Recent findings from blockchain intelligence company Arkham reveal that about $1.2 billion of digital currency held by the top five crypto whales is now locked up.
Meanwhile, the unveiling was done through the modern dashboard that follows the assets of the world’s richest crypto holders with verified on-chain data.
High-profile characters in the dashboard include Justin Sun of Tron and Vitalik Buterin of Ethereum. Although the holdings are quite broad, almost 35% of the assets are inaccessible as a result of lost passwords and private keys.
Our team created a dashboard of 10 of the richest individuals with crypto holdings tagged on Arkham.
The top 5:
Justin Sun ($1.1B)
Rain Lohmus ($793M – inaccessible)
Vitalik Buterin ($782M)
Stefan Thomas ($452M – inaccessible)
James Fickel ($446M) pic.twitter.com/efOTys9PMo— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) April 15, 2024
Top Crypto Whales’ Profile
Justin Sun, the initiator of the Tron network, tops Arkham’s list with assets worth $1.06 billion. His wallet has a large holding of Decentralized USD (USDD), his network’s stablecoin, and Tron’s token. Rain Lõhmus, the person behind Estonian-based LHV Bank, has the second largest investment in Ether with $769 million, but it is presently not accounted for, as access was lost to his private keys.
The third position is occupied by Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, who has a wallet of $757 million, mostly in Ethereum tokens. The top five also include Stefan Thomas, formerly of Ripple and now an independent technology developer, and James Fickel, who is a crypto venture capitalist with holdings in Bitcoin and various digital assets respectively.
The problem of accounts being inaccessible because of lost keys is a common challenge in the cryptocurrency space. The case of Stefan Thomas serves as an example; he lost access to an encrypted hard drive containing information for more than 7,000 Bitcoin in 2011. In October, a crypto recovery firm provided services to try and unlock the IronKey hard drive that holds Thomas’s assets.
This case highlights the dangers of digital money management: One may lose access to a large sum, die due to forgotten passwords, or die due to failed hardware. It further illuminates the need for better security systems and recovery methods in the crypto industry.
Other Notable Crypto Wallets
While Arkham’s dashboard is below the top five, it also presents other players in the cryptocurrency market. An early adopter, Patricio Worthalter, owns $219 million, primarily in Ether. According to reports, Winslow Strong, the General Partner at Cluster Capital, owns a portfolio of digital assets worth $27.5 million.
The accounts, along with others tagged and monitored by Arkham, provide a total portfolio breakdown of their holdings across different blockchains, presenting a complete view of their investment operations and historical balance modifications.
However, the list is limited to wallets linked to identifiable individuals. It does not include anonymous or pseudonymous holders like Satoshi Nakamoto, whose estimated worth in Bitcoin runs into tens of billions.
