At the age of 19, Vitalik Buterin published the article “Ethereum: A Next Generation Smart Contract & Decentralized Application Platform“, which proved to be groundbreaking for the decentralization of software applications.

In particular, he described the architecture of how to bring Smart Contracts to the blockchain. The Ethereum platform and many alternative approaches are based on this early essay by Buterin.

In addition to this article, he has written numerous other fundamental essays on the topics of scaling blockchains (“Plasma: Scalable Autonomous Smart Contracts”), consensus protocols in distributed systems (“Casper the Friendly Finality Gadget”), and design of decentralized institutions.

“Vitalik’s blockchain innovations are game changing. He has blazed a trail for science and industry to follow and work together.”

says Prof. Dr. Aleksander Berentsen, Dean Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Basel.

With Vitalik Buterin, the Faculty of Business and Economics of the University of Basel honors an exceptionally creative and innovative thinker who has played a decisive role in shaping the digital revolution of our time. Game theory, economic incentives and optimal design of institutions (mechanism design) play a crucial role in Vitalik’s research. This focus is shared with the Faculty of Economics of the University of Basel and its Center for Innovative Finance.

Vitalik Buterin, born 31.01.1994 in Kolomna, Russia, is a Canadian-Russian scientist. He is mainly known as a software developer, author and co-founder of the Ethereum Smart Contracts platform. He wrote his groundbreaking scientific papers without an academic degree and without any ties to a university.

„I’m honored to have received an honorary doctorate from the University of Basel the oldest University of Switzerland. Switzerland is well known for its innovative blockchain research.”