Vitalik Buterin is co-creator of and author of the white paper that launched Ethereum and ether, which is a cryptocurrency that is currently the second-largest digital currency after bitcoin. There's about 110 million ether out there, which equates at this moment to about 22 trillion dollars. 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.