Founder of LHV Bank in Estonia Loses Ethereum Wallet Worth Over $1.18 Billion – A Wake-Up Call for Crypto Investors.
Rain Lõhmus – a famous Estonian entrepreneur and co-founder of LHV Bank – is now the center of attention in the global cryptocurrency community after revealing he owns one of the most valuable Ethereum (ETH) wallets in the world, but cannot access it.
The wallet contains 250,000 ETH, which he purchased during the presale in 2014 for only around $75,000. As of August 2025, when ETH price exceeded $4,700, the total value of these tokens surpassed $1.18 billion – even higher than the on-chain assets held by Ethereum's founder, Vitalik Buterin (estimated around $1.16 million).
Ironically, this enormous sum is completely "frozen" because Lõhmus has lost the private key – the only way to access and transact the ETH in the wallet. Without this key, the money can be considered permanently "burned", as no one, including the owner, can withdraw or transfer it.
Confession and Community Call
In a 2023 interview with the Estonian national radio, Lõhmus candidly admitted losing wallet access and is ready to accept any credible assistance to restore control. In November 2023, Conor Grogan – Coinbase's Product Director – also confirmed the wallet address belongs to Lõhmus and called on the blockchain community to help him.
Lõhmus further shared that he previously lost a small amount of Bitcoin, realizing the enormous security risks of personally storing private keys in a decentralized system. He said:
"Keeping personal keys is a critical weakness. Today I just had to reset my ID card password – if this were crypto, I would have been in crisis."
