Dmitry Buterin (Dima) is a Russian-Canadian Computer Scientist, Entrepreneur, and Angel Investor. He is the father of Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum. ^[1]

Early Life & Education

Dmitry Buterin was born in the Soviet Union, in Grozny, Chechnya, then moved to Moscow at the age of 17 to study for a Master of Science degree in Computer Science at the Moscow Institute of Electronic Engineering (MIET). ^[2][3]

Career

After graduation, Buterin married Natalia Ameline, a Cybernetics student at the National Research University of Electronic Technology. He worked as a software engineer and then as a business consultant, in Moscow. Ameline was from Kolomna and that’s where Vitalik Buterin was born in 1994. In 1994, Dmitry started his career, working briefly at DialogBank as a Software Engineer, and then at Arthur Andersen Business Consulting as a Computer Systems Consultant (ERP/Financial systems). ^[1][5]

Three years after Vitalik was born, Dmitry Buterin co-founded his first business, a financial software reseller, and consultancy, and he has been a serial entrepreneur ever since. He is the founder of three multi-million dollar businesses, including a SaaS serving over 20,000 small non-profits, Wild Apricot, Columbus IT Russia, and Bonasource Inc. ^[2][4]

"In my mind, the heart of capitalism is altruistic, at least that’s how it is for me. Because for business to be successful, it has to solve some specific problems for specific people and be really good at that.^[5]

“Every business, when it is built the right way, really delivers the benefit to its customers, to its stakeholders and also to its employees.” - he added

Buterin’s business interests allowed him to travel abroad and when Vitalik was six, the family of three left Russia for good. ^[1]

In August 2016, he co-founded BlockGeeks, an online hub that helps people learn about blockchain technology. ^[8]

Blockgeeks mission is to share and grow the knowledge around Blockchain technology. A vast amount of the knowledge that would be valuable to many people is currently only available to a few — either locked in people’s heads, or only accessible to select groups.^[2]

He is also an Advisor to Swarm City, a decentralized commerce platform. ^[4]

On Raising Vitalik Buterin

While Dmitry passed on his interest in technology to Vitalik Buterin and gave him the first push toward cryptocurrency, he’s reluctant to claim any credit for his son’s success.

“People quite often tell me ‘Oh you must be so proud of Vitalik’ and in a way I am but every human being is an outcome of so many factors such as the humans around him, his genetics, the environment. And I am one of those factors, right? But why is ‘me’ the way that I am? I’m the influence of another million factors.”

“So for Vitalik, to have invented Ethereum, all of the things in the universe had to be the way they were for that to happen. So, this is kind of my fundamental view of life.”^[5]

Ethereum

Buterin's involvement in the Ethereum ICO was limited due to his commitments to Wild Apricot and his family responsibilities, coupled with financial constraints. However, as Ethereum gained prominence, he encountered attempts to leverage his reputation for various projects seeking his advisory role during the ICO boom of 2016/2017.

Reflecting on this period, Buterin noted his skepticism towards many of these projects, as he found their proposals lacking in substance and primarily driven by fundraising motives.

“I would read the white paper and I was, like, ‘Guys, this makes no fucking sense. This is just a piece of crap. And basically, all that you’re saying is that you think it’s a good opportunity for you to raise some money, right?’”

“So, I am happy that I did not get involved in any of these crappy projects.”^[5]

Despite his initial reservations, Buterin's engagement with the crypto community deepened over time. He has since found enjoyment in participating in conferences, providing mentorship, and making investments in the crypto space. ^[1][5]

Dmitry Buterin told Decrypt that his upbringing made him ideologically predisposed toward Ethereum, which is:

“aligned with my deeply-seated passion for openness, transparency, [and] freedom. Because of growing up in the Soviet Union, and seeing the authoritarian regime and their oppression and their bigotry, for me, decentralized systems hold so much promise for us building a better future.”^[4]

Personal Interests

His interests and obsessions change and develop from science to electronics, computing, futurism, libertarianism, and cybersecurity. For a while, he was fascinated by “entrepreneurship, human psychology, and personal development” before he moved on to “spirituality. ^[5]

"That’s been my interest maybe in the last 10-15 years.” - he told Cointelegraph in 2021^[5]

While he is thoughtful and serious during interviews, on Crypto Twitter, Dmitry allows lets out more of his lightheartedness.

“One of the energies that is really big in me is the energy of being silly. And that’s also true about Vitalik. So, we always resonate with the same kind of stupid jokes and whatnot,” he says:

"I can freely share my silliness on Twitter now because I’m not concerned that some people will look at me and say things like, ‘This guy’s so fucked up.’ I’m like yeah of course I’m fucked up, who isn’t?”^[5]

Investments & Advisory

Dmitry Buterin is an Angel Investor in Nuco, an enterprise blockchain platform, Augment Partners, known for their prediction market Augur, Highline Beta, a startup co-creation company, and 4Scotty, a technology recruitment company. ^[6]

In June 2022, Dmitry Buterin joined Gate.org and he serves as the Director helping raise donations for Ukraine in her fight against the Russian invasion. ^[1][2]

"I am appalled at the Russian invasion of Ukraine and inspired by the bravery of Ukrainians. I see it as the duty of the civilized world to support Ukraine standing up to Russian’s barbaric bombings, killings, looting and rape - and support Ukrainians suffering in this unprovoked attack." - Buterin states^[7]