Vitaly Dmitriyevich “Vitalik” Buterin (Russian: Виталий Дмитриевич Бутерин; born 31 January 1994) is a Russian-Canadian programmer and writer who is best known as one of the co-founders of Ethereum. Buterin became involved with cryptocurrency early in its inception, co-founding Bitcoin Magazine in 2011. In 2014, Buterin launched Ethereum with Gavin Wood.
Personal life
Buterin was born in Kolomna, Russia, to Dmitry Buterin, a computer scientist, and Natalia Ameline (née Chistyakova). He lived in the area until the age of six when his parents emigrated to Canada in search of better employment opportunities.While in grade three of elementary school in Canada, Buterin was placed into a class for gifted children and was drawn to mathematics, programming, and economics. Buterin then attended the Abelard School, a private high school in Toronto. Buterin learned about Bitcoin, from his father, at the age of 17.
After high school, Buterin attended the University of Waterloo. There, he took advanced courses and was a research assistant for cryptographer Ian Goldberg, who co-created Off-the-Record Messaging and was the former board of directors chairman of the Tor Project. In 2012, he won a bronze medal in the International Olympiad in Informatics.
In 2013, he visited developers in other countries who shared his enthusiasm for code. He returned to Toronto later that year and published a white paper proposing Ethereum.[13] He dropped out of university in 2014 when he was awarded with a grant of $100,000 from the Thiel Fellowship, a scholarship created by venture capitalist Peter Thiel and went to work on Ethereum full-time.[14]
On 25 June 2017, Buterin was the subject of a death hoax originating from 4chan. On 30 November 2018, Buterin received an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Business and Economics of the University of Basel on the occasion of the Dies Academicus.
On 12 May 2021, he donated $1 billion worth of the cryptocurrencies Shiba Inu and Ether to a COVID-19 relief fund in India.
Career
Bitcoin Magazine
Main article: Bitcoin Magazine
In 2011, Buterin began writing for a publication called Bitcoin Weekly after meeting a person on a bitcoin forum in order to earn bitcoin. The owner offered five bitcoin (about $3.50 at the time) to anyone who would write an article for him. Buterin wrote for the site until its website shut down soon thereafter due to insufficient revenue. In September 2011, Mihai Alisie reached out to Buterin about starting a new print publication called Bitcoin Magazine, a position which Buterin would accept as the first co-founder, and contribute to as a leading writer.
Bitcoin Magazine in 2012 later began publishing a print edition and has been referred to as the first serious publication dedicated to cryptocurrencies.While working for Bitcoin Magazine, Buterin reached out to Jed McCaleb for a job at Ripple who accepted. However, their proposed employment fell apart after Ripple was unable to support a U.S. visa for Buterin.
In addition, he held a position on the editorial board of Ledger, a peer-reviewed scholarly journal that publishes full-length original research articles on the subjects of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitalik_Buterin
Vitalik Buterin’s website
Donations
Vitalik Buterin donated cryptocurrencies worth $1.5 billion to several non-profit organizations, including $1 billion to a COVID-19 relief fund in India, on Wednesday in one of the largest-ever individual philanthropy efforts.
Or at least that was the worth of the cryptocurrencies — many of which are dog-themed — when he made the donation.
Buterin, the creator of Ethereum, transferred 500 ETH and over 50 trillion SHIB (Shiba Inu), a meme coin, worth around $1.14 billion at the time of transaction, to the India COVID-Crypto Relief Fund.
The transaction prompted a panic among some investors, contributing to over 35% drop in SHIB’s price on Wednesday — and its value continues to fluctuate.
Buterin, who became the youngest crypto billionaire at the age of 27 earlier this month, also transferred Ethereum and Dogelon Mars (ELON) worth $336 million to Methuselah Foundation, a nonprofit that supports efforts in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine therapies; and over 13,000 ETH to Givewell, a nonprofit organization that works to curate the best charities around the world. Buterin also donated to Gitcoin Community, MIRI and Charter Cities Institute. (Source:Manish Singh,Tehccrunch , https://techcrunch.com/2021/05/12/vitalik-buterin-donates-1-billion-worth-of-meme-coins-to-india-covid-relief-fund/)