Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin Could Receive Prestigious Nobel Prize

Key Points:

• Economist Tyler Cowen nominated Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin for the Nobel Prize in Economics.
• Cowen praised Buterin’s work in creating Ethereum and transitioning it from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake, which is a significant technical achievement in the crypto space.

Renowned economist Tyler Cowen has gone on record to suggest that Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin has earned consideration for the pending Nobel Prize in Economics.

Read more: Vitalik Buterin’s View On Privacy Amid Global Facial Recognition Concerns

Tyler Cowen Nominates Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin for the Nobel Prize in Economics

The surprise recommendation from Cowen came about during a podcast discussion he was having with fellow economist Alex Tabarrok, where he cited Buterin‘s contribution to cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.

Cowen underlined Buterin’s contribution to monetary economics, stressing what he had done with the revolutionary platform Ethereum.

“Vitalik built a platform, created a currency, you could say, refuted Mises’ regression theorem in the process, obviously following in the footsteps of Satoshi, but my goodness, what does someone have to do to get a Nobel Prize?” Cowen said, referring to Buterin’s challenge of traditional economic theory.

They also discussed Ethereum’s transition from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake without breaking the network. Tabarrok likened this to changing the “car tires while the car is moving? That’s what Ethereum did. Incredible.”

Buterin’s Philanthropy, Views on Cryptocurrency Underlined

Beyond the technical contributions, Cowen had really nice things to say about Buterin’s character: “super polite”, and he would be “wonderful at the ceremony”. He also called out Buterin’s philanthropy and deep thinking on global economic issues.

Cowen added that what sets Buterin apart is the fact that traditional or conventional economists have hardly contributed to the field of cryptocurrency. He further added that Buterin’s innovations came from the trail first laid out by Satoshi Nakamoto. He said that Nakamoto’s creation, Bitcoin, would also have made him a Nobel Prize winner if his anonymity and presumed death had not prevailed upon his decision not to come out in open society.

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin was also awarded earlier for the same activity in 2018, and he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Basel. The Nobel Prize in Economics will be announced on October 14.