Vitalik Buterin, the man behind ethereum, talks crypto and the U.S. crackdown

Vitalik Buterin, the Russian-born creator of Ethereum, finds the concept of a permanent home elusive. Having built Ethereum in his late teens, he now leads a decentralized lifestyle, frequently moving between cities and avoiding certain countries due to concerns about privacy and security.

Buterin, a Canadian immigrant with Ukrainian and Russian heritage, actively supports the resistance movement in Ukraine and has distanced himself from visiting his homeland of Russia. He has expressed apprehensions about visiting various countries due to evolving global circumstances and the potential risks associated with pursuing privacy technologies and open-source code in certain jurisdictions.

He highlighted the case of Tornado Cash, an open-source protocol used for privacy protection in the crypto market. Developers of Tornado Cash face legal charges in both the Netherlands and the U.S., illustrating the potential risks faced by those creating privacy-focused tools in the crypto space.

Buterin’s decentralized lifestyle aligns with his role as a prominent figure in the crypto sector, where he collaborates with like-minded programmers in locations like Prague to drive change through cryptography-powered technology, transcending geographical boundaries and embracing a nomadic approach.