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The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze
The story of the idealists, technologists, and opportunists fighting to bring cryptocurrency to the masses.In their short history, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have gone through booms, busts, and internecine wars, recently reaching a market valuation of more than $2 trillion. The central promise of crypto endures—vast fortunes made from decentralized networks not controlled by any single entity and not yet regulated by many governments.The recent growth of crypto would have been all but impossible if not for a brilliant young man named Vitalik Buterin and his Ethereum. In this book, Laura Shin takes readers inside the founding of this novel cryptocurrency network, which enabled users to launch their own new coins, thus creating a new crypto fever. She introduces readers to larger-than-life characters like Buterin, the Web3 wunderkind; his short-lived CEO, Charles Hoskinson; and Joe Lubin, a former Goldman Sachs VP who became one of crypto’s most well-known billionaires. Sparks fly as these outsized personalities fight for their piece of a seemingly limitless new business opportunity.This fascinating book shows the crypto market for what it really a deeply personal struggle to influence the coming revolution in money, culture, and power.
497 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 22, 2022
300 people are currently reading
2792 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 90 reviews
January 17, 2022
5/10 (rounded up to 3 stars)
Laura is a former writer for Forbes, she’s been covering crypto for years and hosts Unchained, arguably the best, most insightful podcast available about web3/cryptocurrency.
Cryptopians is the story of how Ethereum was created and grew. Laura has done a massive amount of research for this book. Her knowledge is impressive - it’s one of the reasons why I was excited to read it.
For the record, I am technologically savvy, I know more than the average joe about crypto but I am by no means an expert.
Ok, you’ve got the background, let me talk about the book.
This book is probably going to be loved by crypto insiders. The people who have been investing or playing with crypto since the beginning, the ones who understand the technology and know the players. Though that is a relatively small group of people, it’s a passionate niche.
For others, it’s a tough read. I was really hoping/expecting this book would be written more like Nick Bilton’s “American Kingpin” - which took the complexities of Silk Road and Bitcoin, and made them understandable for all.
I gave/give kudos to Laura for the massive amount of research she did on this book. Unfortunately, it seems she was compelled to use every item of her research. As a result, there is so much pointless minutiae in the book (eg a paragraph about the beer brands people had at their wedding), it’s tough to keep track of the story.
The thing is, there’s a good story in here it just needs to be brought out.
The book is organized by dates which, IMHO, doesn’t matter because there isn’t any suspense around the dates. They mean nothing. The story in my mind is about the personalities and interpersonal dynamics that led to the creation of Ethereum. This book would’ve been much more compelling if, say, a section was first about Vitalik, then Ming… highlighting the individuals in their journey.
Anyway, I’m glad I read it. I had to power through the last half and try to sift through the minutiae but I made it.
Again, if you’re a crypto insider, you’ll probably love this book. For others wanting to better understand Crypto, listen to Laura’s podcast, Unchained. It’s still slightly advanced for the newbie, but it’s still highly compelling.
#netgalley #cryptopians
Laura is a former writer for Forbes, she’s been covering crypto for years and hosts Unchained, arguably the best, most insightful podcast available about web3/cryptocurrency.
Cryptopians is the story of how Ethereum was created and grew. Laura has done a massive amount of research for this book. Her knowledge is impressive - it’s one of the reasons why I was excited to read it.
For the record, I am technologically savvy, I know more than the average joe about crypto but I am by no means an expert.
Ok, you’ve got the background, let me talk about the book.
This book is probably going to be loved by crypto insiders. The people who have been investing or playing with crypto since the beginning, the ones who understand the technology and know the players. Though that is a relatively small group of people, it’s a passionate niche.
For others, it’s a tough read. I was really hoping/expecting this book would be written more like Nick Bilton’s “American Kingpin” - which took the complexities of Silk Road and Bitcoin, and made them understandable for all.
I gave/give kudos to Laura for the massive amount of research she did on this book. Unfortunately, it seems she was compelled to use every item of her research. As a result, there is so much pointless minutiae in the book (eg a paragraph about the beer brands people had at their wedding), it’s tough to keep track of the story.
The thing is, there’s a good story in here it just needs to be brought out.
The book is organized by dates which, IMHO, doesn’t matter because there isn’t any suspense around the dates. They mean nothing. The story in my mind is about the personalities and interpersonal dynamics that led to the creation of Ethereum. This book would’ve been much more compelling if, say, a section was first about Vitalik, then Ming… highlighting the individuals in their journey.
