, including StarkNet, as well as other tokens like KNC and WETH. Some of his significant non-ETH token holdings include 869,500 KNCL tokens from Kyber Network, valued at around $609,780, 196.42 Wrapped Ether (WETH) tokens worth approximately $436,920, and around 101 million THE tokens worth $127,950.
It appears that Buterin is the largest individual holder of ETH tokens with access to them. However, there is another individual named Rain Lohmus who holds approximately 250,000 ETH from the ETH presale, but he cannot access them as he lost the private keys to his wallet.
It’s worth noting that the known ETH holdings are decreasing over time as Buterin has sold some of his ETH holdings in the past. He sold 200 ETH in May 2023 by sending it to a crypto exchange, and the Ethereum foundation also sold 15,000 ETH. Buterin claims that he hasn’t sold ETH for personal gain since 2018 and clarified that when he sent ETH to exchanges, it was for donations rather than selling his ETH.
Compared to other Ethereum co-founders and early ETH holders, Buterin’s estimated net worth is relatively higher. Please note that this article does not provide investment advice.
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