What is Vitalik Buterin's Net Worth?
Vitalik Buterin is a renowned Russian-Canadian programmer and writer with an estimated net worth of $400 million. He is best known for co-founding Ethereum, a significant blockchain platform, in 2014. Before Ethereum, he co-founded Bitcoin Magazine, one of the earliest publications dedicated to cryptocurrency. Additionally, Buterin has worked on other open-source projects, including DarkWallet and Egora.
Buterin was introduced to bitcoin by his father at the age of 17. He won the prestigious Thiel Fellowship for $100 thousand before dedicating himself to Ethereum full-time. Initially, he wrote bitcoin-related articles for five bitcoins each and eventually became a co-founder and lead writer for Bitcoin Magazine in 2011. Ethereum, which he co-created, is a "decentralized mining network" and a "software development platform" that facilitates the creation of new cryptocurrencies and applications. In 2014, Buterin received the World Technology Award, and in subsequent years, he was named to the Fortune 40 under 40 list (2016) and the Forbes 30 under 30 list (2018).
Ether Holdings
As of now, Vitalik owns approximately 335,000 Ether. At its peak in January 2018, he owned up to 405,000 Ether. When Ether traded at $1,400 in January 2018, his net worth on paper was around $567 million. By February 2018, Ether's price decreased to $900, making his 365,000 Ether worth $300 million. By August 2018, the value further dropped to $300, reducing his net worth to $100 million before taxes. However, in May 2021, when Ether hit $4,000, Buterin's net worth exceeded $1.3 billion.
SHIB
In April 2021, the creators of SHIB gifted Vitalik approximately 505 billion SHIB coins, accounting for half of the coin's total supply. By May, these coins were valued at over $14 billion, significantly boosting his net worth to an estimated $16.3 billion, including his other holdings.
Rugging
On May 12, 2021, Buterin began selling large amounts of the gifted SHIB coins. He converted around $60 million worth of these alt-coins within an hour and donated the proceeds to various charities. Moreover, he donated $1 billion worth of SHIB to an India COVID relief fund and transferred the remaining gifted coins out of his wallet.
(Photo by John Phillips/Getty Images)
Early Life and Education
Vitalik Buterin was born on January 31, 1994, in Kolomna, Russia. At the age of six, he moved with his family to Canada for better job opportunities for his parents. Excelling academically, Buterin was placed in a gifted class in third grade and later attended the private Abelard School in Toronto. After graduating, he enrolled at the University of Waterloo, taking advanced classes and working as a research assistant for renowned cryptographer Ian Goldberg. During his time there, Buterin won a bronze medal at the 2012 International Olympiad in Informatics. He dropped out of college in 2014 after receiving a $100,000 Thiel Fellowship grant to focus on Ethereum. He was later awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Basel in 2018.
Bitcoin Magazine
Buterin's foray into cryptocurrency began in 2011 when he started writing for Bitcoin Weekly. Despite its closure due to poor revenue, his work caught the eye of Mihai Alisie, leading to the creation of Bitcoin Magazine. Launched as a print publication in 2012, Bitcoin Magazine is considered one of the first major publications dedicated to cryptocurrencies. Buterin served as a co-founder and lead writer, contributing 10 to 20 hours weekly to writing articles. The magazine was acquired by BTC Media in 2015.
Ethereum
In 2013, Buterin published a white paper outlining the concept of Ethereum, an open-source and decentralized blockchain platform designed to facilitate new cryptocurrencies. The white paper garnered significant attention, and in early 2014, Buterin's speech at the North American Bitcoin Conference further elevated Ethereum's profile. Launched in the summer of 2015, Ethereum allows users to build decentralized applications, including financial applications that eliminate the need for traditional intermediaries. The platform also generates Ether, a cryptocurrency rewarded to miners as proof-of-work. Ethereum 2.0 introduced a proof-of-stake system protocol.
Other Projects
Beyond Ethereum, Buterin has contributed significantly to other open-source software projects, including DarkWallet, Egora, and Bitcoin Python libraries. He co-authored a manifesto titled "Liberation Through Radical Decentralization" with economist Glen Weyl and wrote "A Flexible Design for Funding Public Goods" with Harvard PhD student Zoe Hitzig.
Philanthropy
Buterin has been a notable philanthropist, using his wealth from Ethereum to support various causes. In 2017, he donated $764,000 in Ether to the Machine Intelligence Research Institute. In 2018, he donated $2.4 million in Ether to the SENS Research Foundation, which focuses on biotechnologies to prolong human life. He continued his support for the SENS Research Foundation in 2020, funding research to combat human aging.
