The 61 % Club—Ten Addresses, One Super-Majority
As of September 2025 the top ten Ether wallets control 71.8 million ETH—about 61 % of the entire float. The twist: almost none of them are individual “whales”. Instead they are protocol contracts, exchange treasuries, ETF custodians and listed companies that have turned ETH into a yield-bearing reserve asset. Below is a field-guide to the new ownership map, bucket by bucket.

1. Protocol-Layer Contracts: The Network Owns Itself

• Beacon Deposit Contract: ≈ 68 million ETH (56 %)
  Every validator’s 32-ETH stake is parked here; withdrawals still require a 27-hour exit queue, making this the largest single “black-box” on any public chain.

• WETH Wrapper: 2.26 million ETH (1.9 %)
  The ERC-20 liquidity rail that underpins all of DeFi.

2. Exchange & Custody Rails: Always-on Liquidity

• Coinbase cold/hot clusters: 5.16 million ETH (4.2 %)

• Binance umbrella wallets: 4.06 million ETH (3.3 %)

• Robinhood, Upbit, Kraken: 1.3–1.4 million ETH each
  These addresses move coins in and out 24/7 for spot, derivative and bridge withdrawals; they are the busiest transaction counterparties on the network.

3. U.S. Spot ETFs: Four Tickers, >5 % of Supply

• BlackRock iShares ETHA: > 3 million ETH (2.5 %, $9.7 B in-flows)

• Grayscale ETHE: 1.13 million ETH

• Fidelity FETH + Bitwise ETHW: ≈ 1 million ETH combined
  Held by regulated custodians, available for creation/redemption and increasingly staked, they are the default gateway for traditional capital.

4. Listed Companies: “Treasury 2.0” With Staking Coupons

• Bitmine Immersion (NYSE: BMNR): 1.8 million ETH

• SharpLink Gaming (NASDAQ: SBET): 797 k ETH

• Bit Digital, BTCS, Phunware: 70–120 k ETH each
  Most of the coins are staked at 3–5 % APY; management frames the position as a “programmable T-bill” that also powers their product ecosystems.

5. The Last Individual Billionaires

• Vitalik Buterin: 250–280 k ETH (~$950 M across vb3.eth etc.)

• ConsenSys founder Joseph Lubin: ~500 k ETH (unconfirmed)

• Winklevoss twins: 150–200 k ETH (excluding Gemini corporate)

• Rain Lõhmus (LHV Bank co-founder): 250 k ETH stuck in a 2014 ICO wallet—worth $900 M but lost keys.

Bottom Line

• Circulating supply ≈ 120.7 million ETH; top 200 addresses already >52 %.

• “Personal whale” share has shrunk to low-single digits; ownership is now institutional, contractual and platform-mediated.

• Track live changes in Nansen’s Token God Mode, Dune’s labels.addresses table or Etherscan’s rich-list, but remember exchange clustering and privacy tech can skew totals in either direction.

The 61 % Club—Ten Addresses, One Super-Majority
As of September 2025 the top ten Ether wallets control 71.8 million ETH—about 61 % of the entire float. The twist: almost none of them are individual “whales”. Instead they are protocol contracts, exchange treasuries, ETF custodians and listed companies that have turned ETH into a yield-bearing reserve asset. Below is a field-guide to the new ownership map, bucket by bucket.

1. Protocol-Layer Contracts: The Network Owns Itself

• Beacon Deposit Contract: ≈ 68 million ETH (56 %)
  Every validator’s 32-ETH stake is parked here; withdrawals still require a 27-hour exit queue, making this the largest single “black-box” on any public chain.

• WETH Wrapper: 2.26 million ETH (1.9 %)
  The ERC-20 liquidity rail that underpins all of DeFi.

2. Exchange & Custody Rails: Always-on Liquidity

• Coinbase cold/hot clusters: 5.16 million ETH (4.2 %)

• Binance umbrella wallets: 4.06 million ETH (3.3 %)

• Robinhood, Upbit, Kraken: 1.3–1.4 million ETH each
  These addresses move coins in and out 24/7 for spot, derivative and bridge withdrawals; they are the busiest transaction counterparties on the network.

3. U.S. Spot ETFs: Four Tickers, >5 % of Supply

• BlackRock iShares ETHA: > 3 million ETH (2.5 %, $9.7 B in-flows)

• Grayscale ETHE: 1.13 million ETH

• Fidelity FETH + Bitwise ETHW: ≈ 1 million ETH combined
  Held by regulated custodians, available for creation/redemption and increasingly staked, they are the default gateway for traditional capital.

4. Listed Companies: “Treasury 2.0” With Staking Coupons

• Bitmine Immersion (NYSE: BMNR): 1.8 million ETH

• SharpLink Gaming (NASDAQ: SBET): 797 k ETH

• Bit Digital, BTCS, Phunware: 70–120 k ETH each
  Most of the coins are staked at 3–5 % APY; management frames the position as a “programmable T-bill” that also powers their product ecosystems.

5. The Last Individual Billionaires

• Vitalik Buterin: 250–280 k ETH (~$950 M across vb3.eth etc.)

• ConsenSys founder Joseph Lubin: ~500 k ETH (unconfirmed)

• Winklevoss twins: 150–200 k ETH (excluding Gemini corporate)

• Rain Lõhmus (LHV Bank co-founder): 250 k ETH stuck in a 2014 ICO wallet—worth $900 M but lost keys.

Bottom Line

• Circulating supply ≈ 120.7 million ETH; top 200 addresses already >52 %.

• “Personal whale” share has shrunk to low-single digits; ownership is now institutional, contractual and platform-mediated.

• Track live changes in Nansen’s Token God Mode, Dune’s labels.addresses table or Etherscan’s rich-list, but remember exchange clustering and privacy tech can skew totals in either direction.