I feel that vitalik created blockchain 2.0, which should be regarded as a milestone in the currency circle. In the world of blockchain, his contribution is second after Satoshi Nakamoto.
yes he became one of the most influential people in the crypto space after satoshi. but keep in mind that he also contributes to the shitcoin ecosystem in the crypto market. more than 50% of shitcoins are on the ethereum network, and have caused losses to investors. he made it easy for scammers to create crypto coins with his smart contract platform, giving the crypto market a negative sigma for years because of this.