From Broke to Blockchain Empire — The Story of Sam Bank… wait, nope. The good version: Vitalik Buterin
In 2011, a 17-year-old Canadian programmer named Vitalik Buterin discovered Bitcoin. He was fascinated by the technology but felt it had limitations — it was great for money, but what if you could use the blockchain for anything?
Vitalik began writing for a Bitcoin blog to earn a few BTC at a time (worth only a couple of dollars back then). But instead of cashing out and spending it, he invested his time and energy into learning everything about crypto.
In 2013, he wrote a white paper proposing Ethereum — a blockchain not just for money, but for building decentralized applications. Most people ignored him, saying it was too ambitious. But Vitalik kept going.
He gathered a small group of believers, coded the early version of Ethereum, and launched it in 2015. Today, Ethereum is the second-largest cryptocurrency in the world and the backbone of NFTs, DeFi, and thousands of blockchain projects.
Vitalik didn’t just “get rich” — he used crypto to create something that empowered millions of others. And here’s the kicker:
He’s given away hundreds of millions in crypto to charity.
He lives simply, avoiding flashy displays of wealth.
His motivation was never greed — it was building the future he wanted to see.
