Matthew Leising - The Amazing Story of Ethereum and the $55 Million Heist that Almost Destroyed It All

Matthew Leising

Copyright 2021 by Matthew Leising. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is Available:

ISBN 9781119602934 (Hardcover)
ISBN 9781119602958 (ePDF)
ISBN 9781119602941 (ePub)

COVER DESIGN: PAUL McCARTHY
COVER ART: GETTY IMAGES | JOSE A. BERNAT BACETE

For Rebecca, my life, my love. You always believed I could do this when I'd convinced myself otherwise. For that, you have my undying gratitude and thanks.

• Vitalik Buterin Ethereum inventor, ringleader, onetime fashion maven, and lover of bunnies
• Anthony Di Ilorio Created Toronto's first Bitcoin meetup, early and important investor in Ethereum, later pushed out in a power struggle
• Charles Hoskinson One of the first five cofounders, wanted to lead the project from the start, fired after six months for abusive and manipulative behavior
• Amir Chetrit Met Vitalik in Israel working on colored coins project, unclear what he contributed to Ethereum, fired for lack of commitment
• Mihai Alisie Cofounder of Bitcoin Magazine with Vitalik, helped set up Ethereum's Zug headquarters, business development
• Gavin Wood Architect of Ethereum, C++ client creator, a bit prickly, took Vitalik's vision and made it real
• Jeff Wilcke Created Ethereum's Go client, sided with developers on power struggle question
• Joe Lubin Early and important investor in Ethereum, former software developer and Wall Street software engineer, true believer, user of strange words, founder of Ethereum development studio ConsenSys

• Roxana Sureanu Helped get Bitcoin Magazine off the ground, willing hardscrabble traveler, turned the Spaceship House from a dwelling into a home
• Stephan Tual Ethereum evangelical, ran marketing for the project, has the gift of gab, one of three founders of slock.it, added to Ethereum leadership after Zug purge
• Christoph Jentzsch Helped debug Ethereum code in run up to 2015 launch, theoretical physicist by training, co-founded slock.it, really wishes he could revisit line 666 in the DAO code
• Mathias Grnnebk Helped establish Zug headquarters, reader of tax laws, worked for Charles Hoskinson, helped craft Ethereum Foundation business plan
• Taylor Gerring Helped secure Bitcoin raised in Ethereum crowdsale, taker of many photos, added to Ethereum leadership after Zug purge
• Anthony D'Onofrio Designer and software developer, helped improve early Ethereum web site, took drugs, saw future, one of the few people Gav Wood likes
• Emin Gn Sirer Blockchain pioneer, first to use proof of work to back a digital coin, Cornell associate professor of computer science, called unsuccessfully for a moratorium on the DAO then found the DAO bug and dismissed it
• Peter Vessenes Bitcoin pioneer, tangled with the Bitcoin Foundation, pointed out smart contract security issues
• Ming Chan First executive director of the Ethereum Foundation, whipped it into shape to keep it within its means, Vitalik favored her though she rubbed many the wrong way

• Alex Van de Sande Known as avsa, helped marshal the Robin Hood Group from his apartment in Rio, co-developed the Mist wallet, excellent husband, the one who pushed the button to start the DAO counterattack
• Griff Green The Mayor of Ethereum circa June 2016, hugger, visionary, driver of the RHG, slock.it's first employee, wants a sick jump shot but it's just not happening this time around
• Fabian Vogelsteller tech whiz who helped the RHG prepare to fight the ether thief, co-developed Mist wallet
• Lefteris Karapetsas coding guru, replicated DAO attack in a few hours
• Jordi Baylina helped the RHG drain remaining $4 million of ether from the DAO, coding genius, Spanish freedom fighter

• Dmitry Buterin Vitalik's dad, supportive father, hater of communists
• Natalia Buterin Vitalik's mom, patient mother, adventurous spirit
• Maia Buterin Vitalik's step mom, patiently waited for Vitalik's cooking

• Amber Baldet Hands-on builder, coder, vital within JPMorgan to link Ethereum to its in-house Quorum project
• Christine Moy Amber's first hire for Quorum within JPMorgan, finance master in all areas of the bank
• Patrick Nielsen Hired by Amber at JPMorgan, solved the privacy issue for the bank that gave birth to the Quorum ecosystem
• Marley Gray Microsoft director of blockchain and distributed ledger business development in 2015, lover of Andrew Keys, delivered on Microsoft's vision of a growth mindset by linking up with Ethereum
• Alex Batlin Ran UBS Labs, a fintech-focused unit at the Swiss bank, instrumental in creation of Enterprise Ethereum Alliance