Vitalik Buterin
Born 1994 · Age 31
Russian–Canadian programmer, co‑founder of Ethereum and Bitcoin Magazine, prominent researcher and philanthropist in crypto, AI safety and longevity.
Compare Your Trajectory
See how your career milestones stack up against Vitalik Buterin and other industry leaders.
Life & Career Timeline
Birth in Kolomna, Russia
Born Vitaly Dmitrievich Buterin in Kolomna, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
Family emigrated to Canada
Buterin and his parents moved from Russia to Canada seeking better employment opportunities.
Placed in gifted program (elementary school)
In grade three in Canada he was placed into a class for gifted children; developed strong interest in math, programming and economics.
Attended The Abelard School (high school)
Attended The Abelard School, a private high school in Toronto, for four years; credits it with deepening his intellectual interests.
Learned about Bitcoin
Introduced to Bitcoin by his father at age 17, sparking his interest in cryptocurrency and blockchain.
First paid crypto writing (Bitcoin Weekly)
Wrote for a Bitcoin blog (Bitcoin Weekly) earning five BTC per article in attempt to acquire bitcoin.
Co‑founded Bitcoin Magazine
Mihai Alisie invited Buterin to co‑found Bitcoin Magazine; he served as first co‑founder and lead writer for the publication.
Bitcoin Magazine publishes print edition
Bitcoin Magazine launched a print edition in 2012 and became one of the first serious publications dedicated to crypto.
Bronze medal, International Olympiad in Informatics
Won a bronze medal at the IOI 2012 held in Italy.
Enrolled at University of Waterloo
Attended University of Waterloo, took advanced courses and worked as research assistant for cryptographer Ian Goldberg.
Six‑month developer tour
Traveled for ~six months visiting Bitcoin and crypto developers around the world to discuss ideas and gather feedback.
Published Ethereum white paper
Released the Ethereum white paper proposing a Turing‑complete blockchain platform for smart contracts and dapps.
Early media profile: Wired / Fast Company coverage
Profiled in major outlets as a teenage crypto visionary; widespread media attention helped raise public awareness of Ethereum ideas.
Attempted employment with Ripple (visa issue)
Reached out to Jed McCaleb / Ripple for a job but the offer fell apart when Ripple could not sponsor a US visa.
Awarded Thiel Fellowship (US$100,000)
Received a Thiel Fellowship grant of US$100,000 and left university to work on Ethereum full time.
Dropped out of University of Waterloo
Left university after receiving Thiel Fellowship to focus on Ethereum development full time.
Ethereum Initial Coin Offering (ICO) — fundraising
Conducted a public ICO from ~20 July to 2 September 2014; raised ~31,591 BTC (~US$18.3–18.4M at the time) and distributed early ETH.
Established the Ethereum Foundation (Switzerland)
Team set up the Ethereum Foundation to oversee open‑source development of Ethereum.
Early open‑source contributions
Contributed to projects such as Bitcoin Python libraries, Kryptokit, DarkWallet and Egora in the early 2010s.
Introduced idea of Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)
Conceptualized the EVM — a Turing‑complete virtual machine enabling smart contracts and dapps — as a central technical innovation of Ethereum.
Publicly announced Ethereum at Miami conference
Presented Ethereum publicly at the North American Bitcoin Conference in Miami with a 25‑minute talk describing a 'world computer'.
Named inventor of Ethereum
Recognized in academic and popular press as Ethereum's inventor and primary author of the Ethereum white paper and core research.
Named co‑founder and public face of Ethereum
Recognized worldwide as the inventor and lead researcher of Ethereum together with co‑founders Gavin Wood, Joseph Lubin, Anthony Di Iorio and Charles Hoskinson.
Launched Ethereum (Frontier)
Frontier, the first public release of the Ethereum blockchain, went live—marking the start of the Ethereum network.
Fortune 40 Under 40 recognition
Included in Fortune's '40 under 40' list (profiled in 2016).
Joined editorial board of Ledger (start)
Served as a member of the editorial board of Ledger, a peer‑reviewed journal on cryptocurrency and blockchain (tenure reported 2016–2024).
Named in World Technology Award (IT Software)
Received World Technology Award in the IT Software category in 2014 (included here as recognition in mid‑career).
The DAO hack
A major smart‑contract DAO on Ethereum was exploited in mid‑2016, draining a large amount of ETH and triggering community debate.
Hard fork to reverse The DAO (Ethereum / Ethereum Classic split)
Following the DAO attack the community implemented a controversial hard fork restoring stolen funds; the original chain persisted as Ethereum Classic.
Donation to Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI)
Donated ~US$763,970 worth of Ether to MIRI in 2017 to support AI safety research.
Reported ETH cash‑outs during 2017 crypto rally
Reports indicate Buterin sold/cashed out significant amounts of ETH during 2017's price surge (exact amounts vary by report).
Spoke to large Russian audience (Skolkovo) — ~5,000 attendees
Gave a public speech in Moscow (Skolkovo Innovation Center) to a large audience, emphasizing Russia's role in blockchain research.
Met President Vladimir Putin at SPIEF
Met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum; Putin expressed support for ties with possible Russian partners.
Multiple philanthropic micro‑donations and matched gifts
Donated and matched donations to charities including Internet Archive, GiveDirectly and SENS; included matched Pineapple Fund contributions.
