Who is Ethereum Founder Vitalik?

2022-04-18, 02:34

Vitalik Buterin is famous for being a co-founder of Ethereum, one of the largest blockchain networks globally.

He is currently 28 years old and is of Russian and Canadian heritage.

He is also a programmer and writer.

He was a whiz early in school but later dropped out of the University after being awarded a grant of $100,000.

His first foray into crypto (Bitcoin) was at age 17, as taught by his father.

He published a white paper on Ethereum in 2013, and things picked up from there.

He is globally renowned and has been awarded many times.

He was recently given an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Business and Economics of the University of Basel, Basel.

Vitalik Buterin is one of the leading figures at the forefront of cryptocurrency globally.

Most revolutionary concepts have always had a figurehead. More often than not, one that calls the shots and acts as a spokesman. The word "leader" might seem apt to describe such a person.

This isn't any different for cryptocurrency.

Today, cryptocurrency is arguably the most revolutionary concept in the world. A brainchild of blockchain, it finds use in every industry and has transformed the financial system globally.

Many famous faces have adopted crypto, but arguably anyone has as much skin in the game as Vitalik Buterin.

This article will give an insight into who he is and why he is one of the unofficial top crypto influencers in the world.

His Childhood

Vitalik Buterin was born on January 31, 1984, in Russia to computer scientist parents. He lived there for six years before his family emigrated to Canada in hopes of a better life.
After separating from his mother, he has two paternal half-sisters from his father's second marriage.
Vitalik's programmer father, Dmitry, put him on early in life in tech. He encouraged his son to be well versed in computers, which paid off early enough. Vitalik created macros for Excel at four years old, and two years later, he made his virtual universe on Excel.
After they had moved to Canada, he kept on studying computer languages. At 10, he wrote his first program in C++ and then developed a game called “Tutorial.”

His Student Life

Vitalik was put in a class for gifted kids early in elementary school. He gravitated toward mathematics, programming, and economics, showing great potential in them.

He then attended a private high school where he displayed a zeal for acquiring knowledge. He then moved off to University, where he took advanced courses and was a research assistant for a prolific cryptographer.

His Foray Into Crypto

As far back as when he was 17, Vitalik’s father introduced him to crypto via Bitcoin.

His interest in it grew, and he wanted to explore the world of Bitcoin more, but he had some limitations. Firstly, he couldn't mine them as he lacked the computing power required or the money to buy the coins. Yet he didn't let these drawbacks deter him from his lofty ambition in crypto.

In 2011, he began writing articles on Bitcoin on an online blog called “Bitcoin Weekly,” earning 5 BTC (about $3.50 equivalent then.) He continued until the site was shut down as it had limited income.

His work attracted the attention of Mihai Alisie, a Romanian Bitcoin enthusiast. And in September of the same year, their interaction led to the birth of Bitcoin magazine. Vitalik became a co-founder and continued writing.

Understandably, he spent a lot of time focused on his new Bitcoin commitments. His schedule was taking a toll on him, so he decided to quit University.

His Efforts In Ethereum

With extensive knowledge under his belt, Vitalik traveled across the world, looking at several crypto projects with enough time now and extensive expertise.

He concluded that they weren't diverse enough and had ideas on how to improve them, but he was dismissed. He then chose to do it himself, thus starting up “Ethereum.”

He wrote a white paper on Ethereum in late 2013 and shared it with some friends who shared it with more. This made some people reach out to him, and a team was formed, a clear indication that his idea was going places.

Within a year, they improved on the vision of Ethereum, going from just being a digital currency to a decentralized platform. He then presented Ethereum on stage at a Bitcoin conference in the US, further boosting its mainstream popularity.

Not too long after, they held an ICO for Ether, the token of the Ethereum network, to fund its growth. They raised more than 30,000 BTC (about $18 million then) from its sale. Concurrently, Vitalik received a grant of $100,000 from the Thiel Fellowship. All of these and more made the crowdfunding campaign for Ethereum a profitable one.

Many years later, Ethereum has grown to be one of the leading blockchain networks globally.

It is an influential blockchain platform that supports essential decentralized finance (DeFi) applications such as smart contracts and decentralized apps (dApps).

Its crypto coin Ether runs on its distinct blockchain network. It has a market price of almost $3,000, a market rank of #2, second only to Bitcoin, and a market dominance of 18.44%.

His Awards
He is a recipient of many prestigious awards such as a Thiel Fellowship, 2014; World Technology Award in the IT Software category, 2014; Fortune 40 under 40 list, 2016; Forbes 30 under 30 list, 2018; University of Basel Honorary doctorate, 2018; Time 100, 2021, etc.

His Philanthropy
He has donated to many endeavors in recent years, each more impressive than the other.

He donated over $700k of Ether to the Machine Intelligence Research Institute in 2017; over $2M the following year to the SENS Research Foundation; and $50k in 2020 to the same organization; he sent over $1B worth of SHIBA coins to India’s Crypto Covid relief fund in 2021 and more than $300M worth of $ELON to the Methuselah Foundation in the same year.

In February 2022, he tweeted against Russia’s decision to invade Ukraine.

His Future Plans

Vitalik Buterin has plans to position Ethereum at the forefront of technological advancement.

Starting with ETH2, which is simply an upgrade to ETH (Ethereum version 1.) It is a project that intends to make the modern version of Ethereum faster, more scalable, and less expensive than the former.

In addition, Ethereum has plans to enter the Metaverse space. An example is the new Ethereum Name Service (ENS) model that provides a Web 3 username for decentralized websites.

Author: Valentine A., Gate.io Researcher
This article represents only the researcher's views and does not constitute any investment suggestions.
Gate.io reserves all rights to this article. Reposting of the article will be permitted, provided Gate.io is referenced. In all cases, legal action will be taken due to copyright infringement.

Gate.io Featured Articles
Vitalik Buterin Shares the New Direction of Ethereum Sharding: What is EIP-4844
TheDAO Theft：The Story of the Ethereum Hard Fork Explained
Could Ethereum Have A Larger Market Than Bitcoin？