Anyway, I’m glad I read it. I had to power through the last half and try to sift through the minutiae but I made it.
Again, if you’re a crypto insider, you’ll probably love this book. For others wanting to better understand Crypto, listen to Laura’s podcast, Unchained. It’s still slightly advanced for the newbie, but it’s still highly compelling.
#netgalley #cryptopians
March 25, 2022
Really deeply researched and well sourced. I think this is a great book for someone who wants to know every step along the way to creating Ethereum. The problem is that this book seemed to bill itself as a high-level scope of several organizations in the crypto community. It is not that. It is a month by month dive into conflicts and dramas around the original Ethereum team and their efforts in creating the technology up until about 2018.
March 10, 2022
Amazingly well sourced. The definitive history of the formation of Ethereum and the drama between founding and approximately 2020. Lots of insight into the personalities (and seems accurate for the ~4 of them I know reasonably well personally, so I'll assume accurate for the others), and for events. One of the most interesting revelations: the DAO Hacker is identified fairly conclusively for the first time as Tony Hoenisch, an Austrian living in Singapore, co-founder of TenX.
Shin is a great author and journalist and I'd love to see her write similar books about early Bitcoin and about other aspects of crypto.
Shin is a great author and journalist and I'd love to see her write similar books about early Bitcoin and about other aspects of crypto.
May 3, 2022
First, this is a relatively long book with lots of expository detail for such a young field. For example, following some of the on-chain analyses of transaction histories can be quite tedious. Speaking for myself, the motivation to finish this book is a result of a prior interest in crypto & the cast of characters: this isn't purely a work of Gonzo journalism that makes itself into a thrilling page-turner. However, the book does have a good bit of Gonzo style where the characters merit its use which helps to smoothen out the technical details, which in many cases, are unavoidable & necessary to complete the picture. In other words, you might call it a Gonzo-Anthology: splitting the difference between an amicus brief and Tom Wolfe.
The main arc of the book follows "Vitalik & the merry pranksters" as they shift from authoring computer code to authoring moral & ethical codes in their respective communities. Big egos from finance collide with even bigger egoed anarchists, libertarians, whitehat and blackhat hackers. Technical fires stemming from hacks & exploited vulnerabilities in the code become political fires as the solutions have tradeoffs that leave some parties better off than others, rekindling the classic Lasswellian dispute: who gets what, when, and how.
I would not throw this book to friends & family as a first foray into the field, but for those who are already engrossed with Ethereum, like myself, this is a mandatory read.
The main arc of the book follows "Vitalik & the merry pranksters" as they shift from authoring computer code to authoring moral & ethical codes in their respective communities. Big egos from finance collide with even bigger egoed anarchists, libertarians, whitehat and blackhat hackers. Technical fires stemming from hacks & exploited vulnerabilities in the code become political fires as the solutions have tradeoffs that leave some parties better off than others, rekindling the classic Lasswellian dispute: who gets what, when, and how.
I would not throw this book to friends & family as a first foray into the field, but for those who are already engrossed with Ethereum, like myself, this is a mandatory read.
June 17, 2022
As someone that got heavily involved in web3 this year, I got excited about this book when I saw Laura Shin post about the identity of the DAO hacker revealed!
Much to my disappointment though, there is virtually no mention of the story of how she found his identity or anything else I didn't already know (you're better off listening to one of her recent podcast interviews).
Instead, this book is almost identical to Matthew Leising's book "Out of the Ether", in that it gives a history of the early days of Ethereum, the interpersonal relationships, the forming of the DAO, the hack and its aftermath.
I found Leising's book slightly more entertaining though, mainly because it didn't spend all its time boring you with the details of the arguments within the forming of Ethereum and "company drama".
Although this book is very well researched, I feel it lacks an interesting story. Instead of looking at the implications of Ethereum, how it changed the world, some of the early use cases or a look into the personal lives of its early adopters, it spends its time talking about things I had no interest in, like how "Ming" (the former executive director of Ethereum) was a bad hire, doesn't work well with others and had arguments on Skype calls. I wanted to like this book, but I found it petty, full of drama, and worst of all, a little bit too boring.
Much to my disappointment though, there is virtually no mention of the story of how she found his identity or anything else I didn't already know (you're better off listening to one of her recent podcast interviews).
