Who is Gavin Wood? - Crypto in Plain English - Episode 154 - by cryptohunt.it

Who is Gavin Wood?

Welcome to the cryptohunt jam where we spend one minute a day to explain crypto. In plain english.

Today, we want to introduce you to yet another cofounder of Ethereum - Gavin Wood.

Gavin Wood is an interesting person to know because he developed some of the core technologies that power today’s blockchains.

But let’s start at the beginning! Wood was born in the UK, where he attended the University of York and got a Masters in Software engineering and later on a PhD. He then went on to work as a research scientist for Microsoft.

But his most fundamental contributions started when he joined Vitalik Buterin as one of the Ethereum Co-Founders at the very beginning in 2013. Remember that Ethereum’s goal was to create a blockchain that allows people to build all kinds of financial applications on, as opposed to just functioning as a means to move around money, like Bitcoin did at the time.

To achieve that goal, a lot of completely new fundamentals had to be invented. It can get a little technical, but all you need to know is that he programmed many of them and it would be fair to say that Ethereum wouldn’t be the same without him.

Eventually, he left Ethereum in 2016 and founded another blockchain you may have heard about: Polkadot. Remember how he created all those fundamental technologies to let people create cool things on Ethereum? Well, with Polkadot his plan was even more ambitious - why have just one blockchain that serves all purposes like Ethereum? What if we created a technology allowing anyone to create their own blockchain, fully customizable to their own needs?

But you may have also heard Wood’s name pop up in mainstream media for another reason: He’s the single largest contributor of crypto donations to support Ukraine: He donated $5.8 million dollars to their government… all over the DOT, Polkadot’s native token, of course.

Disclaimer: This podcast references our opinion and is for information purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Do your own research and seek a duly licensed professional for investment advice.