Co-founder of Ethereum accepts invitation to visit Pakistan

• Bilal Bin Saqib, who is working on such a conference to be held in future, invites Vilatik Buterin.
• Ethereum is one of the fastest growing, most popular blockchains after Bitcoin Network.
• Bilal and Buterin have been mentioned on Forbes 30 under 30 lists.

LONDON: The co-founder of one of the most popular cryptocurrencies, Ethereum, has accepted an invitation to visit Pakistan in the future.

Vilatik Buterin was extended an invitation to visit Pakistan for an Ethereum conference by Bilal Bin Saqib, who is working on such a conference to be held in the future.

Bilal, the only Pakistani speaker at the biggest NFT conferences this year, NFT NYC and ETH Barcelona, said that he also attended the Ethereum Community Conference last week, where he met Buterin.

Buterin graciously accepted Bilal’s invitation and said that he was keen to visit Pakistan in the future for the conference, Bilal said.

Buterin is co-founder of Ethereum. With a market cap of 187.739B, Ethereum is one of the fastest growing and most popular blockchains after the Bitcoin Network. Ether has increased in price from $0.311 since its launch in 2015 to around $4,800 at its highest this year. Investors have nearly quadrupled their investment every year since the summer of 2014 with an ROI of nearly 300%.

Buterin expects Ethereum to be a fundamental part of the much-hyped Metaverse. Ethereum will be “ruling the Metaverse” in ten years, according to Buterin. He was awarded the Thiel Fellowship Award in 2014 to bring his projects to life. He also defeated Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook to win the World Technology Network (WTN) prize for IT software in 2014. Buterin is also part of the Fortune 40 under 40 list.

Bilal and Buterin both also have been mentioned on the Forbes 30 under 30 lists. Their paths crossed at EthCC, the Ethereum Community Conference.

“I explained to Vitalik Buterin about our plans to host a conference in Pakistan soon, and he accepted the invitation, showing keen interest in the Pakistani market. The Web3 domain in Pakistan is a new phenomenon, and it provides education and opportunities to the youth of Pakistan,” Bilal said.

Before stepping into the Web3 domain, Bilal had made a name for himself in Pakistan and internationally. He was mentioned in the Forbes 30 under 30 Asia list for 2020 for his efforts to ease water accessibility through his social enterprise, Tayaba Organisation which was one of the first charities in the world to raise funds through NFTs for water-scarce areas of Pakistan. 

He was also recently awarded the Points of Light Award by the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson for One Million Meals, an initiative he co-founded. Bilal was also mentioned in the Pakistani foreign minister’s honours list in April 2021 for his service to the community in the United Kingdom.

Bilal completed his MSc in Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship from the London School of Economics and returned to Pakistan. He also sits on the advisory council for the school of business management, Queen Mary University of London. His brother Momin Saqib is a well-known influencer and actor.