The Secret Ethereum Whale Just Exposed!

Arkham Intelligence released a new research report which disclosed the parties that possessed the biggest Ethereum balances in the world. The data concentrates on non-staking holdings of ETH and provides a better perspective of liquid and custodial supply, as opposed to locked protocol funds. The list is dominated by centralized exchanges and institutional players according to the report. They jointly hold millions of ETH which is tens of billions of funds at existing rates. This release emphasizes the fact that Ethereum is still being owned by large financial institutions.

🚨JUST IN: WORLD'S LARGEST $ETH HOLDERS REVEALED

According to a new research report from @arkham, these are the entities that have the world's biggest @Ethereum stacks…@Binance [4.16M ETH]@Blackrock [3.42M ETH]@Coinbase [2.9M ETH]@fundstrat @BitMNR [4.1M ETH]… pic.twitter.com/D9SBPxIiiS

— BSCN (@BSCNews) February 12, 2026

Who Holds the Most Ethereum

At the very first position is Binance which has a value of around 4.16 million ETH amounting to close to 13 billion dollars. Such a ranking indicates that Binance is the biggest crypto exchange in the globe with the vast majority of ETH under custody on behalf of clients. Coinbase, in the meantime, holds approximately 2.9 million ETH, strengthening the idea of it as the primary custodian of the U.S.-based institutions and ETF issuers.

Among the most prominent additions, there is BitMNR, an entity associated with Fundstrat, owning around 4.1 million ETH. This ETH is not custodial as the exchanges. Rather, Arkham reports that BitMNR is creating a long-term ETH treasury position, and the aim to purchase a maximum of 5 percent of the entire supply of Ethereum. This would enable it to be among the most powerful ETH holders in the world should it be successful in doing so. Consequently, certain analysts feel that this initiative has the potential of curbing the supply in the market and help in bringing the market to a stable state in the long-run.

What the Report Leaves Out

Worth noting, the rankings of Arkham will not include the ETH2 staking contract, which has more than 77 million ETH, or approximately 63 percent of the entire supply. Although this contract is, by far, the largest holder, it is not an entity that has centralized validator deposits. The report narrows in on ETH that may potentially have a real impact on liquidity, custody risk or institutional influence by eliminating staking contracts. This difference can justify why the exchange and ETF-related wallets take the leading positions.

The statistics prove a larger exercise. Retail wallets no longer dominate Ethereum. Rather, it is now large institutions and centralized platforms that have a large portion of supply. This enhances legitimacy on the one hand. ETF inflows and treasury strategies provide a long-term positive indication of Ethereum as an asset. Conversely, it puts into doubt the centralization, concentration of custody and systemic risk during the times of market stress.

Bigger Picture of the ETH Markets

The market forces of ETF are evolving as ETFs demand and treasury build-up are on the rise. The liquidity is becoming more and more channeled. Price discovery is more of an institutional phenomenon than a retail sentiment. In the future, such top holders movements could contribute to volatility, stability and long-term valuation, to a greater extent. To sum up, Ethereum is in a new phase that will be influenced by scale, structure, and serious capital.