Instead, this book is almost identical to Matthew Leising's book "Out of the Ether", in that it gives a history of the early days of Ethereum, the interpersonal relationships, the forming of the DAO, the hack and its aftermath.
I found Leising's book slightly more entertaining though, mainly because it didn't spend all its time boring you with the details of the arguments within the forming of Ethereum and "company drama".
Although this book is very well researched, I feel it lacks an interesting story. Instead of looking at the implications of Ethereum, how it changed the world, some of the early use cases or a look into the personal lives of its early adopters, it spends its time talking about things I had no interest in, like how "Ming" (the former executive director of Ethereum) was a bad hire, doesn't work well with others and had arguments on Skype calls. I wanted to like this book, but I found it petty, full of drama, and worst of all, a little bit too boring.
April 20, 2022
I didn’t think I’d like this book, but Laura Shin did an incredible job. I typically don’t read books that are stories about events, which is why I stay away from history books and biographies. But, as someone who dabbles in crypto investing and is a huge believer that crypto and blockchain technology can be used to help underprivileged people, I finally decided to give this book a read. And I can honestly say that from start to finish, Laura Shin kept my attention. Her documenting of the history of Etherium and the major players was impressive, and I can’t imagine putting this all together in a cohesive way.
The book primarily focuses on those involved in creating Etherium and all of the wins and losses they endured. There’s a lot of he said/she said from all of the people in this book, but it’s interesting nonetheless. I really enjoyed learning about the philosophical conversations these people and the crypto community were having as they created this new technology. And as a newer investor in crypto, I found it valuable to learn about the hacks that led to the “hard fork” on the network and how they came to the decision.
While this book doesn’t completely focus on how the technology works like other books I’ve read, Shin did a fantastic job giving a top-level explanation for various aspects of crypto. You’ll get a basic idea of how it all works from Etherium to DAOs and more. I don’t really have any criticisms, but one additional comment I’ll make is that some of her physical descriptions of the people in the book like Vitalik seemed a little harsh even though I don’t think she did it out of malice.
But yes, I do recommend this book if you’re interested in the origins of the second-largest crypto and its origins.
The book primarily focuses on those involved in creating Etherium and all of the wins and losses they endured. There’s a lot of he said/she said from all of the people in this book, but it’s interesting nonetheless. I really enjoyed learning about the philosophical conversations these people and the crypto community were having as they created this new technology. And as a newer investor in crypto, I found it valuable to learn about the hacks that led to the “hard fork” on the network and how they came to the decision.
While this book doesn’t completely focus on how the technology works like other books I’ve read, Shin did a fantastic job giving a top-level explanation for various aspects of crypto. You’ll get a basic idea of how it all works from Etherium to DAOs and more. I don’t really have any criticisms, but one additional comment I’ll make is that some of her physical descriptions of the people in the book like Vitalik seemed a little harsh even though I don’t think she did it out of malice.
But yes, I do recommend this book if you’re interested in the origins of the second-largest crypto and its origins.
August 7, 2022
This book is a history of Ethereum, focusing on the creators and major players involved. It feels like this is this sequel to "Digital Gold" by Nathaniel Popper. In that book, he gave a history of Bitcoin and the major players involved from 2009-2014. Laura starts in 2014, just before the launch of Ethereum, and finishes at the end of the bull run in Jan 2018. Both books are very complementary, and well-written histories of the two largest blockchains.
I found her historical telling both entertaining and helpful. Some of the people who helped create Ethereum moved on and created their own blockchains. Through her recounting of history, I grew to trust one of them (Gavin Wood), the creator of Polkadot, and now have a strong distrust in the other, Charles Hoskinson (creator of Cardano). So in this way, it was informative and will help guide my future investments. Beyond that, it was inspiring to be a fly on the wall, watching this new revolutionary tech launch and to feel what it's like to be on the ground floor.
The only critique I have, is there are no heroes in her story. I can't recall anyone that she didn't paint with a bad brush (some far worse than others). I realize it's history and she has to work with the facts, but it's just odd that there is no one to look up to in the story, even with a myriad of characters. It is clear that she researched well, and when someone disputes a claim, she does mention it. So while I couldn't find fault in her methodology of research and writing, I just found it hard to believe that no one is a hero in the history of Ethereum. I had to conclude that the author intentionally chose to focus on the flaws of the people covered (maybe it's to be more entertaining?). This is a minor critique, that doesn't take away from the incredible research and historical recording that took place of such an important time in history.
