Gavin James Wood is a software developer and computer scientist from England who is best known for co-founding Ethereum and Polkadot. He is the one responsible for the creation of Solidity, the computer language vital for creating smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. As one of the richest people in the world of crypto, Gavin Wood has an estimated net worth of $450 million.
Background
Lanchester, United Kingdom, is the birthplace of Wood. His exact birth date isn’t confirmed, but it is known that it’s in April 1980. From childhood, he has been fascinated by game theory and economics.
His neighbor Sean was the one who introduced him to programming when he got his first computer at nine years old. He went to Lancaster Royal Grammar School and earned a Master of Engineering (MEng) in Computer Systems and Software Engineering from the University of York in 2002.
Wood finished his Ph.D. in 2005. Before entering the crypto business, he worked as a consultant for Microsoft Research. The majority of the world’s first C++ language workbench was planned and built by him.
Co-Founding Ethereum
Gavin wasn’t interested in cryptocurrency at first. A mutual acquaintance connected him to his eventual Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. This was when he realized the possibilities of crypto.
Solidity is a programming language for generating smart contracts that Wood conceived and helped create. He also published the Ethereum Virtual Machine Yellow Paper.
He was the first Chief Technology Officer of the Ethereum organization. Having plans outside of Ethereum, Gavin Wood left the founding group back in 2016.
Creating Polkadot
Wood was looking ahead positively on Web 3.0. Thus, in October 2015, he co-founded Parity Technologies. It was formed to create a fundamental blockchain-based platform for Web 3.0 networks.
He started the Web3 Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to decentralized internet technology and infrastructure. The Polkadot network was their first project. He launched Kusama, a Polkadot early phase experimental application framework, in 2019.
Polkadot uses a Proof of Stake process instead of Ethereum’s Proof of Work approach. It allows developers to establish their own blockchain that can communicate with other ledgers, establishing a system of parachains.
Crypto Holdings
His engineering and blockchain knowledge has led to the successful launch of a number of blockchain-based software products. He believes in what crypto can do.
Wood disclosed that the Polkadot treasury currently has 18,936,300 DOT tokens sitting dormant. However, he never revealed how much of it is in his hands.
But it’s only reasonable to believe that he holds a considerable amount of crypto to secure his future. At the time of writing, DOT is trading around $16. Gavin’s wealth increases as the currency’s value climbs each day.
Personal Life
Gavin Wood is one of the people who are often suspected to be Satoshi Nakamoto. However, there are others such as Hal Finney and Adam Back who are better candidates.
Some believe he is Satoshi as he doesn’t reveal much about his personal life. Wood has remained tight-lipped about his private affairs. He has never mentioned anything about a wife or family in any of his interviews.
