Today Is Vitalik Buterin’s Birthday — We Wish You a Happy One from Digitex!
If you’ve been in the crypto space for any amount of time you’ve heard the name Vitalik Buterin at least once. And if you’ve somehow never heard of the “blockchain tech god” of Ethereum, continue reading. Learn why Digitex agrees that Vitalik is a shining light in the crypto universe and join us in wishing him a happy birthday!
Vitalik Buterin — The Beginning
Vitalik was born in Kolomna, Russia on January 31, 1994. His parents emigrated to Toronto Canada when he was six years old. As a child, he showed early on that he was ahead of his school peers.
In the third grade, he was placed in an advanced class. When attending Abelard School (a private school in Toronto), he notes that was when his interest in math, programming, and economics started to grow:
“The moment I started studying at Abelard I noticed my attitude and my results almost immediately and drastically change. Something about the environment, whether it was the level of dedication and focus on intellectual inquiry, the closer connection between students and teachers or the level of depth at which the material was taught, made me want to learn, and to focus on learning as my primary goal.”
His Introduction to Bitcoin
Like most early crypto adopters, Vitalik heard about Bitcoin but didn’t think much of it in the beginning. He was actually introduced to it by his father Dmitry Buterin when he was 17. From then on, his life reads like a TV mini-series.
He won the bronze medal in the International Olympiad in Informatics in 2012. He traveled the world talking to programmers, economists, and cryptographers, before dropping out of the University of Waterloo in 2014.
Awarded the Thiel Fellowship, which was worth $100,000, he used that to help build Ethereum. Buterin has been on the Fortune 40 under 40 list for 2016 and 2018, and the Forbes 30 under 30 list for 2018.
He even took the time to learn Chinese in a matter of months. Not bad for the Russian-Canadian multi-millionaire who still has more than five years until his 30th birthday!
For those who think that cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology are just for techie folks, it should be noted that Vitalik started off writing blog posts about Bitcoin (at $3.50 a post). Eventually, he went on to co-found Bitcoin Magazine before coming up with Ethereum.
Thanks to Vitalik Buterin for Being Ahead of the Curve
If you’re into the zodiac signs, there’s a saying that goes “Aquarians make the world go-round.” In case you missed it, Vitalik is an Aquarius. And there’s no question he (as the generator of the idea) has made his mark on the world with the creation of Ethereum and its second-layer technology smart contracts.
Five plus years later, we see the effect has gone beyond just the crypto space where nerds and geeks played with internet money.
As we see it at Digitex, Ethereum has helped to expand the possibilities of business types, business models to run it, and access to capital funding. Thanks to the Bitcoin dev community not agreeing with him on how to add second-layer solutions, smart contracts, DApps, and ICOs came into existence.
In 2018, ICOs raised over $6 billion and the first quarter of 2018 was more than all of 2017.
Look at the influence that Vitalik’s creation has had on the crypto industry. If you went on YouTube in 2017 and 2018, there were hundreds of videos about “What’s better than Ethereum?” or “the Next Ethereum killer.”
Ethereum is what really started the race for second-layer solutions. The more notable blockchains with smart contracts are NEM, Qtum, EOS, Hyperledger, and Lisk, to name just a few.
Our founder and CEO Adam Todd is one of Ethereum’s biggest fans. Back in August, he wrote about the magnitude of Vitalik’s invention, saying:
“Ethereum is the missing piece of the internet. And just like the internet did, it will have far-reaching effects on business, society and even how humans behave and interact with each other. We can’t even imagine where it will lead. Just like in 1995 nobody could have imagined the far-reaching effect that the internet would have on the world.”
Tried, True, and Moving Forward
Detractors of Ethereum like to highlight some of the past exploits when comparing it to newer blockchains or harp on scaling issues which every blockchain is dealing with.
But Digitex looks at the bigger picture. For every issue that has occurred in the past, it was based on third-party actions. The blockchain itself has never been hacked. This is part of why Digitex chose to use the Ethereum blockchain and create the DGTX based on ERC-223. Because of the technology, Digitex Futures will be able to offer its users non-custodial accounts in addition to commission-free trading, the first of its kind.
If you’ve never read any of Vitalik’s work, there is a variety of places you can find it, including Twitter, Medium, Bitcoin Magazine, and Reddit.
Vitalik has been looking to deal with Ethereum’s scaling options from day one. Through the Ethereum Foundation and its network of developers around the globe, new technologies like sharding and the Plasma protocol are being worked on. Digitex is most excited about incorporating Plasma into the platform and has partnered with Matter Inc to bring it to the exchange.
Final Thoughts
As the creator of the third legacy crypto, Buterin’s Ethereum blockchain speaks for itself and has withstood the test of time thus far. Lasting beyond the scams, riding out the market dips, and surviving US regulatory scrutiny.
Vitalik Buterin has worked to expand the decentralization of blockchain and bringing innovation to use case of tokens. Digitex Futures looks forward to seeing how he continues to be a driving force to helping achieve the mass adoption. Happy Birthday, Vitalik! You’re an inspiration to us all!
