Ethereum co-founder Anthony Di Iorio cuts ties with crypto

In an interview with CoinDesk, Ethereum co-founder Anthony Di Iorio announced he’s quitting the crypto industry for good, setting a major drawback for the Ethereum community. The Canadian entrepreneur and early Bitcoin adopter said that this decision was for his personal safety.

‘I don’t feel necessarily safe in this space. If I was focused on larger problems, I think I’d be safer,’ Di Iorio said.

According to reports from news provider Bloomberg and Di Iorio’s testimonies, he has had a security team accompany him on his travels since 2017. 

However, this isn’t the only reason for his exit from the industry. In an interview with Bloomberg, Di Iorio opened up that security concerns only add up to 20% of this decision. He cited the risk profile and highly volatile nature of cryptocurrency as a reason for his leaving. 

‘It’s got a risk profile I am not too enthused about,’ he said.

No longer a ‘crypto person’

As part of his exit plan, Di Iorio will also be selling his Toronto-based blockchain firm Decentral, Inc. He estimates that the value of his company would be around ‘a few hundred million dollars,’ according to his interview with Bloomberg.

However, selling the company for cryptocurrency is out of the question. The report said that Di Iorio has already spoken to potential investors and expects to sell the company for fiat currency or business stake. 

The money he earns from selling Decentral, along with an undisclosed amount from his holdings, will be used to fund his philanthropic foundation by next year describing that the organisation would tackle ‘large problems.’

Moreover, Forbes also reported that Di Iorio is purportedly involved in an undisclosed zero-emission vehicle company according to Paraguay Congress member Carlos Rejala who is also a renowned Bitcoin enthusiast.

Although Di Iorio is leaving the crypto sphere, he said to Bloomberg that he’ll still be open to using blockchain technology moving forward. 

‘I will incorporate crypto when needed, but a lot of times, it’s not. It’s really a small percentage of what the world needs,’ he said.

Di Iorio, along with 8 other entrepreneurs and cryptographers including Vitalik Buterin, co-founded the Ethereum network in 2013 to spearhead smart contracts and decentralised apps on the platform. By the following year, he founded Decentral Inc. and created its flagship cryptocurrency wallet, Jaxx Liberty.

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