For fans of crypto, start with Digital Gold and then read this book. You'll come out with a deeper knowledge of blockchains, our history, as well as a look at the leaders in our community. I was sad when both books ended and can't wait to see who picks up from 2018 onwards.
I found her historical telling both entertaining and helpful. Some of the people who helped create Ethereum moved on and created their own blockchains. Through her recounting of history, I grew to trust one of them (Gavin Wood), the creator of Polkadot, and now have a strong distrust in the other, Charles Hoskinson (creator of Cardano). So in this way, it was informative and will help guide my future investments. Beyond that, it was inspiring to be a fly on the wall, watching this new revolutionary tech launch and to feel what it's like to be on the ground floor.
The only critique I have, is there are no heroes in her story. I can't recall anyone that she didn't paint with a bad brush (some far worse than others). I realize it's history and she has to work with the facts, but it's just odd that there is no one to look up to in the story, even with a myriad of characters. It is clear that she researched well, and when someone disputes a claim, she does mention it. So while I couldn't find fault in her methodology of research and writing, I just found it hard to believe that no one is a hero in the history of Ethereum. I had to conclude that the author intentionally chose to focus on the flaws of the people covered (maybe it's to be more entertaining?). This is a minor critique, that doesn't take away from the incredible research and historical recording that took place of such an important time in history.
For fans of crypto, start with Digital Gold and then read this book. You'll come out with a deeper knowledge of blockchains, our history, as well as a look at the leaders in our community. I was sad when both books ended and can't wait to see who picks up from 2018 onwards.
December 28, 2025
Very well researched. My biggest complaint is the conciseness, it often felt like Laura Shin included every detail of her research regardless of its relevance to the overall story. Shin does mention when people in the story recount different memories on what happened, but the book reads as though Vitalik’s narrative is canonical and everyone else’s is just a footnote.
I didn’t like how the story basically revolved around the team’s qualms about Ming near the end. I just didn’t think it was that interesting or important.
I didn’t like how the story basically revolved around the team’s qualms about Ming near the end. I just didn’t think it was that interesting or important.
April 12, 2022
Impressed by the level of detail. Great tour of the triumphs and turmoil of Ethereum's early days. The chapters are divided into time periods, which is fine, but I wish the author would step back and highlight big picture developments more. She sometimes went into excruciating detail on interpersonal relationships that made it difficult to keep track of high level developments.
October 5, 2023
An interesting profile of the Ethereum craze and all the wild actors—including a mix of fraudsters and adults who act like children—who brought the cryptocurrency to life. I finished the book feeling like the whole industry is a modern-day Ponzi scheme. The book could’ve done without some of the tangential details but overall offers a meticulously reported account of Ethereum’s initial years.
March 18, 2022
Tour de force!!! This Ethereum history is part novel, part textbook, part pantheon. One of the most nutritious crypto-meals you can devour. Bravo, Laura Shin!
March 1, 2022
Maybe this is not my genre, but I found it pretty boring, like reading a journal written in 3rd person, so you get all the claims/facts/minutiae and none of the emotion. Laura's podcast is good though.
February 28, 2022
I was a huge fan of this book. It's the first time I've really been able to wrap my mind around the human element of cryptocurrency (possibly because the most crypto-obsessed people I know tend to deny that there is one). Shin is an incredible writer, and it's a very compelling story. I laughed out loud at many of the reddit/tweet threads. Highly recommend.
May 9, 2022
Laura Shin's book The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze ought to be read by anyone interested in this space due to the importance of its topic - the founding of Ethereum, the most significant smart contract blockchain there is - and the depth of the author's research.
The 'depth' of research is also, unfortunately, the reason the book 'only' scores a 3-star, despite my desperately wanting to give it more. Why do I say this? Because in my view there is a real dearth of evidence-based reporting on the origins, histories and characters behind blockchains and this could have perfectly filled that gap.
While undoubtedly the huge volumes of information Shin collected are vital for accuracy, the use of so much 'he said, she said' evidence from sources, repeated verbatim, is exceptionally taxing. This book would have benefited strongly from a severe edit that removed a lot of the 'working' (for want of a better word) and placed it into annexes, online repositories and so on. This would have ensured the key story - which is fascinating and relevant - remained the star of the show. As it is, the reader gets rapidly bogged down in nuanced detailing of the different versions of events from multiple points of view. There is, in short, a real lack of synthesis to the underlying evidence that surprised me for an experienced reporter.
