Vitalik Buterin

Also known as Vitaly Dmitrievich Buterin, Виталий Дмитриевич Бутерин, Виталик Бутерин

Vitalik Buterin is a Russian-Canadian programmer and co-founder of Ethereum who writes about the risks and uses of artificial intelligence. Born in Kolomna in 1994, he moved to Canada at six, co-founded Bitcoin Magazine in 2011, described Ethereum in a November 2013 white paper and deployed its blockchain in 2015. His gifts include $763,970 of Ether to the Machine Intelligence Research Institute in 2017 and $665 million to the Future of Life Institute in May 2021. In his November 2023 essay "My techno-optimism", he proposed d/acc, the acceleration of defensive technologies, and in January 2025 he floated a "soft pause" on global computing power as a last resort against dangerous superintelligence. In March 2026, he distanced himself from the Future of Life Institute's turn to political advocacy, and today he argues that AI can make formal verification practical across entire software systems.

Born: 1994
Links: Website

Years link to their sources.

Timeline

1994–2012

From Kolomna to Bitcoin Magazine

Born in Kolomna, Russia, in 1994, he moves to Canada at age six. In September 2011, he joins Mihai Alisie as the first co-founder of Bitcoin Magazine and becomes a leading writer for it. He wins a bronze medal at the International Olympiad in Informatics in 2012.
2013–2015

Proposing and launching Ethereum

At the University of Waterloo, he works as a research assistant for cryptographer Ian Goldberg. In November 2013, at 19, he publishes the Ethereum white paper, which describes how to bring smart contracts to the blockchain. He leaves university in 2014 with a US$100,000 Thiel Fellowship and deploys the Ethereum blockchain in 2015 with Gavin Wood, Charles Hoskinson, Anthony Di Iorio and Joseph Lubin.
2017–2021

Gifts to MIRI and FLI

He gives $763,970 of Ether to the Machine Intelligence Research Institute in 2017. In May 2021, he donates $665 million in SHIB tokens to the Future of Life Institute, a nonprofit that works to reduce existential risk from artificial intelligence. The institute cashes out roughly $500 million from the gift.
2018

An honorary doctorate in Basel

In November 2018, the University of Basel's Faculty of Business and Economics awards him an honorary doctorate. The faculty cites his Ethereum paper, his essays on blockchain scaling and consensus such as "Plasma" and "Casper the Friendly Finality Gadget", and the role of game theory and mechanism design in his research.
2021

A TIME100 profile

TIME names him to its list of the 100 most influential people of 2021. In his tribute, former Reddit executive chair Alexis Ohanian calls him "a builder's builder" whose idea got Ethereum started.
2023–2025

Defensive acceleration, or d/acc

In November 2023, he publishes the essay "My techno-optimism", which argues that AI could be an exception to technology's usual benefits and calls for defensive technologies in biosecurity, cybersecurity, physical infrastructure and information. He names this approach d/acc. In January 2025, he proposes a "soft pause" that could cut global computing power by up to 99% for one to two years as a last resort against dangerous superintelligent AI.
March 2026

Breaking with FLI's strategy

In March 2026, he says he is no longer closely aligned with the Future of Life Institute, which has moved toward cultural and political advocacy on AI risks. He warns that large-scale political action with big money pools can lead to authoritarian and fragile outcomes, and he calls safeguards that make AI models refuse harmful outputs a very fragile solution.
As of October 2026

Ethereum co-founder on AI security

In May 2026, he describes a smaller Ethereum Foundation focused on censorship resistance, openness, privacy and security, and says his own influence within it will keep shrinking. In September 2026, the Ethereum co-founder argues that AI can help developers mathematically verify entire software systems and make formal verification practical for crypto security.