- Vitalik Buterin, creator of Ethereum, reveals how World of Warcraft influenced him to make the blockchain
- A nerf to his favorite character made him see “what horrors centralized services can bring”
- Ethereum is only second to Bitcoin on the cryptocurrency market
The creator of the Ethereum blockchain, Vitalik Buterin, revealed how his World of Warcraft character being nerfed led him to create the popular cryptocurrency.
WoW Pushes Buterin to Create Ethereum
Like many gamers from the “golden age” of WoW in the late 2000s, Buterin’s life was also influenced by the game's groundbreaking mechanics and features. He revealed that this affected him in another, more positive way than others. Surprisingly, the reason why Buterin decided to make the Ethereum blockchain was when Blizzard decided to nerf his Warlock character.
As he states on the biography page of his official website, he was one of the many teens who happily played WoW during 2007-2010. One day Blizzard removed the damage component from the Warlock’s Siphon Life spell, a class Buterin played a lot. Naturally, he was quite upset as his favorite character was nerfed. According to his own words he “cried himself to sleep”.
In his bio, he says that this event caused him to realize “what horrors centralized services can bring.” A few years later in 2011, he discovered Bitcoin, which gave him new ideas. He decided to make his own cryptocurrency and for the next two years, he worked on the original concept for Ethereum, which launched in late 2013.
What Is Ethereum and How Does It Work?
Ethereum is the name of the blockchain, a.k.a. the system behind the cryptocurrency rather than the actual currency itself. The currency itself is called Ether (ETH).
According to Investopedia, the entire blockchain's market capitalization is estimated at a value of $25 billion, making it the second most valuable blockchain after Bitcoin, which is valued at $185 billion. The blockchain’s popularity has even affected other areas of the tech field, specifically, the computer graphics card market, probably due to them being often used by crypto miners.
According to Forbes, Ethereum is a platform that is ever-changing and has a massive community of users and developers behind it. This pressures the blockchain to evolve in search of innovation, which in turn pushes the currency to rise in value.
Because of this, there has been a massive decrease in graphics cards and an increase in their price. In early September, Ethereum’s price increased, causing an 18% rise in NVIDIA graphics card cost in China.
Ethereum is awaiting a 2.0 upgrade, which means Bitcoin will have its closest competitor be ever more present on the market.