A couple more features also started to grate as I worked through this lengthy book. Shin repeatedly insists on quoting price rises in text: "ETH didn't rally again from its mid-June ... high of more than $414 until November ... Six days later, ETH busted through $500 ... hit an all-time high of more than $657 and, the day after, broke a new record at just shy of $748" and so on and so on. Why not just use a graph? Or tell us the endpoints or the key information?
Something a lot of writers do but that always irritates is overwrought physical descriptions of 'new characters', e.g. "Another Skype participant was Taylor Gerring, a compact, outgoing Chicago-based developer with an easy, boyish smile and laugh lines around his eyes ...". This goes much bigger than Shin, but why do authors insist on this? I just don't care - plus there's something oddly craniology/phrenology-esque about all this, as if we can infer a person's character from their physical appearance. Lastly, the writing can be just straight-up clunky and almost childish at times: "In free-wheeling conversations, the newly acquainted group realised the vast majority of them had tried psychedelics, an unusual situation given the drugs' illegal status".
All of which may sound extremely negative, but despite being able to point to so many things that could be better about this book, it is still a very worthwhile read. If you can get past the excess of raw detail, as well as a few more minor flaws, this book will reward you with a much better understanding of the social context and people behind the genesis of one of the most important technologies we live with today. What you learn - about how haphazard and chaotic the entire crypto scene is - will either shock you or re-enforce your biases, but you will likely never look at decentralised technologies quite the same way again.
The 'depth' of research is also, unfortunately, the reason the book 'only' scores a 3-star, despite my desperately wanting to give it more. Why do I say this? Because in my view there is a real dearth of evidence-based reporting on the origins, histories and characters behind blockchains and this could have perfectly filled that gap.
While undoubtedly the huge volumes of information Shin collected are vital for accuracy, the use of so much 'he said, she said' evidence from sources, repeated verbatim, is exceptionally taxing. This book would have benefited strongly from a severe edit that removed a lot of the 'working' (for want of a better word) and placed it into annexes, online repositories and so on. This would have ensured the key story - which is fascinating and relevant - remained the star of the show. As it is, the reader gets rapidly bogged down in nuanced detailing of the different versions of events from multiple points of view. There is, in short, a real lack of synthesis to the underlying evidence that surprised me for an experienced reporter.
A couple more features also started to grate as I worked through this lengthy book. Shin repeatedly insists on quoting price rises in text: "ETH didn't rally again from its mid-June ... high of more than $414 until November ... Six days later, ETH busted through $500 ... hit an all-time high of more than $657 and, the day after, broke a new record at just shy of $748" and so on and so on. Why not just use a graph? Or tell us the endpoints or the key information?
Something a lot of writers do but that always irritates is overwrought physical descriptions of 'new characters', e.g. "Another Skype participant was Taylor Gerring, a compact, outgoing Chicago-based developer with an easy, boyish smile and laugh lines around his eyes ...". This goes much bigger than Shin, but why do authors insist on this? I just don't care - plus there's something oddly craniology/phrenology-esque about all this, as if we can infer a person's character from their physical appearance. Lastly, the writing can be just straight-up clunky and almost childish at times: "In free-wheeling conversations, the newly acquainted group realised the vast majority of them had tried psychedelics, an unusual situation given the drugs' illegal status".
All of which may sound extremely negative, but despite being able to point to so many things that could be better about this book, it is still a very worthwhile read. If you can get past the excess of raw detail, as well as a few more minor flaws, this book will reward you with a much better understanding of the social context and people behind the genesis of one of the most important technologies we live with today. What you learn - about how haphazard and chaotic the entire crypto scene is - will either shock you or re-enforce your biases, but you will likely never look at decentralised technologies quite the same way again.
April 28, 2022
This book is for the die-hard crypto/Ethereum enthusiast.
If that's not you and you are after a more riveting account of the rise of Ethereum, I would recommend The Infinite Machine by Camila Russo.
This book is for those who are interested in every single detail of who said what, who did what, how did it happen, etc etc. Kudos to Laura for the in-depth research into the behind-the-scenes minutiae.
This would be good source material for a movie.
If that's not you and you are after a more riveting account of the rise of Ethereum, I would recommend The Infinite Machine by Camila Russo.
