Thinking Out-Of-The-Box: The Case of ConsenSys, Ethereum and Joe Lubin
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he Founder of ConsenSys, and Co-founder of Ethereum, Canadian technology entrepreneur Joseph Lubin, believes that blockchain technology will change the world. He also believes in the idea of decentralisa on, especially when it comes to the Ethereum Project.
However, a recent ar cle in Forbes by Jeff Kauflin has shaken things up, claiming that Cryptopia is in crisis, and “Joe Lubin’s Ethereum experiment is a mess”. ConsenSys reacted with an extensive sta s cal report, no ng that “Ethereum is strong. It is diverse, it is growing, and it is receiving attention from individuals and industry players across the world.” To understand the situation, it’s important to start from the beginning, 30 europeanbusinessmagazine.com
designed for any type of decentralised application that developers would want to build. This system was called ‘Ethereum’. A er Buterin unveiled his idea, other entrepreneurs wished to join the game: and Lubin was among them. They hoped that Ethereum would go beyond bitcoin in its ability to serve as the founda on for a host of other digital tokens, applica ons and cryptographically binding agreements. back in 2013 when Joe Lubin met Vitalik Buterin. Buterin, who was 19 years old at the time, had released a white paper, outlining his vision for a new blockchain network and cryptocurrency. It described an alterna ve pla orm
Lubin was in his mid-50- es at that time, often referred to as “one of the adults in the room”. He was also the one who put up 95 per cent of the funding for Ethereum. However, quite soon philosophical differences divided the team, and they decided to go separate ways. Buterin and a