#80 – Vitalik Buterin: Ethereum, Cryptocurrency, and the Future of Money

About this episode

<p>Vitalik Buterin is co-creator of Ethereum and ether, which is a cryptocurrency that is currently the second-largest digital currency after bitcoin. Ethereum has a lot of interesting technical ideas that are defining the future of blockchain technology, and Vitalik is one of the most brilliant people innovating this space today.</p> <p>Support this podcast by supporting the sponsors with a special code:<br /> &#8211; Get ExpressVPN at <a href="https://www.expressvpn.com/lexpod">https://www.expressvpn.com/lexpod</a><br /> &#8211; Sign up to MasterClass at <a href="https://masterclass.com/lex">https://masterclass.com/lex</a></p> <p>EPISODE LINKS:<br /> Vitalik blog: <a href="https://vitalik.ca">https://vitalik.ca</a><br /> Ethereum whitepaper: <a href="http://bit.ly/3cVDTpj">http://bit.ly/3cVDTpj</a><br /> Casper FFG (paper): <a href="http://bit.ly/2U6j7dJ">http://bit.ly/2U6j7dJ</a><br /> Quadratic funding (paper): <a href="http://bit.ly/3aUZ8Wd">http://bit.ly/3aUZ8Wd</a><br /> Bitcoin whitepaper: <a href="https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf">https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf</a><br /> Mastering Ethereum (book): <a href="https://amzn.to/2xEjWmE">https://amzn.to/2xEjWmE</a></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This conversation is part of the Artificial Intelligence podcast.</span>&#160;If you would like to get more information about this podcast go to <a href="https://lexfridman.com/ai">https://lexfridman.com/ai</a> or connect with @lexfridman on <a href="https://twitter.com/lexfridman">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman/">LinkedIn</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://medium.com/@lexfridman">Medium</a>, or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/lexfridman">YouTube</a> where you can watch the video versions of these conversations. If you enjoy the podcast, please rate it 5 stars on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/artificial-intelligence/id1434243584">Apple Podcasts</a>, follow on <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/2MAi0BvDc6GTFvKFPXnkCL">Spotify</a>, or support it on <a href="https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman">Patreon</a>.</p> <p>Here&#8217;s the outline of the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.</p> <p>OUTLINE:<br /> 00:00 &#8211; Introduction<br /> 04:43 &#8211; Satoshi Nakamoto<br /> 08:40 &#8211; Anonymity<br /> 11:31 &#8211; Open source project leadership<br /> 13:04 &#8211; What is money?<br /> 30:02 &#8211; Blockchain and cryptocurrency basics<br /> 46:51 &#8211; Ethereum<br /> 59:23 &#8211; Proof of work<br /> 1:02:12 &#8211; Ethereum 2.0<br /> 1:13:09 &#8211; Beautiful ideas in Ethereum<br /> 1:16:59 &#8211; Future of cryptocurrency<br /> 1:22:06 &#8211; Cryptocurrency resources and people to follow<br /> 1:24:28 &#8211; Role of governments<br /> 1:27:27 &#8211; Meeting Putin<br /> 1:29:41 &#8211; Large number of cryptocurrencies<br /> 1:32:49 &#8211; Mortality</p>