This book is for those who are interested in every single detail of who said what, who did what, how did it happen, etc etc. Kudos to Laura for the in-depth research into the behind-the-scenes minutiae.
This would be good source material for a movie.
April 25, 2022
I don’t write books. While there are a few good sections here that lasted, and that really added to my sense of “what happened” in 2017, most of the book reads like a gossip column, and it got very uncomfortable — yes, all the quotes are fact checked to the extent that you can say “this person really said this”, but so much of what was said reads like character assassination that I’m left with the impression that not enough was done to substantiate the characterizations: yes they said this, but is what they said valid to publish? I’m glad I read it. I’m glad it’s over now.
May 6, 2022
the one book to read to never wanna touch ethiriuM again.
February 15, 2025
Spectacularly entertaining and easy to read; Laura Shin has filled this book up to the brim with tea.
June 8, 2022
This book detailed the rise of Ethereum along with it's founders. As someone who's spent a lot of time writing smart contracts on Ethereum and is interested in crypto, I found the inside stories very interesting. The book is broken up into timeframes, which is kind of odd, given how each chapter talks about specific groups.
Before I give a summary, here are the Ethereum Cofounders:
-Vitalik Buterin - creator of Ethereum
Devs:
Gavin Wood - created the C++ client, parity client, started Polkadot
Jeff Wilcke - Created Geth (go client)
Business guys:
Charles Hoskinson - The initial CEO, involved in Cardano
Joe Lubin - Founder of ConsenSys
Anthony Di Iorio - Provided initial funding
Others:
Mihai Alisie, Amir Chetrit
The first section (chapters 1-3) focuses on how Vitalik created Ethereum and how it was launched on July 30, 2015. I really liked this part as it showed how the initial group of creators came together and all of the interesting dynamics that existed. There were essentially two groups, the developers, and the business folks. There was a lot of tension between these groups and it was interesting to see how various decisions and battles shook out. One of the most memorable moments was when the devs colluded to remove Charles.
The next section (chapters 4-9) focuses on the DAO hack. This section is excellent. You can tell it was extremely well researched. For those who aren't familiar, the DAO hack lead to Ethereum being forked and created a huge controversy in the community and a new cryptocurrency, Ethereum Classic (ETC). Laura covers basically all angles of this, from how the DAO was formed, explaining the vulnerability (a reentrancy issue), and going through how the various groups reacted. One of the most interesting things I didn't know about was the Robin Hood Group/White Hat Group (WHG). After the hacker started draining funds, the RHG launched a counter attack to drain the remaining funds so the initial hacker wouldn't get them. After the hard fork this all would've been for naught, except ETC started taking off. They then ended up returning all of these funds through various means. All the while they had to deal with being in an extremely legal gray area. This was my favorite section as we got to see what went on behind the scenes during this time.
After that it becomes a bit more disjointed, focusing mostly on the drama in the Ethereum Foundation with it's executive director, Ming Chan. This wasn't as interesting to me as it was more typical corporate maneuverings and not so crypto focused. Another part that was discussed a lot here was Joe Lubin's company ConsenSys. Laura was very tough on Joe and ConsenSys, saying that the company is very disjointed, has lots of failed products, and not profitable. Overall, this felt very one sided and almost like Laura had a personal grudge against Joe for some reason. From my development work on Ethereum I've used many ConsenSys products, such as Metamask, Truffle, and Infura. So Laura saying they don't have good products and is a bad startup just doesn't match with my experience using their services.
Overall that is my biggest complaint with this book. At times it's just way too gossipy. Going back and forth with the 'he said she said' over and over got annoying and felt like Laura was trying to push a narrative. It also had some weird tangents, like talking about the inner working on Poloniex and MyEtherWallet.
With that being said though, I learned a lot reading this, and would recommend it to anyone who's interested in Ethereum or crypto in general.
Before I give a summary, here are the Ethereum Cofounders:
-Vitalik Buterin - creator of Ethereum
Devs:
Gavin Wood - created the C++ client, parity client, started Polkadot
Jeff Wilcke - Created Geth (go client)
Business guys:
Charles Hoskinson - The initial CEO, involved in Cardano
Joe Lubin - Founder of ConsenSys
Anthony Di Iorio - Provided initial funding
Others:
Mihai Alisie, Amir Chetrit
The first section (chapters 1-3) focuses on how Vitalik created Ethereum and how it was launched on July 30, 2015. I really liked this part as it showed how the initial group of creators came together and all of the interesting dynamics that existed. There were essentially two groups, the developers, and the business folks. There was a lot of tension between these groups and it was interesting to see how various decisions and battles shook out. One of the most memorable moments was when the devs colluded to remove Charles.