Forbes 30 Under 30 and other recognitions
Named to Forbes 30 Under 30 (2018) and included in other lists such as Fortune 'Ledger' 40 Under 40 (2018).
Donated US$2.4M of Ether to SENS Research Foundation
Donated Ether to SENS to support rejuvenation biotechnology and longevity research.
Honorary doctorate from University of Basel
Received an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Business and Economics of the University of Basel on Dies Academicus.
Quadratic funding impact via Gitcoin Grants
Work on quadratic funding (with Glen Weyl and Zoe Hitzig) influenced Gitcoin Grants; as of Aug 2022 quadratic funding allocated over $20M to OSS.
Co‑authored academic work on public goods / quadratic funding
Collaborated with Glen Weyl and Zoe Hitzig to publish 'A Flexible Design for Funding Public Goods' (Management Science, 2019) proposing quadratic funding mechanisms.
Commentary on Ethereum's societal impact
Publicly reflected on interacting weekly with cryptographers, economists and researchers, noting Ethereum tools affected tens of thousands of people.
Ethereum 2.0 Phase 0 (Beacon Chain) launched
Phase 0 (Beacon Chain) went live in December 2020 — the first step in Ethereum's migration to proof‑of‑stake.
Became crypto billionaire (peak 2021)
During 2021 market highs Buterin's holdings pushed his net worth into the ~$1B+ range (various outlets report >US$1B in 2021).
Donated ~US$665M to Future of Life Institute
Made a very large crypto donation (reported ~US$665 million) to the Future of Life Institute for AI safety and existential risk research.
Donated Dogelon Mars tokens (~US$336M) to Methuselah Foundation
Donated ~430 billion ELON tokens (reported ~US$336 million) to Methuselah Foundation for longevity research.
Donated ~US$1.14B in SHIB to India Covid Relief
Donated 50+ trillion SHIB (reported ~US$1.14 billion at time) to India's COVID‑Crypto Relief Fund; donation equalled ~5% of SHIB supply and affected market price.
Authored 'Proof of Stake' (book published 2022)
Published 'Proof of Stake: The Making of Ethereum and the Philosophy of Blockchains' (Seven Stories Press, 2022).
Philanthropic support for Ukraine (crypto donations)
Donated crypto to Ukraine relief causes and supported UkraineDAO; his father served as a multi‑sig key‑holder for one DAO wallet.
Spoke out on Russia's invasion of Ukraine
On the first day of the Russian invasion he tweeted 'Ethereum is neutral, but I am not' and engaged in crypto‑philanthropy supporting Ukraine (e.g., UkraineDAO).
The Merge — Ethereum migrated to Proof of Stake
Ethereum completed The Merge, uniting execution layer with Beacon Chain and moving consensus to proof‑of‑stake (major energy reduction).
Published 'An incomplete guide to stealth addresses' (blog)
Posted a technical guide on stealth addresses as a privacy improvement for Ethereum transactions and assets.
Shapella (Shanghai + Capella) upgrade — withdrawals enabled
Shapella upgrade allowed ETH stakers to withdraw their staked ETH for the first time; part of PoS transition finalization.
Reported net worth & portfolio tracking (market volatility)
Multiple outlets tracked Buterin's portfolio; after 2021 peak his net worth dipped into the hundreds of millions during 2022 bear markets; values fluctuate with ETH price.
Reported regained billionaire status (2025)
Coverage in 2025 reported Buterin's portfolio value recovered to ~US$1.04B as ETH price rose; net worth estimates vary across trackers.
Key Achievement Ages
Explore what Vitalik Buterin and others achieved at these notable ages:
Similar Trajectories
Madison Beer
Born 1999 · Age 26
American singer-songwriter and author who rose to fame after Justin Bieber shared her YouTube cover; released EP 'As She Pleases' (2018), albums 'Life Support' (2021) and 'Silence Between Songs' (2023), co-founded skincare brand Know Beauty, voiced Evelynn in virtual band K/DA, and published memoir 'The Half of It'.
Justin Jefferson
Born 1999 · Age 26
American professional football wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings; starred at LSU (CFP national champion 2020), drafted in 2020, multi-time Pro Bowler, 2022 AP Offensive Player of the Year, record-setting receiver through his first five NFL seasons.
Dream
Born 1999 · Age 26
American YouTuber, Twitch streamer, Minecraft speedrunner and musician known as Dream; creator of Minecraft Manhunt and the Dream SMP; active online since 2014 and rose to major popularity 2019–2021.
Sualeh Asif
Born 1999 · Age 26
Karachi-born mathematician and computer scientist; MIT-educated co‑founder and Chief Product Officer of Anysphere, maker of Cursor, an AI-native IDE valued at roughly $9.9B in 2025.
James Charles
Born 1999 · Age 26
American beauty YouTuber, makeup artist, and influencer known for popularizing male beauty content on social media; first male CoverGirl ambassador; creator of Sisters Collection with Morphe; host/producer of YouTube Originals 'Instant Influencer'.
Ana Sayre
Born 1999 · Age 26
Anamaria Sayre is a Mexican-American multimedia producer, reporter and co-host of NPR Music's Alt.Latino. She produces El Tiny (the Latin Tiny Desk series) and has produced Tiny Desk concerts and stories elevating Latinx artists and culture.