Eleven Years After Genesis, Eight Co-Founders and Zero Group Chats 👻

Eleven years after the Ethereum Genesis Block was mined on July 30, 2015, the network's eight original founders have dispersed into markedly different trajectories, ranging from continued protocol stewardship to quiet exits and unrelated ventures. Ethereum's market capitalization has grown to over $230 billion, according to CoinGecko, making it the second-largest blockchain by that measure.

Vitalik Buterin remains the figure most closely identified with Ethereum, continuing his work with the Ethereum Foundation and serving as its public voice. Joseph Lubin has pursued one of the most active entrepreneurial paths among the co-founders, while Charles Hoskinson departed to found Cardano after his own tenure at Ethereum ended under circumstances detailed in Laura Shin's book "Cryptopians," which described a forced exit alongside Amir Chetrit during what Shin labeled "Game of Thrones Day." Year-to-date, $ETH has lost approximately 36% of its value, while Cardano has lost approximately 55%, according to the figures cited in the source material.

Anthony Di Iorio has pursued a partial exit from the sector. In a 2021 interview with Bloomberg, he said he doesn't "feel necessarily safe in this space" and described crypto as "really a small percentage of what the world needs." He later founded Andiami, which describes itself as "building the tools to power the decentralized future," though the project's last post on X dates to early 2023 and its YouTube, Instagram and blog have been silent since 2022.

Mihai Alisie, who previously founded Bitcoin Magazine alongside Buterin, continues to list himself as the founder of the AKASHA Project on LinkedIn, though that foundation has reportedly closed in recent months. Amir Chetrit, previously the founder of Colored Coins, remains active in crypto on a low public profile following his departure from Ethereum. Hoskinson, beyond Cardano, has pursued outside ventures including the now-shuttered Hoskinson Health and Wellness Clinic, and at one point implied he was Satoshi Nakamoto, according to Shin's account.

The varied paths illustrate how a founding cohort that once shared a single Genesis Block has since fragmented into protocol development, rival chains, decentralized-identity ventures, and, in at least one case, an explicit attempt to step back from the industry entirely.