Vitalik Buterin

Vitalik Buterin is a Russian-Canadian programmer and writer who co-founded Ethereum, the world's second-largest cryptocurrency platform by market capitalization.

Personal Stats

Education

Buterin's passion for mathematics, programming, and economics began when he was placed in a gifted class during his third year of elementary school in Canada. He continued to pursue these interests while attending The Abelard School, a private high school in Toronto. At the age of 17, Buterin was introduced to Bitcoin by his father, Dimitry Buterin.

After graduating from high school, Buterin enrolled at the University of Waterloo. During his time there, he took advanced courses and worked as a research assistant for Ian Goldberg, a renowned cryptographer. In 2012, Buterin won a bronze medal in the International Olympiad in Informatics in Italy.

In 2013, Buterin traveled to other countries to connect with developers who shared his passion for code. He returned to Toronto later that year and published a white paper proposing Ethereum. He decided to drop out of university in 2014 after being awarded a $100,000 grant from the Thiel Fellowship, a scholarship established by venture capitalist Peter Thiel, and focused on developing Ethereum full-time.

Career

In 2011, Buterin initially started contributing to the Bitcoin Magazine and publishing articles as part of the bitcoin community.  During his time at Bitcoin Magazine, Buterin expressed interest in working for Ripple and contacted Jed McCaleb about potential job opportunities. He was eventually offered a position at the company, but the employment opportunity was ultimately unsuccessful as Ripple was unable to obtain a U.S. visa for Buterin.

In 2016, Buterin also held a position on the editorial board for Ledger, a peer-reviewed scholarly journal focused on publishing full-length research articles related to blockchain technology and cryptocurrency. 

At the end of 2013, Buterin put out the concept of Ethereum, a decentralized blockchain platform that would enable programmers to build and run decentralized applications (dapps) on top of it. After going live, the Ethereum network quickly gained popularity as a platform for developers to create decentralized applications.

Since then, Buterin has gained notoriety in the сrypto community for his support of the advancement of decentralized technology and promotion of the use of blockchain for good. 

Buterin has received praise for his efforts in the cryptocurrency sector, including the Thiel Fellowship, a two-year program that supports emerging entrepreneurs financially and with mentorship. Buterin is well-known for his charity endeavors in addition to his work on the Ethereum platform. Ethereum worth $227,000 was given by Buterin to Turkey earthquake victims in 2023. 

Personal Life 

Vitalik Buterin was born on January 31, 1994, in Kolomna, Russia. His parents, Dmitry and Natalia Buterin, played a significant role in shaping his interest in computer science. Dmitry, a respected computer scientist himself, introduced Vitalik to the field and helped him learn the intricacies of programming. At the age of six, Vitalik's family moved to Canada to provide him with better opportunities. Today, he holds citizenship in both the Russian Federation and Canada. Even as a child, Vitalik displayed a remarkable aptitude for computer programming and mathematics.

Social Media

Twitter - https://twitter.com/VitalikButerin