Vitalik Buterin founded Ethereum, a leading blockchain platform. Supports the use of smart contracts to create decentralized applications. Vitalik was born in Russia in 1994 and immigrated to Canada with his family when he was 6 years old.
Vitalik first learned about cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin in 2011 through his father, Dmitry Buterin, a computer scientist. Vitalik is actively involved in the Bitcoin community. He co-founded Bitcoin Magazine in September 2011 and serves as the editor-in-chief. He has published numerous articles on cryptocurrency and its technology in the magazine. His deep involvement in the Bitcoin community and understanding of blockchain ultimately led him to develop the idea of Ethereum, a more versatile and programmable blockchain platform.
In 2013, Vitalik wrote the Ethereum white paper detailing the concept of a blockchain platform supporting smart contracts. Smart contracts are automatically executed programs that write the terms of an agreement into code. Smart contracts enable automation and trust between parties without the need for intermediaries, making Ethereum a powerful tool for creating a variety of applications, such as decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and more.
In 2014, he dropped out of the University of Waterloo after receiving a $100,000 Thiel Fellowship to devote himself full-time to the development of Ethereum.
In the summer of 2014, Ethereum held an ICO, and people from all over the world used Bitcoin to buy Ethereum (ETH). The sale saw more than 60 million $ETH sold at about 30 cents per coin, for a total value of $18.3 million. This was very successful at the time.
In the summer of 2015, the Ethereum network was officially launched and quickly gained popularity due to its support for decentralized applications (dApps) and smart contracts. Its popularity has grown year by year and is now the second largest blockchain network after Bitcoin. Its success is inseparable from Vitalik's contribution as the main developer.
Vitalik played a crucial role in shaping the blockchain industry by creating Ethereum important role. His vision for a more flexible and adaptable platform paves the way for new innovations and applications in cryptocurrency and beyond.
You may also be interested in: