Vitalik Buterin: a Russian-Canadian programmer and writer, has been active in the Bitcoin community ever since 2011. He co-founded and wrote articles for Bitcoin magazine. He is best known for his work on Ethereum, a blockchain platform which acts as a global computer for decentralized apps or DApps.
Buterin traveled six months around the globe in 2013 to meet with developers of Bitcoin ( Bitcoin). He realized that he could create a new, potentially superior version of the Bitcoin blockchain by iterating on it. He linked Bitcoin to a calculator, and the future blockchain to a phone to explain his idea.
Same principle was used to strengthen and universalize the system. Ether (ETH) is a digital currency based on Ethereum’s blockchain network. Bitcoin is the world’s first cryptocurrency.
Buterin is the co-creator of Ethereum, a blockchain that supports many functions such as the development of apps and programs using cryptocurrencies like Ether. Smart contracts are programs that can be stored and operated on Ethereum.
Vitalik Buterin Childhood
Vitalik was born in Kolomna (Moscow Oblast), Russia on January 31, 1994. He lived in Russia for six years before his parents made the decision to move to Canada to find better opportunities.
He was in third grade at a Canadian primary school when he was placed into a gifted program. Vitalik soon realized that his unique talents and skills made him an anomaly to his peers and teachers. Vitalik was naturally drawn to programming and math. He also had a strong interest in economics from a young age. He could add three-digit numbers twice as fast than the average person his age.
Buterin was not accustomed to attending social events and other extracurricular activities. He recalls that many people thought of him as a math genius. The Abelard School was a private school in Toronto, where he spent the next four years. His perception of education changed dramatically after he attended the Abelard School. Both his attitude and his results were greatly influenced by this school. He developed his signature hunger for knowledge in Abelard.
Student life
Vitalik discovered Bitcoin in 2011 while seeking a change. Vitalik was hesitant. He didn’t comprehend how Bitcoin had value without physical backing. As he learnt more, his interest grew.He looked for Bitcoin work on forums and launched a blog. Five Bitcoin per article..Mihai Alisie, a Romanian Bitcoin enthusiast, liked his articles and co-founded Bitcoin Magazine in 2011.
Vitalik looked at these projects’ protocols and recognised a Turing-complete programme language could greatly enhance their capabilities.A Turing-complete programming languages is a computer language that solves every issue given the appropriate algorithm, adequate memory, and enough time.He did it himself after other projects rejected him. Hence, Ethereum.
The birth of Ethereum
Vitalik Buterin wrote a whitepaper in late 2013 that described his idea. He sent it out to some of his friends, who liked it even more. About 30 people reached Vitalik for discussion. The original idea behind Ethereum was a digital currency. The vision evolved over time and the team realized that decentralized file storage is possible and concepts such as name registry can be created with just a few lines of code.
In January 2014, the project was made public. The core team consisted of Vitalik Buterin and Mihai Alise, Anthony Di Iorio (Chris Hoskinson), Gavin Wood, Joe Lubin, Joe Lubin, Charles Hoskinson, Joe Lubin, Joe Lubin, Joe Lubin, and Charles Hoskinson.
Buterin also presented Ethereum at a Bitcoin conference held in Miami. The team decided to host an initial coin offering of Ether (the native token of Ethereum) to finance the development a few months later. Vitalik was also awarded the $100,000 Thiel Fellowship grant.
The sale of ETH raised over 31,000 BTC, or approximately $18 million. The Ethereum team created the Ethereum Foundation, an organization that is based in Switzerland and was responsible for overseeing Ethereum’s open source software development. The crowdfunding campaign for Ethereum was successful, despite some difficulties.
Training in Blockchain Technology
Vitalik began playing World of Warcraft online in 2007 and became a regular player. Vitalik spent hours advancing through the storyline and collecting weapons from 2007 to 2010. All of this came to an abrupt halt when Blizzard removed Vitalik’s Siphon Life spell, which caused damage to his warlock character. Vitalik admitted that he was deeply affected by the incident, and even cried to sleep the night it occurred.
This incident made him more philosophical than he was before. He quit World of Warcraft quickly and began to pursue other interests.
The Uncovering of Bitcoin
Vitalik was 17 when he learned about Bitcoin through his father. He didn’t find the concept of cryptocurrency appealing at first, so he didn’t pay much attention to it. He was skeptical about the idea of a currency system without an intrinsic value. He came across Bitcoin again a few months later. This time, it had made a greater impression. Vitalik was still reeling from the World of Warcraft disaster and saw Bitcoin and blockchain technology as a viable option for centralization, which, according to Vitalik, was responsible in large part for all the world’s problems.
His negative views of corporations and their desire to be centralised were shared by early Bitcoin adopters. Buterin thought power was zero-sum. To empower the common man, the powerful must be removed.
BTC Magazine
Vitalik was intrigued by Bitcoin and decided to acquire some Bitcoin to better understand it. Vitalik also wanted to participate in the rapidly growing and experimental Bitcoin economy. He didn’t have enough financial resources at that time to purchase Bitcoin, nor did he have the computing power necessary to mine Bitcoin. FPGAs were becoming the dominant method of mining Bitcoin.
He continued to search online for Bitcoin-related jobs and was not discouraged. A fellow member of a Bitcoin chat group offered Vitalik 5 Bitcoin per piece. It was approximately $3.5 per article. Mihai Alisie, a Romanian Bitcoin enthusiast, was immediately attracted to Vitalik’s prolific writing style and began to correspond frequently.
They co-founded Bitcoin Magazine in late 2011. Vitalik was the Head Writer. As Bitcoin Magazine moved from an online publication to a print media format, it quickly became the most popular cryptocurrency publication. Vitalik continued to write until 2014.
Ethereum
Vitalik has been writing about Bitcoin for almost two years and received feedback from the Bitcoin community. This helped him to become more deeply involved in the blockchain industry. It didn’t take him long to realize what others in the community were starting to notice: that blockchain technology could support more than a payment processing system. He tried unsuccessfully to pitch the concept of creating a more application-friendly build of the core Bitcoin network that would allow the creation of useful, decentralized apps without the need for functionality-layering procedures.
Vitalik began to create a new blockchain after he was unable to convince the Bitcoin community. Vitalik used a Turing-complete programming language instead of the “crude”, scripting language Satoshi Nakamoto had previously used. The new blockchain can theoretically support any use-case directly from the core network without any layering. Vitalik created the whitepaper for the new blockchain, and named it Ethereum. The white paper was distributed to his friends and associates, who spread the word.
The following year, a public crowdsale raised $18.4million from this idea. In Switzerland, the Ethereum Foundation is established. The first version of Ethereum was published in spring 2015.
It has since become the most popular platform for Decentralized Autonomous Organizations, Decentralized Applications, and Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). The second most valuable cryptocurrency is Ether, the native currency of Ethereum’s blockchain.
Death Hoax
The internet broke the news that Vitalik died in a car accident on June 26, 2017. A post on the 4chan forum was the source of the death hoax. Vitalik proved that life can be had on social media, dispelling the rumor quickly. He posted a picture of himself holding a piece paper showing the latest Ethereum block numbers and the associated hash.
The price for the Ether fell significantly after the news about Vitalik’s passing. Fearing that the price would crash, investors flooded the market asking for sell requests. Although Ethereum’s market cap fell by nearly $4 billion, it rebounded quickly.
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