How Writing 'The Cryptopians' Shaped My Views on Ethereum - Ep.324

In a fun change of pace, Steven Ehrlich, editor of Forbes Cryptoasset and Blockchain Advisor, joins Unchained to interview me about my book, The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze, which came out this week. We discuss…

• where the inspiration for “The Cryptopians” title came from
• why I wanted to write a book about Ethereum
• how Vitalik’s role changed over the course of Ethereum’s founding
• who the main characters in The Cryptopians are
• the biggest challenges Ethereum and the Ethereum Foundation faced in its early days
• Ethereum’s “red wedding” day
• what issues with crowdfunding and US securities laws were faced by early Ethereum founders
• how The DAO hack, along with the Shanghai attacks and Parity drama, shaped Ethereum
• what I discovered about Ming Chan’s time as the Ethereum Foundation director
• my biggest takeaways from researching ICOs
• why I think DAOs could be the next big thing
• whether or not I have an idea for a new book…

 

Thank you to our sponsors!

Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021  

Brave: http://brave.com/Unchained   

Coinchange: https://coinchange.io 

Episode Links

Laura Shin

• https://twitter.com/laurashin

The Cryptopians

• http://bit.ly/cryptopians 
• On Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Cryptopians-Idealism-Greed-Making-Cryptocurrency/dp/1541763017/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1645037311&sr=8-2
• On Barnes. &. Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-cryptopians-laura-shin/1138980345?ean=9781541763012 
• On Bookshop.org:  https://bookshop.org/books/the-cryptopians-idealism-greed-lies-and-the-making-of-the-first-big-cryptocurrency-craze/9781541763012

The Cryptopians content:

• CoinDesk: https://www.coindesk.com/video/coindesk-spotlight/laura-shin-on-the-cryptopians-and-what-she-discovered-investigating-the-ethereum-origin-story
• Alexis Garcia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOzujORW7fI 
• NFT Notes: https://shows.acast.com/ipse-dixit/episodes/nft-notes-21-laura-shin-on-the-story-of-ethereum 
• NYT Book Review: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/18/books/review/new-this-week.html 

 

DAO Hacker Reveal: 

• Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2022/02/22/exclusive-austrian-programmer-and-ex-crypto-ceo-likely-stole-11-billion-of-ether/
• Unchained: https://unchainedpodcast.com/exclusive-cryptos-biggest-whodunnit-who-was-behind-the-2016-dao-attack-on-ethereum/ 
• Medium: https://medium.com/@laurashin/who-hacked-the-dao-on-ethereum-heres-how-we-jumped-past-one-critical-step-60aec489a127
• Bulletin: https://laurashin.bulletin.com/who-was-behind-the-2016-dao-attack-on-ethereum-the-backstory-to-my-investigation
• Forbes on YouTube: ​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuICbAucfn0 
• Daily Tech News Show: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1306972988 

 

Steven Ehrlich

• https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenehrlich/?sh=fb976542ce44 
• https://twitter.com/Steven_Ehrlich 
• https://www.forbes.com/newsletters/forbescryptoassetadvisor/ 

 

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