In 2014, a 19-year-old Russian-Canadian programmer named Vitalik Buterin released a white paper that laid out his vision for a new form of money called Ethereum. In the years since, Ethereum has grown into the second largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin, and Buterin has become one of the most influential figures in the crypto world.
Buterin’s vision for Ethereum was to create a decentralized platform that would allow developers to build decentralized applications (dapps). To do this, he proposed a new form of money called Ether.
Ether would be used to power the Ethereum network and would be given to developers who built dapps on the platform.
In 2015, Ethereum launched its public blockchain and started issuing ether to people who wanted to use the platform. Since then, Ethereum has grown into a global network with millions of users and billions of dollars worth of ether in circulation.
So how much ether does Buterin own? According to data from Etherscan, a blockchain explorer service, Buterin owns 333,520 ETH, which is worth about $130 million at current prices. That makes him one of the richest people in the cryptocurrency space.
It’s worth noting that these numbers are only public because Buterin has chosen to make them public. It’s possible that he owns more ETH than what’s listed on Etherscan.
We also don’t know how much ETH he sold or spent over the years. So while we can say with some confidence that Buterin is a very wealthy man, it’s impossible to know exactly how much wealth he has accumulated from his involvement with Ethereum.
Buterin’s wealth is largely thanks to his early involvement with Ethereum. He was instrumental in launching the project and helped build it into what it is today.
His ownership of ETH gives him a lot of influence over the direction of the Ethereum network, and he has used that influence to make decisions that have made ETH more valuable.
For example, in 2016 when a group of developers proposed changing Ethereum’s consensus algorithm from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS), Buterin supported the change. The switch to PoS meant that people who held ETH would earn interest on their holdings, making ETH more valuable as an investment.
The change also made Ethereum more energy efficient, which was good for both the environment and people’s wallets.
Buterin also proposed increasing the block size limit on Ethereum last year, which would have allowed more transactions to be processed on the network but was ultimately rejected by the community. While some people criticized Buterin for trying to centralize power within Ethereum, others saw it as an example of his commitment to making Ethereum better for users.
Whether you agree with his decisions or not, there’s no denying that Buterin has had a major impact on Ethereum and its price. As Ethereum continues to grow and evolve, we can expect Buterin to remain a central figure in its development and continue accumulating wealth along the way.