Vitalik Buterin, the original creator of Ethereum blockchain, is one of the most recognizable figures in the cryptocurrency industry. He is often admired in the ecosystem to be very technical while being deeply philosophical as to the role of technology in society. For those who do not closely follow the crypto, Buterin clearly contrasts the stereotypical image of a billionaire of flashy cryptocurrency with its minimalism in its personal style as well as its geek and clumsy ways.
The documentary “Vitalik: An Ethereum Story”, which is scheduled for the world release on April 15, tries to give us an overview of these aspects of Buterin, after his first life and childhood in Russia, followed by immigration with his family in Toronto, Canada, where his love for computers and technology started in high school years.
At the heart of Buterin’s life was the creation of Ethereum, who came after his early participation in the Bitcoin community of Toronto, where he saw the potential of the assets to give people a certain financial freedom. While reflecting on how he could apply these concepts to other aspects of life, Buterin decided to write a white paper on the creation of the Blockchain version of the Internet.
Toronto has close links with the first days of Ethereum. He housed some of the first hackathons and meetings of Ethereum developers organized by Canadian co-founders of Ethereum in the city.
This year, Coindesk’s 2025 consensus takes place in Toronto from May 14 to 16, highlighting the dynamic cryptographic community of Canada.
The film runs through the different stages of Ethereum’s life, including the start of the network and the difficulties that Buerin was confronted in its new leadership role, the Blockchain boom during the NFT era, the importance of fusion in the reduction of Ethereum energy consumption and the desire to Buterin to help Ukraine with Russia by moving Crypto for resources.
Coindesk sat with the producers of the documentary, Chris Temple and Zach Ingrasci, to hear about their prospects on the creation of the film, before its world release.
This interview was modified by Brevity and Clarity.
Coindesk: Why did you want to make a documentary on Ethereum?
Ingrici Zach [ZI]:: Chris and I have been doing documentaries together for 15 years now. We make documentaries focused on the characters. So I really like these human stories which give us an overview of the emotions and motivations of people in really interesting places.
We are not crypto experts. We both studied the economy, so we have a little understanding of finance. But when we met Vitalik in 2021, I think he immediately clicked on something in our brain like: “Oh, here is a story that breaks the stereotypes that the consumer public has of this space.”
Quickly after meeting Vitalik, we made a crowdfund NFT for the film on Mirror.xyz, Peoplepleaser made the NFT. We essentially raised the full budget of the film, and this allowed us to create this story and an independent approach to follow Vitalik in the world, because it lives in a 40 -liter backpack
How did you decided what parts of Ethereum’s story include in the history of Vitalik? A notable moment that I thought interesting that you left out, was it not to include the 2016 DAO hack? Why exclude this key moment in the history of Ethereum but go to other moments?
ZI: It is the challenge of making these films. We had a very wide mandate, according to the community, not only focused on Vitalik. And then after two years of filming, we realized that the type of narrative structure would only make sense if you could follow a person and then meet the community through his eyes.
The Hack Dao is very confusing to explain, and there is therefore one element of what in its essence is important. And I think, you know, the time for Vitalik to decide whether the Ethereum Foundation would be non -profit compared to a profit is a very understandable concept for a consumer public. They get it.
As you mentioned, there was the first a few months ago, and it was only accessible to chain people. If the film is intended for a consumer audience, why first decide to publish it in a chain, instead of a streaming platform where more of these people can access it?
ZI: It is a practical response. The documentary industry is broken, so having an independent film first on a general public platform even means nothing, unless you have real marketing. And so in fact, the chain outlet, the NFT, the release of the trailer on Zora, the sponsorship construction for this consumer version is essential.
Temple of Chris [CT]:: People love the film, and rallied behind and were interested and shared them with their mothers, being like: “Hey, that’s what I do in life.”
It’s not just our film, this film belongs to the community. And I think that empowering it with this first step, and using the technology that the film was quite just for us.
How did you convince Vitalik to make the film? He is not very relaxed for the media, so how did you led him to accept to do so?
ZI: I think we were very lucky in some ways. It was before he was on the first page of Time magazine. I think he was motivated to talk about what he believed that the future of Ethereum should look like, and how to build it, and people should focus on building things that have real value.
So I think we have just met him at the perfect time when he and the people around him sought to have access to a wider audience.
I think that in the end, this is what makes us the perfect participant of a film for us, because his reluctance to be for this purpose, this authentic authenticity. You can say about the film that he is not trying to tip the spotlight. It is something with which he is uncomfortable, and something that took a long journey to find where his voice is and how he should be.
CT: It was a very difficult production, more than any film we have never made, because Vitalik is nomadic, it is all over the world, and it says: “I’m going to be in Montenegro tomorrow … if you want to come.” We must immediately try to dismember and bring everyone there just to get these moments, even if it is only a few hours with Vitalik.
Recently, there have been a lot of leadership changes at EF, and Vitalik was at the heart of making the decision on these changes. The film shows how uncomfortable Vitalik can be in this leadership role and have to make basic decisions as if the EF should be a non-profit non-profit organization and go against certain co-founders.
Given all the key decisions he had to make in the past few months and a key leader of Ethereum, what do you think that his mind has gone through and has it become more comfortable in his role as leadership?
ZI: I really can’t speak for Vitalik, but I think that is why this film has never been so relevant. Because if we are looking for a glimpse of how Vitalik thinks and what to him, I think that what to do with him the most is that Ethereum will be useful in the world.
There is an important quote in the film on “Si Ethereum is only used for speculation, it is a huge missed opportunity.” It is therefore not surprising that Vitalik did not go to the White House [to meet with President Trump]. Vitalik cares about how this tool will be used in the long term for a real and positive change in the world. It is uncomfortable with the conflict, we know that we see it in the film. So I can’t imagine that it was an easy process for him.
But you can certainly say that he started to understand how to use his voice in this ecosystem and use his kind of soft power.
Read more: The Ethereum Foundation chooses new co-executive directors, after the reshuffle of leadership
What is filming in Ukraine during the start of the Russian invasion? And why does Vitalik feel so connected to this cause?
ZI: We have a certain experience of filming on the borders of war areas. Fortunately, at that time, kyiv was relatively safe.
It was really the idea of Vitalik, he always wanted to support the pirates there. Vitalik had just the impression that he could be there to support them, and it is something he cares so deep for two reasons: 1) he actually has a Ukrainian ancestry and 2) coming from Russia, I think he regrets having met Putin.
Then, there is also really one of the first concrete examples of real positive impact in the world, how the crypto is used when the banking system was in chaos, and so quickly obtained money from front lines.
There is a deleted scene where he plays chess with Fedorov, the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine. But you know, Fedorov was talking about the way thousands of their soldiers were saved because of this $ 100 million that Vitalik raised in crypto was quickly mobilized.
What do you hope that your audience takes off this film?
CT: Documentaries are bad in information, but they are perfect for provoking questions and obtaining emotions. If we can inspire an audience to be more wise and think more critically about technology, not only in these extremes of all this is bad or everything is good, but to understand a little of this spectrum in the middle there, and look at the positive and negative consequences of technology.
I think this kind of techno optimism is the heart of what this film really is. Helping anyone to apply these lessons, whether in the crypto, within AI, because technology will simply continue to change and have an impact on our lives.
The film talks about Vitalik as a person, but also a bit of the story of Ethereum. So is Vitalik = Ethereum?
Zi: I don’t think he is, and I think that is what he hoped for at this stage. I hope it gets into the film, and that’s why we called it A Ethereum Story, because I think it is one of the many who is told. I think this is where Vitalik succeeded because he is not Ethereum.
