Ethereum founder bets Ukraine ‘may well become the next Web3 hub’

During his recent surprise visit to the Kyiv Tech Summit in Ukraine, Ethereum (ETH) creator Vitalik Buterin reiterated his support for the Ukrainians and expressed optimism about the country’s future in terms of advances in the field of Web3 and cryptocurrencies.

As it happens, Buterin took part in the Web3 hackathon held at UNIT.City, an innovation project and infrastructural complex to house promising technology startups, Ukrainian business magazine AINreported on September 10.

The hackathon was organized from September 6 to 9 by the charity blockchain fund Unchain Ukraine, Ukraine DAO, metaverse project Atlantis World, and Web3 community, with the purpose of developing software solutions that would help Ukraine during the ongoing war and after it is over.

Buterin admires progress amid war

At the meeting, the Ethereum founder said this was his first visit to Ukraine’s capital, prompted by his interest and admiration that such an important technological event was taking place there as the country is still embroiled in a war.

As Buterin highlighted:

“It is incredible. Be brave like Ukraine, right? I wanted to see for myself what kind of Ethereum-based projects and applications are being created here, to get to know the people behind them.”

He also expressed his belief that Ukrainians will continue making technological progress, powered by the creation of an active Web3 community, which has the potential to turn Ukraine into a Web3 hub. As he stressed:

“I think Ukraine may well become the next Web3 hub. The Ethereum Foundation has centers in Boulder, Berlin, Singapore, as communities have grown organically there. A country can become a Web3 hub if its people are actively interested in this technology and decide to make a big contribution to its development. (…) Ukraine has both the capabilities and the determination for this.”

It is worth noting that Buterin, who was born in the Russian city of Kolomna, has already donated millions of USD in ETH as a form of aid to Ukraine’s people and military in their war effort, while the Russian invasion of this country nears its seventh month.