Vitalik Buterin is at the forefront of decentralized finance, co-founding the Etherum network.
Who is Vitalik Buterin? ETH Co-Founder
Vitalik Buterin is the co-founder of Ethereum and one of the world’s youngest crypto billionaires at age 27. He is one of the crypto influencers due to his creation of the Ethereum blockchain, now the second largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin. The Russian-Canadian programmer discovered Bitcoin in 2011, which fascinated him, a fascination that then snowballed, leading to the young man launching Ethereum in 2015. He is said to be the biggest name in crypto.
A brief history
Buterin has an unusual childhood. He was born on January 31, 1994 in Kolomna, Russia, but soon moved to Canada in 2000 to attend school. Buterin had a natural aptitude for math and programming, so that he was soon shunned by his peers. He was incredibly gifted at his early age.
Buterin was known by the community as a math genius when growing up, he soon discovered a love for learning. Buterin usually got high grades in school, but he started to slide a bit. Since the age of 13, Buterin has been an avid player of World of Warcraft. Oddly, one day in 2010, the Warcraft server suspended a damage component of his beloved Warlock, upsetting Buterin and then led to his quitting the game. Then Buterin realized the problem that centralized services could bring.
Following his absence from World of Warcraft, Buterin searched for a purpose in life. Then, in 2011, he discovered Bitcoin.
Buterin enjoys drinking green tea and considers himself an intellectual geek.
Vitaliks Relationship with Cryptocurrency
After quitting World of Warcraft, Buterin searched for a purpose in life and he discovered Bitcoin in 2011. Ironically, he couldn’t understand how it could be valuable without any physical backing. Gradually, he became more and more interested and took a blogging writing position, at a blog called Bitcoin Weekly with an hourly wage of $1.50 an hour.
Later, Buterin left his blogging position and with the help of Mihai Alisie, co-founder of Bitcoin Magazine.
Buterin later went to college at the University of Waterloo. However, Buterin soon found that his crypto projects were taking up 30 hours a week of his time, so he later dropped out. Buterin then traveled around the world, exploring new and upcoming crypto projects.
Then he realized that they were all too concerned with specifics and not general enough. Thus, Ethereum was born, a platform that allows users to build decentralized applications.
After the birth of Ethereum in 2015, Buterin a few years later proposed Ethereum 2.0, which aims to reduce the blockchain’s transaction throughput, reduce network costs, and increase rewards for node validators. Ethereum 2.0 is still under development and has no set date for release.
Related: Who is Changpeng Zhao? The Biography of Binance CEO
Ethereum
Ethereum is an open access platform for digital currency and data-friendly services for anyone – regardless of background or location. The protocol is a community-built technology that allows users to send cryptocurrency to anyone for a small fee. The protocol leverages cryptocurrencies and smart contracts to bolster what is known as Decentralized Finance (DeFi). Notably, the platform also powers applications built on the Ethereum network that everyone can use and no one can take down.
To put in perspective, Bitcoin is like a calculator and Ethereum is like a phone with all your apps. The genius of Ethereum is that it can power and run applications, the same way your phone powers and runs applications.
Notable events Vitalik Buterin participated in:
- 2011: Buterin discovers Bitcoin
- 2013: Buterin submitted an Ethereum idea to a few of his friends; 30 people have contacted back to Buterin
- 2015: Buterin launches Ethereum blockchain with help from Gavin Wood, Joseph Lubin
- 2016: Buterin, after learning Chinese for several months using an app on his phone, went to China to witness and support the adoption of Ethereum by businesses large and small across the country
- 2017: Buterin donated $763,970 worth of Ethereum to the Machine Intelligence Research Institute. The charity hopes to ensure artificial intelligence technologies have a positive impact on humanity
- 2017: Buterin traveled to Russia to meet Putin, who at the time showed his support for the technologies Buterin developed in Russia
- 2018: Buterin donated $2.4 million worth of Ethereum to the SENSE Research Foundation, developing solutions for health issues associated with aging
- 2018: Buterin donates $1 million to charity for Uganda Refugees.
- 2018: Buterin was awarded an Honorary doctorate from the University of Basel for his innovative work in the blockchain space and his contribution to the ecosystem.
- 2019: Buterin Proposes a significant Update for Ethereum, Ethereum 2.0
- 2021: Vitalik donates Eth and Shiba Inu coins to India’s relief fund, asking Ethereum altcoins to stop sending him tokens
Vitalik’s Importance in Cryptocurrency
Buterin is one of the biggest influencers and leaders in the crypto space. Bitcoin’s founder remains anonymous, so with Ethereum’s massive market cap ranking 2nd, Buterin is widely recognized and celebrated for his genius ingenuity. He is a widely respected philanthropist and to this day is active in the crypto space. His idea of a blockchain being able to run applications on it remarkably changed the world of DeFi.
