How Did Vitalik Buterin Make His Money?

Vitalik Buterin has been called one of the first crypto billionaires. The Russian-born computer programmer has lived in Canada since he was a child.

His father, also a programmer, introduced Buterin to Bitcoin’s technology when he was 17 years old. Vitalik was immediately obsessed with the potential of blockchain technology, and he quickly devised ways to integrate more smart contract features into blockchains.

So, how did Buterin get so rich?

How Vitalik Buterin Got Started

Vitalik Buterin showed exceptional promise from an early age. While living in the Toronto area, his elementary school placed him in a class for gifted students. He later attended The Abelard School, a private high school based on the Socratic method.

By the time he entered the University of Waterloo, he already had enough mathematical and programming experience to enroll in advanced classes.

He even worked as a research assistant for Ian Goldberg, a cryptographer known for his work with the Tor Project and contributing to off-the-record messaging, an encryption protocol that protects the content of digital conversations and obscures the identities of people involved in those conversations.

Like many tech billionaires, Buterin developed an outstanding idea while still in college. Buterin took a year off college to travel the world and meet with other developers who had unique ideas. He wrote the concept paper for Ethereum when he returned to Toronto in 2013.

He left the University of Waterloo a year later when he received a Thiel Fellowship that allowed him to work on Ethereum full-time. A few years later, Ethereum and its cryptocurrency, ether, made Buterin a billionaire.

How Much Crypto Does Vitalik Buterin Own?

Vitalik Buterin owns approximately 245,000 of Ethereum’s 27 million ether tokens. Some sources say he owns as much as 277,000 ETH. At the time of writing, his ether holdings are worth between $599 million and $678 million. He also owns about 250 Wrapped ether (WETH) worth more than $625,000.

Buterin also owns other types of cryptocurrencies, but he hasn’t publicly disclosed how much he has. As someone who learned about blockchain and crypto from Bitcoin, he likely has a sizable amount of BTC.

Since Bitcoin’s decentralized nature makes it very difficult to determine who owns wallets, it’s nearly impossible to determine how much BTC Buterin actually owns. He would need to release that information for anyone to know the actual number.

How Did Vitalik Buterin Make His Money?

Vitalik Buterin made his money founding Ethereum alongside Gavin Wood, as well as through ownership of other cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin.

Buterin created the underlying concept about a year before Wood and he started developing the platform.

Other people who helped found the company include Charles Hoskinson, who also co-founded Input Output Global, Inc; Anthony Di Iorio, who once worked as the Toronto Stock Exchange’s chief digital officer; and Joseph Lubin, who also founded the blockchain software company Consensys.

Before building Ethereum, Gavin Wood worked for Microsoft as a research scientist. He played a critical role in developing the runtime system that makes Ethereum’s smart contracts feature function at near real-time. He left Ethereum in 2016 to found Parity Technologies, which uses technology closely related to Ethereum.

Although he didn’t graduate, the University of Basel awarded him an honorary doctorate for his contributions to technology and economics in 2018.

Buterin conceptualized Ethereum’s decentralized platform when he was just 19 years old.

What Features Does Ethereum Offer?

Like Bitcoin, Ethereum uses blockchains to store information without relying on third-party applications.

Ethereum, however, adds smart contract functionalities that don’t exist in Bitcoin blockchains. Smart contracts allow code to execute on its own when specific conditions are met.

Smart Contracts

For example, smart contracts can ensure that all expectations are met before funds are released from one organization to another.

A shipping container that leaves a port could log movements toward its destination. As it meets certain milestones, the blockchain would record that information and retain it indefinitely. When the container reaches its destination, the smart contract would release funds to the supplier.

Processes like these help ensure that all parties involved met their obligations. Importantly, they don’t need to oversee as many steps to ensure compliance. The blockchain and smart contract handles many of those steps automatically.

Blockchains

Blockchains are cryptographical blocks of information that get chained together to create a decentralized ledger. As more information gets generated (for example, someone purchases the asset), a new block gets added to the chain.

Blockchains are decentralized because they exist on numerous computers and servers instead of relying on a centralized database. This offers at least two advantages over traditional databases.

First, it helps preserve data even when a computer or server fails. When one failure happens, other servers still hold a record of the blockchain.

Second, it helps ensure accuracy. In a traditional database, someone could alter information to present false information.

In a decentralized network using blockchains, all of the computers involved must agree with each other. Rewriting the existing information would require a tremendous amount of effort and resources.

Ether

Ether (ETH) is a cryptocurrency used by the Ethereum network. Some users unfamiliar with the system mistake ether for Ethereum. It’s more accurate to say that ether is the fuel that runs Ethereum. It’s like the gas that you put in your car but it isn’t the car itself.

Users can collect ether in two ways, either by completing complex mathematical equations that support the Ethereum network or by spending fiat currency to purchase ether. At its height, ETH traded for over $4,800.

Did Vitalik Buterin Found Bitcoin Magazine?

Vitalik Buterin and Mihai Alisie founded Bitcoin Magazine in 2011, shortly after Buterin’s father introduced him to the concept.

At the time, Buterin was writing a blog and Alisie was living in Romania. When Alisie became aware of Buterin’s writing, he reached out to ask him about working together on a publication about Bitcoin and other cyrptocurrencies.

They began printing a physical version of the magazine in 2012. In fact, the Smithsonian Museum has an edition of the magazine in its Value of Money exhibit.

Buterin and Alisie sold the magazine to BTC Inc for an undisclosed sum in 2015.

Bitcoin Magazine holds annual conferences where enthusiasts gather to learn about technological developments and share their ideas.

At the 2021 conference, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele announced via prerecorded message his plan to make Bitcoin legal tender in El Salvador.

What Is Vitalik Buterin’s Net Worth?

Most experts following Buterin’s career think he has a net worth close to $1 billion. It’s very challenging to determine his exact worth, though, because cryptocurrencies are so volatile.

The years 2021 and 2022 show how fluctuations in the crypto market could change his net worth. On November 1, 2021, ether reached its highest value, trading at $4,815.

After some major spikes, the cryptocurrency reached one of its lowest values since the beginning of 2021. On June 19, 2022, ether traded for about $995. The currency’s price tumbled about 80% within months.

If you took snapshots of Buterin’s wealth on each of those days, you would see very different numbers. Currently, ether is down substantially from its highs, which could mean that it has found a balance after a hype cycle. If history has taught anything it’s that Buterin’s fortune could change at any moment, depending on the market’s whim.

---

The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Financhill has a disclosure policy. This post may contain affiliate links or links from our sponsors.