If you follow cryptocurrencies at all, or even if you don’t, you’ve probably heard that the industry is currently experiencing an ongoing surge. Over the last few days, crypto ranging from Bitcoin to Dogecoin have soared, including Ethereum.

On Monday, Ethereum climbed to new market heights as it became one of the most valuable cryptocurrencies around with a token worth roughly $3,200, which has since climbed to over $3,400. Astonishingly, its total market capitalization is now higher than even Bank of America.

Alongside this surge, Ethereum’s 27-year-old creator Vitalik Buterin has recently become the world’s youngest crypto billionaire.

Congratulations @VitalikButerin 🎉
How it started How it's going pic.twitter.com/KLf18O6jtx

— wolfofethereum.eth🐬 (@LUKACACIC) May 3, 2021

In 2013 when Buterin was just 19, he created Ethereum and launched it two years later in 2015. All these years later, Ethereum has gone up and down in value, but with about 333,500 Ether (ETH) in his public wallet combined with the current value, Buterin’s worth in ETH alone is now more than $1 billion.

In 2021 alone, ETH has more than quadrupled in value as it’s risen around 375 percent (from around $700 at the beginning of the year). While Bitcoin still commands the largest share of market value in digital currencies, Ethereum is now nearly half the market capitalization of BTC (total value in circulation is now roughly $403 billion).

I still love that @VitalikButerin was inspired to spend more time in crypto after Blizzard removed a damage component from WoW.

"I cried myself to sleep, and on that day I realized what horrors centralized services can bring." pic.twitter.com/YzKge42Vb9

— Blake Robbins (@blakeir) April 29, 2021

Both Buterin and Ethereum’s recent success this year is at least somewhat due to the rapid rise of NFTs and the crypto art space, which has sold tens of millions of dollars in 2021 alone. The reason for this is that ETH is the cryptocurrency of choice for purchasing and minting such crypto-collectibles.

Among Buterin’s success, he recently donated 100 ETH and 100 Maker tokens (valued at $220,000 and $400,000) to COVID-19 relief efforts in India.