Thanks to Reddit’s r/Ethereum community, I’ve had the privilege of following Vitalik Buterin’s career from early on, which is why I’ve taken a certain pride in watching his legacy grow. Sure, we can talk about the value he’s created as the platform’s co-founder, including Ethereum’s impressive market cap of around $400 billion, the dazzling world of decentralized apps and this year’s boom in the trading of NFTs. What makes Vitalik so special, though, is that he is a builder’s builder. No one person could’ve possibly come up with all of the uses for Ethereum, but it did take one person’s idea to get it started. From there, a new world has opened up, and given rise to new ways of leveraging blockchain technology—some of which I’ve invested in. Whether it’s startups like Sorare reinventing fantasy sports or Rainbow users showing off their NFT collections, none of this would’ve existed without Vitalik’s creation. I’ve never been more excited about the potential of the Internet, and that’s largely thanks to Vitalik Buterin.
Ohanian is the founder of Seven Seven Six and a former executive chair of Reddit