Back in 2011, a 17-year-old Canadian programmer named Vitalik Buterin stumbled upon Bitcoin. Intrigued by its potential, he quickly realized its limitations — it was powerful for digital money, but why stop there? What if blockchain could power anything?
To learn more, Vitalik began writing for a $BTC blog, earning just a few BTC per article (worth only a couple of dollars at the time). Instead of cashing out, he invested his energy into mastering crypto technology. In 2013, he penned a white paper proposing $— a blockchain designed not just for transactions, but for creating decentralized applications. Many dismissed the idea as overly ambitious, but Vitalik pushed forward.
He rallied a small team of believers, coded the first version, and in 2015 launched Ethereum $ETH . Today, it’s the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency and the foundation for NFTs, DeFi, and thousands of blockchain innovations.
Vitalik didn’t just chase wealth — he built something that empowered millions. He’s donated hundreds of millions in crypto to charity, lives modestly, and avoids the flashy trappings of success.
His drive was never greed — it was shaping the future he believed in.
