The Russia-born coder, who built ethereum in his late teens, doesn't stay long in one place anymore. Meanwhile, the list of places he won't go keeps growing.
, and he faces mobs of fans desperate for a moment of his attention — and a selfie — virtually anywhere he goes on the planet.He isn't the prince of crypto. He isn't a cult leader of new gen cypherpunks. He isn't the wonkiest wonk, or the nerdiest nerd. Heto worthy causes, knocking down his net worth. And he isn't, according to his own estimation, the be-all and end-all authority on the ethereum network.
"Just being able to plug into the international economy. These are things that they don't have, and these are things that provide huge value for people there," Buterin told CNBC. "It's hard to even be interested in really abstract stuff like decentralized social media, when you don't really have those kinds of basics done."
"I found coffee shops without even looking for them that just happened to accept bitcoin and ether — but the problem is, they were all using Binance," continued Buterin. A national digital currency could present the ease of use he envisions, but he believes that decentralization is also critical, otherwise they'll devolve into another version of the existing banking system — only with more surveillance built in.
He continues, "They end up being even less private and basically break down all of the existing barriers against both corporations and the government at the same time."Both Vitalik and Dmitry Buterin, a computer scientist who had lived outside Moscow, were intrigued by the idea of a decentralized currency that operated outside the reach of governments or central banks.
Bitcoiners tend to move more slowly on development, prioritizing security and decentralization above all else, while ethereum programmers tend to be more cavalier. While they aren't necessarily breaking things as they go, they do move fast and tinker aggressively. About the ethereum network, he says, "On the other hand, you've got your laptop. You just need a VPN somewhere, and you hide it in a corner. It's not perfect, but it's definitely much easier to hide."In previous appearances in Denver and Paris, Buterin's stage presence was colored with a subtle unease. But one-on-one in Prague, he really came alive, dropping the tics and effortlessly swapping the role of elusive coder for open-minded educator.
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