William Shatner Defends Ethereum Creator Vitalik Buterin in Cryptic Tweets

Eighty-seven-year-old Canadian actor and producer William Shatner just made some mysterious tweets supporting ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin.

Shatner, a popular figure for his role in the Star Trek TV series, first tweeted a "thumbs up" to Buterin on Wednesday, which was quick to turn into a discussion thread.

In a reply to Shatner's tweet, one coder named "premine apologist" said about Buterin, "He's a literal scammer", adding that it is not possible to develop decentralized technology on ethereum.

To that, Shatner went on to defend the blockchain network, saying:

"Then as a coder – go develop your own blockchain technology where you can be 1000% sure of decentralization. Or shove money in a mattress. I hear that's only overseen by the bed bug community."

Later in the thread, the coder further described  Buterin as "dangerous." Shatner responded:

"His viewpoints don't take into account the fact that the code has to be audited by an auditing firm and approved by consortium or it doesn't get accepted. He thinks it exists in a bubble. That's why we have ERC-20, ERC-721... ERC-1701"

Some other comments on the thread appeared to be largely impressed by Shatner's understanding of the crypto world and that he was putting out his views out there.

One tweeted: "OMG William Shatner is listing ERC standards in order to school a crypto troll."

This is not the first time that Shatner has spoken of blockchain and cryptocurrency on Twitter. In a tweet about ethereum and Buterin earlier this week, he said: 

"@BobSummerwill the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance? Are we absolutely sure @VitalikButerin isn't a Star Wars fan? I've heard rumors...some started by myself!"

Shatner first beamed into the crypto space last year, when he publicly endorsed token sales. Then, in June 2018, the actor announced he was representing Solar Alliance, an alternate energy developer planning to build a solar-powered bitcoin mining facility in Illinois.

William Shatner image via Shutterstock

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.