The invention of the Polkadot blockchain has definitely become one of the most significant developments of recent years, with the potential to reshape a wide range of industries and sectors, including finance, healthcare, and supply chain management. But how much do you know about its founder, Gavin Wood?
We bet not much, but we’re sure you’d be interested to learn more about his background and what net worth he has amassed as a result of this groundbreaking invention.
Gavin Wood’s Background
Gavin Wood is from England. There he was born, studied, and received his master’s degree in Computer Systems and Software Engineers. He didn’t stop there and decided to pursue his Ph.D. on the topic of “Content-based visualization” to assist in the shared navigation of musical audio, which he successfully finished in 2005.
With this kind of background, it’s not surprising that he very soon secured himself a job at one of the leading tech companies, Microsoft. That’s where he gained a wealth of experience and knowledge in computer systems and software engineering.
In 2013, he started to work together with Anthony Di Iorio, Vitalik Buterin, Charles Hoskinson, and Joseph Lubin on the Ethereum project where he was the first one to embrace the role of a CTO. Three years later, he left Ethereum and entirely focused on his own project – Parity Technologies (formerly known as Ethcore).
Today, it is one of the largest UK-based open-source companies providing Ethereum solutions for businesses, with an estimated annual revenue of over $66.1M.
In 2022, he stepped down as the company’s CEO, while remaining one of its major shareholders.
In 2017, he created the Web3 Foundation, where he’s still acting as president. This is a non-profit organization that aims to help development teams advance applications of decentralized web software and build a space where data management can be simplified.
Another project of Wood, Kusama, was founded in 2019. Designed as a pre-production environment for Polkadot, it provides developers with a practical means to test new applications and blockchains.
Wood’s Net Worth
At the time of writing this, the net worth of Gavin Wood is estimated at $1.1 billion, making him one of the richest people in the crypto space.
When the war in Ukraine broke out, Wood made a promise to donate 5m of crypto to support the country in its fight against Russia. In March 2022, he donated $5.8 million.