In 2011, 17-year-old Russian-Canadian teenager Vitalik Buterin was introduced to the world of Bitcoin by his father. At first, he was filled with skepticism, but his strong curiosity drove him to delve into the underlying blockchain technology. He quickly realized that while Bitcoin was powerful, it had limited functionality, much like a computer that could only solve one mathematical problem.

A grander vision exploded in his mind: **What if there were a blockchain that could function like a globally shared supercomputer that never shuts down and could run any program?

At the age of 19, he made a crazy decision: to drop out of the prestigious University of Waterloo. With a $100,000 scholarship in hand, he packed his backpack and traveled the world, painting the picture of his envisioned 'World Computer' — Ethereum — to everyone willing to listen.

In 2014, he launched a crowdfunding campaign in Switzerland, unexpectedly raising $18 million, shocking the world. In the summer of 2015, the Ethereum network officially launched.

Since then, the door to blockchain has been completely opened. On this 'World Computer,' people have created the now-familiar DeFi, NFTs, and thousands of blockchain applications**.

The story of Vitalik Buterin is not a myth of getting rich quickly, but a legend of a tech geek who, with pure logic and curiosity, opened up a new frontier in the digital world. What he built is not just code, but a new cornerstone for everyone to write the future. $ETH