Ethereum
Vitalik Buterin Attends Kyiv Tech Summit, to Everyone’s Surprise
Ethereum (ETH) Co-founder and programmer Vitalik Buterin surprised most of his ETH fans when he showed up at Kyiv, Ukraine for the Tech Summit.
Markedly, this is Buterin’s first visit to the war-ladened country as he was born in Russia. Based on information received from the organizers of the summit, Vitalik Buterin’s attendance was kept guarded as a secret for security reasons.
Before the war broke out between Russia and Ukraine, Buterin had been critical of the Russian government.
Hence, when the war finally broke out, he condemned the act. “I have been following Ukraine closely since the war started, I wanted to come and see for myself,” and “also let Ukraine know that lots of people in the blockchain, Ethereum, crypto world really care about you guys and lots of people support you.”
Previously in 2017, the ETH chief had met with President Vladimir Putin to discuss his Ether offerings but that did not deter him from picking a stance against his homeland country. Although many are of the opinion that his visit was doctored to coincide with the launch of The Merge which is scheduled to happen on September 19th.
Government Officials at the Kyiv Tech Summit
Conversely, many regards the visit as a symbolic action showing his unwavering support for Ukraine during its time of struggle.
Sharing his viewpoint in addition to his support to Ukraine, Vitalik Buterin mentioned that he attended the summit due to complete appreciation for the work which the Tech summit has been doing, of which he is a beneficiary.
Meanwhile, many notable players in the crypto industry including tech gurus were also in attendance at the tech summit.
Amongst them was the vice prime minister of Ukraine who also doubles as the Digital Transformation Minister for IT Development, Mykhailo Fedorov. Also in attendance was his deputy Alex Bornyakov who is a co-founder at Adtelligent, an ad technology company for publishers and advertisers.
CJ Hetherington, co-founder of the summit shared his feeling about Vitalik’s and other prominent attendees’ presence
“It was incredible to have Vitalik join us on the ground as well as important figures from the Ministry of Digital Transformation, Kyiv Tech Summit is not just an ordinary tech event. It’s a protest, a movement, and an embodiment of the unbreakable spirit of Ukraine.”
