Due to the anonymity of the Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto, many view Vatilk Buterin as the face of crypto. He is certainly one of the most prominent figures in the crypto space and has done a lot to bring Ethereum and other crypto projects and technologies to the wider populous. There is certainly no denying that Ethereum has pushed the boundaries of what cryptocurrency and blockchain platforms can be capable of, and this has cemented Buterin’s status in the crypto world.
In this article, we’ll examine Vitalik Buterin, the creator of Ethereum, including his background, net worth, the work he does with Ethereum, and beyond. While many aspects of his life are understandably kept private, we can examine publicly viewable information and form a picture of the man behind one of the biggest blockchain platforms in the world.
Vitalik Buterin Net Worth: Who Is Vitalik?
Vitalik Butern is a Russian-born Canadian developer and the founder of the blockchain platform Ethereum. He was born on 31 January 1994 in the Moscow Oblast city of Kolomna. He moved to Canada at age 6, and it wasn’t long before his natural ability in mathematics and general high intelligence were noticed. Vitalik Buterin’s IQ is reported to be an extremely high 257. He attended the University of Waterloo, which is where he studied cryptography, much of which would prove useful in his later career.
The founder of Ethereum
Buterin outlined his plans for the new blockchain platform, Ethereum, in a 2013 whitepaper that quickly became a hot topic. Ethereum revolutionized the crypto world by expanding the use of blockchain technology with the creation of smart contracts and decentralized applications. Ethereum went live in 2015 and has quickly become one of the most successful blockchain platforms.
➡️ Vitalik Buterin explains Ethereum Source: Ethereum
What is Vitalik Buterin’s Net Worth?
Much of Vitalik Buterin’s financial holdings, such as fiat cash stored in a bank, stocks, shares, and property, are not publicly available information. Therefore, most of the finances we can deduce are based on Buterin’s ETH holdings, which, thanks to the decentralized nature of the blockchain, are publicly viewable.
Vb 3 address
Blockchain explorers, such as Etherscan, allow us to view the various Ethereum wallets associated with Butern. The Vb 3 address currently holds most of Buterin’s Ether. At the time of writing, there are over 240,000 ETH in this wallet, which has a value of over $800 million. Around $1.5 million of ETH and other tokens (including WETH and Uniswap V2) can be found in the wallet marked Vb.
Vitalik Buterin’s Philanthropy
Buterin is a noted philanthropist, having donated to many projects and causes over his years in the spotlight. Amongst his biggest donations include.
- In 2021, he donated $1 billion worth of SHIB tokens to an Indian Covid relief fund.
- Also, in 2021, he donated over $1 million worth of ETH to MIRI (Machine Intelligence Research Institute), a non-profit working towards the safe development and use of AI.
- He has donated to Ukraine, using the anonymizing service Tornado Cash to protect the recipients, in his own words.
- Furthermore, he supported Tornado Cash’s court fees by sending 30ETH as its founders look to defend the service in US court.
Buterin’s donations
Despite the Ethereum founder's net worth, Buterin has stated he hasn’t sold the currency for personal gain since 2018. One reason he may have chosen to publicly announce this is to reduce market fear when he makes a large donation. Some Ethereum tokens, such as SHIB, have dropped in value after he donated them, which is unfortunate but to be expected with smaller and less stable tokens. While Ethereum has its own issues, mainly regarding scalability, having someone with such good intentions at its helm can only be a positive.
Buying ETH
Ether, or ETH, is the native token of the Ethereum blockchain platform. You can purchase Ethereum using a decentralized exchange (DEX) or with fiat currencies and payment methods on a centralized exchange (CEX). ChicksX is a fully licensed centralized cryptocurrency exchange that allows you to purchase ETH and many other cryptocurrencies and tokens quickly and with low fees. Please check out our guide on Ethereum wallets for more info on creating a secure ETH wallet. After you have set one up, visit our exchange today to place an order.
Vitalik Buterin Net Worth: FAQ
Here are some questions and answers about the Ethereum inventor, Vitalik Buterin.
Who is the real founder of Ethereum?
Vitalik Buterin co-founded Ethereum with a team of developers. Although considered the inventor, Buterin worked alongside other developers, including Gavin Wood, Charles Hoskinson, Anthony Di Iorio, and Joseph Lubin, to bring the Ethereum blockchain platform to life.
How much ETH does Vitalik Buterin have?
Due to Ethereum's anonymous nature, it isn’t possible to know every ETH address that belongs to Buterin. However, he has publicly referenced the address 0xAb5801a7D398351b8bE11C439e05C5B3259aeC9B, which holds over 37 ETH at the time of writing and over 165 WETH (Wrapped Ether). From this address, there was a transfer to another address linked to Buterin: 0x220866b1a2219f40e72f5c628b65d54268ca3a9d, which holds over 243,000 ETH.
Is Vitalik Buterin a billionaire?
It isn’t possible to know with certainty if Buterin is a billionaire. He previously stated in a tweet that he was a billionaire, but after Ether went down in value, he lost this status. However, that tweet was in 2018, and ETH has more than tripled in value since then, so he very well could be a billionaire again. Many have declared Buterin as the first crypto billionaire, but this, too, is hard to prove as many crypto users with large holdings choose to remain anonymous.
Vitalik Buterin Net Worth: Conclusion
While it’s not possible to give completely accurate information about Vitalik Buterin’s net worth, hopefully, you should have some idea of his wealth. The success of Buterin is reflective of Ethereum and the wider crypto economy's success. It shows that with intelligence, hard work and skill, big things can be achieved in this exciting and new space. It’s also promising for both Ethereum and crypto in general that Buterin does not appear to be motivated purely by financial success and has stated many times that his wish for Ethereum to do well outweighs his own personal reward. If you enjoyed this article and are interested in more Ethereum or crypto topics, make sure to check out the ChicksX blog page.
