The world’s biggest crypto whales are sitting on fortunes worth billions of dollars, but a substantial portion remains inaccessible and locked away, possibly forever. According to a new dashboard unveiled by blockchain intelligence firm Arkham on April 15th, the top five publicly known crypto whales control a staggering combined $3.47 billion in digital assets. However, around $1.21 billion or 35% of these holdings have been marked “inaccessible” due to lost passwords and private keys.
Justin Sun, founder of the Tron blockchain platform, is on the list. His publicly tracked wallet contains a colossal $1.06 billion worth of cryptocurrencies. Heavily concentrated in Tron-based assets, his portfolio holds $275 million of the Decentralized USD (USDD) stablecoin and $237 million of Tron’s native TRX token.
The second place holder is an unlikely whale—Rain Lõhmus, founder of Estonian bank LHV Bank, has an Ethereum wallet valued at $769 million. However, this crypto fortune is currently inaccessible, as Lõhmus reportedly lost access to the private key last November. Without this key, someone effectively locks away his Ether holdings forever.
Crypto Whales: Buterin, Thomas, Fickel, Access Woes
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin comes in third with a more accessible $757 million portfolio, primarily consisting of 245,425 Ether tokens worth over $600 million at current prices. As one of the creators of Ethereum, Buterin was an early adopter, and his holdings represent a substantial share of the crypto asset class he helped launch.
The $442 million Bitcoin wallet belonging to Stefan Thomas, formerly the chief technology officer at Ripple, ranks fourth on Arkham’s list. However, Thomas has been unable to access these funds since 2011, when he lost the password for the encrypted drive holding his private keys. Recovery efforts have proven unsuccessful, leaving this massive Bitcoin fortune stuck in limbo.
Another crypto venture capitalist, James Fickel, is among the top five, with a public wallet worth around $436 million and total assets across various holdings, as recorded by Arkham.
The new dashboard in the system offers a deep diving monitoring of the big game crypto whales with public wallets with balance information, the portfolio breakdown across the blockchains, balance histories, and recent insights. This difference, however, does not include unidentified whales like the mystery Bitcoin creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, who might have a worth of tens of billions of anonymous holdings spread across untraceable wallets.
Despite an insignificant number, like only in the top five, in comparison with a total count, they (crypto whales) have a serious pretension to unbalance the security and ownership of this area. Proof of this fact is that the situation with the whales: holding so much crypto wort can be considered pointless if you don’t have your private key to make the deal and get your money.
Related Reading | Ripple Unlocks 500 Million XRP In Two Odd Transactions
Furthermore, the author’s views are for reference only and shall not constitute investment advice. Before purchasing, please ensure you fully understand and assess the products and associated risks.
Comments (No)