Gavin Wood
Co-founder of Ethereum and creator of Polkadot, also known for developing the Solidity programming language and coining the term "Web3."
Who is Gavin Wood?
Dr. Gavin Wood is a computer scientist, Free-Trust Technologist, and founder of Polkadot, Kusama, Parity Technologies, the Web3 Foundation, and Ethereum. He played a foundational role in the early development of Ethereum, where he served as Chief Technology Officer and authored the Ethereum Yellow Paper. This document formally specifies the Ethereum Virtual Machine, defining how smart contracts are executed across the network. It remains one of the most technically rigorous blockchain specifications to date.
Wood also created Solidity, Ethereum’s smart contract language, and later founded the Web3 Foundation to support the development of decentralized technologies. His work laid the foundation for the Web3 movement and continues to influence how developers approach privacy, sovereignty, and interoperability in the digital world.
What is Gavin Wood’s role in the Polkadot ecosystem?
After leaving Ethereum, Gavin Wood founded the Web3 Foundation and Parity Technologies to bring the Polkadot vision to life. Polkadot was designed to address the scalability, interoperability, and governance challenges he observed in first-generation blockchains.
Wood wrote the Polkadot White Paper in 2016 and helped architect the protocol’s technical foundations, including the Polkadot Chain (aka Relay Chain), rollup model, and onchain governance system. He also led the development of the Polkadot SDK, a flexible framework for building custom blockchains that connect to the network.
Although Polkadot is now governed by its community, Wood remains an active voice in protocol development and ecosystem vision. He continues to write about the philosophy of Web3 and the need for systems that reduce reliance on trust and centralized authority.
What is Gavin Wood’s vision for Web3?
Gavin Wood coined the term “Web3” to describe an internet where users, not corporations, control their data, identity, and interactions. His vision emphasizes privacy, resilience, and individual sovereignty, with blockchain networks forming the foundation of this new internet architecture.
Through his work with the Web3 Foundation and Parity, Wood has supported the development of technologies that align with these goals, including secure messaging protocols, decentralized identity systems, and open governance frameworks. His vision continues to shape the Web3 ecosystem by prioritizing decentralization at both the technical and philosophical levels.
