I just finished translating a long article about Vitalik Buterin, and I feel there are some things worth discussing.

This guy is definitely not simple. Born in a small town in Russia called Kolomna, he started playing with Excel at age 4, and by 19 he had written the Ethereum white paper. Now at 31, he's being criticized for some decisions as "stubborn" and "idealistic." Some call him "V God," while others call him "Little V," but regardless, this thin Russian teenager has indeed changed the entire blockchain world with his own efforts.

His story is actually quite interesting. Growing up in cold Russia, he self-taught programming on his father’s old computer, then later immigrated with his family to Canada. During his studies in Toronto, he performed far better than his peers in math competitions, but that also made him quite introverted. One detail that left a deep impression on me—he once realized the centralization issue when a skill in World of Warcraft was nerfed. It was around that time he began to think about decentralization possibilities.

In 2011, he got into Bitcoin and was hooked. First, he wrote articles for Bitcoin Magazine (earning 5 BTC per article), then co-founded Bitcoin Magazine with others. By 2013, while traveling in Israel, he suddenly thought of the concept of smart contracts, and in November, he released the Ethereum white paper. The community’s reaction was quite interesting—many thought he was a scammer, and when he came to China for funding, some even mistook him for an actor.

In 2014, he raised 31k BTC through an ICO, and in July 2015, Ethereum’s mainnet launched. Along the way, there were the DAO incident, hard fork controversies, ICO bubbles, Gas fee crises… each time, people questioned Vitalik’s decisions. But he persisted in pushing Ethereum 2.0 upgrades, shifting from PoW to PoS, and the 2022 merge reduced energy consumption by 99.95%.

What’s most interesting is his dedication to charity. In 2021, he donated over a billion dollars worth of various tokens, including Shib, Elon, Akita, and others. Recently, he even became the "godfather" of Moo Deng (that popular hippo), promising to donate 10 million Thai Baht to support it.

Today, Vitalik still maintains a low-profile lifestyle—simple clothing, round glasses, carrying a canvas bag with a cat print. This year, he published "d/acc: One Year Later," continuing to promote his technological optimism. In February, he clarified his role on the Ethereum Foundation’s board, saying he holds only one seat, not the 3/5 as rumored.

Regarding his personal life, there’s basically no public information. Some say he might be "destined to stay single" because he’s fully committed to technology. I think that’s quite reasonable—when someone dedicates all their energy to changing the world, personal life can easily be overlooked.

Overall, Vitalik is a complex figure. He’s a genius, an idealist, and also a compassionate philanthropist. Some admire his vision, others criticize his stubbornness. But regardless, the emergence of Ethereum and smart contracts has indeed propelled the entire crypto ecosystem forward. Without his contributions, the state of cryptocurrency today might look completely different.

Interestingly, he recently changed his Twitter avatar to a creature from World of Warcraft—seems like his childhood hobbies are still unforgettable. This guy is actually quite interesting, isn’t he?