VITALIK Buterin is the co-founder of Ethereum and one of the world’s youngest billionaires.
Buterin released a white paper on Ethereum in 2013, describing how Ethereum will become the largest decentralized Application platform in the world.
Since its development, Ethereum has enabled the development of many cryptographic innovations including Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), NFTs, smart contracts, play-to-earn games, and more.
But what is the story behind Buterin?
Who is Vitalik Buterin?
Vitalik Buterin was born on January 31st, 1994, in Moscow, Russia, to Dimitri Buterin and Natalya Emmeline.
Buterin’s parents moved to Canada in search of better opportunities when he was six.
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Buterin joined a local school as soon as the family arrived in Canada but he later moved to a private school. Vitalik’s genius was recognized at a tender age.
According to his father, who was a computer programmer, his mind grew faster than normal kids and he began learning to read before he could sleep through the night.
It was clear that Buterin was gifted, although he was slow to form sentences compared to his peers.
At just four years old, Buterin began to play with excel from his father’s IBM computer.
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Vitalik’s academic prowess started to show when he was seven, causing his school to place him in a special class with other students with special abilities. He developed a passion for mathematics, programming, and economics.
At seven, he could recite more than 100 digits of PI and by 12, Buterin was already coding.
Buterin’s math teacher could not help but notice his speed for mental arithmetic was twice that of an average student.
At the age of 17, Buterin’s father introduced him to Bitcoin.
Buterin decided to turn his knowledge into a side hustle and started writing blogs on the blockchain to earn a few bucks, notching up five Bitcoins per blog post.
At that time, Bitcoin’s price was around $1.
Buterin said he earned 20 Bitcoins writing blogs, spending 8.5 BTC on a t-shirt.
In 2011, along with Alicia Mihai, Buterin launched Bitcoin magazine.
At the time Buterin was the head writer at Bitcoin Magazine and taking several advanced programming courses at the University of Waterloo.
In 2012, Buterin participated in the International Olympiad in Informatics and won a bronze medal.
Buterin finally dropped out of the university and published the Ethereum white paper that dictated the roadmap of Ethereum in 2013.
Ethereum’s core team at the start included Vitalik Buterin, Gavin Wood, Charles Hoskinson, Anthony Di Lorio, and Joseph Lubin.
During the 2014 Bitcoin conference in Miami, Vitalik Buterin released Ethereum, followed by the ecosystem’s native token, Ether.
At the time, Buterin and the team generated over 18 million dollars from BTC-ETH swaps.
The raised funds allowed Buterin and his team to set up Ethereum Foundation, registered as a non-profit organization in Switzerland.
The non-profit was set up to supervise the functionality of Ethereum Open Source software.
The billionaire has shifted his focus towards helping the public and designing fairer social systems.
Buterin has been critical of the vitality and wealth disparities that consume the crypto space through his blogs.
What is Vitalik Buterin’s net worth in 2022?
The majority of Buterin’s net worth is believed to be invested in Ethereum.
It is difficult to calculate Buterin’s net worth due to the wide market fluctuations but he is believed to be worth around $1.5 billion
Buterin has been featured in numerous wealth magazines including the Fortune 40 Under 40 list in 2016 and the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2018.
Buterin currently has 355,000 ETH in his digital wallet, which equates to more than $500 million.
In 2021, Buterin donated $1 billion to an Indian COVID-19 relief fund.
Does Vitalik Buterin have a girlfriend?
Buterin is very private about his personal life, however, it’s believed the Ethereum founder currently isn’t dating anybody.
The Ethereum founder has never been romantically linked to anyone.