Vitalik Buterin Net Worth

Vitalik Buterin’s net worth is at least $400 million dollars. Forbes estimates the Russian Canadian computer programmer could be worth as much as $1.46 billion, according to an article published in November 2021. Vitalik Buterin co-created Ethereum and has earned money from other investments.

At one point in 2021, Buterin’s net worth touched $18 billion. The anonymous creators of the Shiba Inu crypto currency gifted Vitalik half of the coins created when the currency was launched without his knowledge. The announcement caused Shiba Inu coins to rise in value. The news meant Vitalik’s coins gained value in just a few days.

The huge net worth did not last long. Buterin subsequently donated all the gifted coins to charities related to human life-span extension and COVID relief.

Buterin’s estimated net worth fluctuating due to the market is nothing new. He recently announced that he is no longer a billionaire due to the recent crash in cryptocurrencies.

Buterin has received great attention as the co-founder of Bitcoin Magazine and the co-inventor of Ethereum. However, according to his father, Buterin wishes to avoid the limelight that many ascribe to him and focus on his research.

Who Is Vitalik Buterin?

Vitalik Buterin is a Russian Canadian programmer. Buterin was born on January 31, 1994, in Kolomna, Russia. He is the son of Dimitri and Natalia Buterin. Buterin’s parents emigrated to Canada when he was six years old. He was placed in a class for gifted and talented students in the third grade.

For high school, Buterin attended the private Abelard School in Toronto. He enrolled in the University of Waterloo but dropped out in 2014 before graduation. While in university, Buterin studied advanced courses and worked as a research assistant for Ian Goldberg, a noted mathematician, and cryptologist.

In 2014, Buterin won a Theil Fellowship grant worth $100,000.  Buterin used the money to develop Ethereum.

What Does Vitalik Buterin Have To Do With Ethereum?

In 2013, Buterin visited a number of other programmers around the world, working on blockchain and crypto-currency issues. Afterward, in November 2013, Buterin published his first Ethereum white paper. In the paper, Buterin argued Bitcoin required its own scripting language.

The paper generated considerable interest, and Buterin worked on the project for the remainder of 2013 and part of 2014.

Together with co-founders Charles Hoskinson, Gavin Wood, Joseph Lubin, and Anthony Di Iorio, Buterin invented Ethereum in 2014. Buterin explained Ethereum at the North American Bitcoin Conference on January 26, 2014. He said Ethereum would operate not only as a decentralized mining network but also could have wider applications as a general-purpose global computer system. Buterin eventually had a falling out with some of his co-creators of Ethereum, including Hoskinson. Buterin promised Ethereum would remain a non-profit organization. Hoskinson wanted to find investors and venture capitalists. After an extensive argument with the directors, Buterin won.

Ethereum is designed for decentralized expansion of the system through additions of permanent applications, including financial applications. The project thus allows the transfer of funds or information without a need for traditional intermediaries.

What Caused Vitalik Buterin to Become Interested in Creating Ethereum?

Buterin had long been interested in blockchain technology and cryptocurrency. The inspiration for decentralized Ethereum blockchain programming might be found in the disappointment Vitalik suffered in World of Warcraft. A revision to the game’s programming caused Buterin to lose part of a favorite character. This led Buterin to begin thinking of centralization as a problem.

What Publications has Vitalik Buterin Written or Edited?

In 2011, Buterin began writing about bitcoin and cryptocurrency for the online magazine Bitcoin Weekly. Buterin received five bitcoin worth about $3.50 per article. Eventually, the magazine closed due to a lack of revenue.

Buterin’s writing gained some attention in the field, and he was invited to create a new magazine. In 2012, he co-founded Bitcoin Magazine. Buterin contributed many articles as the leading writer. Many regard Bitcoin Magazine as the first publication seriously examining crypto-currencies and the cryptocurrency market.

In 2018, Buterin accepted a position on the editorial board of Ledger, a scholarly journal dedicated to publishing peer-reviewed articles on blockchain technology and cryptocurrency.

What Other Work Has Vitalik Buterin Done?

After founding Ethereum, Buterin worked on open-source computer projects, including DarkWallet, the Egora marketplace, and Python applications for Bitcoin.

Buterin has also collaborated with the economist Glen Weyl. The two co-authored the book Liberation through Radical Decentralization, highlighting the similarities between Buterin’s work on blockchain programming and Weyl’s research on market solutions to social problems. With Zoe Hitzig, Buterin and Weyl also wrote A Flexible Design for Funding Public Goods. The paper explains a theory for providing public goods using a form of quadratic voting.

What Awards Has Vitalik Buterin Won?

In addition to receiving a Thiel Fellowship, Buterin received a bronze medal at the International Olympiad in Informatics in 2012. In 2014, Buterin received the World Technology Award.

Forbes Magazine listed Buterin on its “40 Under 40” list of influential innovators and thinkers in 2016. Forbes also named Buterin on its “30 Under 30” list of influential people in 2018.

What is Vitalik Buterin Doing Now?

Besides research and programming, Buterin has been very active as a philanthropist. In 2017, Buterin donated over $750,000 of Ethereum coins to the Machine Intelligence Research Institute.

Extension of the human lifespan appears to be a special interest for Buterin. In 2018, he donated $2.4 million in Ethereum to the SENS Research Foundation, dedicated to the subject. Buterin followed this up in 2020 with a donation of $50,000 directly to SENS. In addition, Buterin and two others donated $150,000 to the SENS Foundation to be allocated to research on age-related diseases. The donation was unusual in that it was to be allocated by Twitter users through open voting.

In 2021, Buterin donated $336 million worth of Dogelon Mars coins to the Methuselah Foundation, dedicated to the extension of the human life span.

In 2021, Buterin donated $1.14 billion worth of SHIBA crypto-currency to the India COVID relief fund. His donation also inadvertently crashed the currency, leading to a 50% decline in the value of the coins.

What Public Statements Has Vitalik Buterin Made Recently?

Buterin continues to speak out on issues related to cryptocurrency and Ethereum. He has recently defended Ethereum’s shift from proof of work to proof of stake in a series of public comments and articles. Buterin is slated to appear as the keynote speaker at the Blockchain Futurist Conference in Toronto in August 2022.

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