Vitalik Buterin, the co-creator and spiritual leader of Ethereum, turned 30 today. It’s a date that he refers to as the “end of my childhood.” Buterin has achieved much in his time so far, and there’s much more to accomplish. The job of following Satoshi Nakamoto — a pseudo-no-person-hero was hard, but Buterin, by avoiding all ego, has been up to the task. In honor of his many achievements, CoinDesk has come up with 30 reasons to love Buterin. The list is, of course, incomplete.
1 – Vitalik tells it like it is: In 2017, at the height of the initial coin offering (ICO) boom, when the total crypto market cap topped half a trillion dollars, Buterin tweeted “have we *earned* it?” A fair question, considering many (but not all) of the biggest ICOs of the time have delivered nothing.
2 – His heart is in the right place: Vitalik’s mission in creating Ethereum was to build a “world computer” that can run any conceivable application. But throughout his career, he has constantly focused the spotlight on projects working to solve real world issues.
3 – He repays favors: Buterin learned about Bitcoin from his father at the age of 17. Now, both of his parents, Dmitry Buterine and Natalia Ameline, are working in the crypto industry. Ameline is helping to build Ethereum layer 2 Metis.
4 – Buterin was a bitcoiner’s bitcoiner: In 2011, around the time he was introduced to Bitcoin, Buterin started writing about the first cryptocurrency for now the defunct publication Bitcoin Weekly in order to learn everything he could about the emerging technology. Towards the end of that year, Buterin co-founded Bitcoin Magazine and became one of it’s most prolific writers, covering and thinking up ideas for Bitcoin that are still being discussed, like introducing native smart contracts and scaling the chain through secondary layers.
5 – He’s humble as Pi: He’s been on Forbes 30 under 30 list, Fortune 40 under 40 list, has received honorary doctorates and has been the subject of many a magazine profile. Yet, no one can credibly say Buterin is in it for the money or fame. Go on, say it. Be wrong.
6 – Buterin has added to the discipline of economics: Together with Glen Weyl and Zoe Hitzig, Buterin helped develop a mechanism for fairly distributing funds without the need for a central decision maker, called quadratic voting. Today, the system is working across crypto, particularly in the decentralized app Gitcoin, which provides funding for public goods.
7 – He’s generous, not just with his time, but money: Buterin has made numerous charitable donations in recent years, including to AI safety causes, human longevity research and other more practical concerns.
8 – Even when being catty, he’s doing good: In 2021, during the first break out of “dog tokens,” the team behind Shiba Inu sent Buterin about 5% of the circulating supply of SHIB, unprompted, in a blatant attempt to market the project. Buterin decided to donate those coins, worth over $1 billion at the time, to India’s Crypto Covid relief fund.
9 – He speaks out for causes he believes in: Although born in Russia, Buterin has spoken out against his native country’s invasion of Ukraine, even tweeting this all-time gem, “Ethereum is neutral, but I am not” on the first day of the invasion.
10 – He’s a lover of the simple things: Buterin’s current bio on Twitter/X, “mi pinxe lo crino tcati,” apparently translates to “I drink the green tea,” in the constructed, rules-based language Lojban. He is also known to mix green tea with red wine (we can’t all be perfect).
13 – He has a voice all his own: Somewhere between the Professor from The Simpsons and Kermit the Frog, Buterin’s unique tonal expression is one for the history books.
15 – He’s not afraid to critique his heroes: Many crypto leaders cite James Dale Davidson and William Rees-Mogg’s “The Soverign Individual” as a favorite book, including Buterin. In 2020, he wrote a detailed walkthrough of the book’s core concepts, and how they apply to the digital world today, nearly 30-years on from the date of publication, discussing the things they get right and wrong.
16 – He’s an advocate for accessibility: Not only is Ethereum designed to be open and available to anyone with an internet connection, Buterin is constantly thinking of ways to lower fees, increase access and subsidize use, including some controversial means that other blockchain advocates might discard.
17 – He knows how to throw a shindig: Just ask anyone who went to Zuzalu, in Montenegro, a week-long retreat and study session for people interested in crypto and longevity research.
18 – He practices what he preaches: Buterin is a frequent user of decentralized applications, from social media apps like Farcaster to donation…