The next section (chapters 4-9) focuses on the DAO hack. This section is excellent. You can tell it was extremely well researched. For those who aren't familiar, the DAO hack lead to Ethereum being forked and created a huge controversy in the community and a new cryptocurrency, Ethereum Classic (ETC). Laura covers basically all angles of this, from how the DAO was formed, explaining the vulnerability (a reentrancy issue), and going through how the various groups reacted. One of the most interesting things I didn't know about was the Robin Hood Group/White Hat Group (WHG). After the hacker started draining funds, the RHG launched a counter attack to drain the remaining funds so the initial hacker wouldn't get them. After the hard fork this all would've been for naught, except ETC started taking off. They then ended up returning all of these funds through various means. All the while they had to deal with being in an extremely legal gray area. This was my favorite section as we got to see what went on behind the scenes during this time.
After that it becomes a bit more disjointed, focusing mostly on the drama in the Ethereum Foundation with it's executive director, Ming Chan. This wasn't as interesting to me as it was more typical corporate maneuverings and not so crypto focused. Another part that was discussed a lot here was Joe Lubin's company ConsenSys. Laura was very tough on Joe and ConsenSys, saying that the company is very disjointed, has lots of failed products, and not profitable. Overall, this felt very one sided and almost like Laura had a personal grudge against Joe for some reason. From my development work on Ethereum I've used many ConsenSys products, such as Metamask, Truffle, and Infura. So Laura saying they don't have good products and is a bad startup just doesn't match with my experience using their services.
Overall that is my biggest complaint with this book. At times it's just way too gossipy. Going back and forth with the 'he said she said' over and over got annoying and felt like Laura was trying to push a narrative. It also had some weird tangents, like talking about the inner working on Poloniex and MyEtherWallet.
With that being said though, I learned a lot reading this, and would recommend it to anyone who's interested in Ethereum or crypto in general.
April 12, 2022
A very interesting read that brings much insight to the beginnings of intereworkings of the cryptosphere. Contrary to other reviews I have seen, I liked all of the technical information! There is plenty of research and insight in this book.
Listening to the audiobook, all of the extra facts added to the story but I do recognize it could have been a bit tedious reading all of it. Personally, the extra facts helped shape the story for me. In my opintion, it added to setting the stage and mood of the events as they were occuring. This book shows some of the developments as people get involved in projects that turn from nothing to big big money and how that shapes and ruins the friendships that began based on common interests and a view to code something out of nothing.
That has always been a bit sad for me. Being in tight knit groups that over time evolve and become much bigger things than what was there in the beginning and you loose some of the comradery that you felt when you were just a small group of people trying to figure it out in the world. Those beginning days are always what I am looking back!
Alas, one of the things this book does expose is how the manipulation of crypto whales is a real thing, and although crypto is based around the decentraized finance concept, people holding huge amounts of one crypto (whale status) can manipulate the sphere drastically, similarly to wealth mongers in the traditional stock market.
Yes the community has a vote (as we saw in the first ETH hard fork / DAO attack situation) but in the end, the vote weight is based on how much of that crypto someone holds in their wallet. Because of this, the manipulations of the cyrpto market by whales for better or for worse, exists and does take away from a true vote within the community.
I had begun to see this realization after a year in the cyprto space, but I do think Laura's book really solidified and exposed some of these issues for me. I love the podcast "Unchained" which is why I decided to listen to the book in the first place and it didn't disappoint.
P.S. I was very happy to see the fall of the "Ming Dynasty" after all the trauma!
Listening to the audiobook, all of the extra facts added to the story but I do recognize it could have been a bit tedious reading all of it. Personally, the extra facts helped shape the story for me. In my opintion, it added to setting the stage and mood of the events as they were occuring. This book shows some of the developments as people get involved in projects that turn from nothing to big big money and how that shapes and ruins the friendships that began based on common interests and a view to code something out of nothing.
That has always been a bit sad for me. Being in tight knit groups that over time evolve and become much bigger things than what was there in the beginning and you loose some of the comradery that you felt when you were just a small group of people trying to figure it out in the world. Those beginning days are always what I am looking back!
Alas, one of the things this book does expose is how the manipulation of crypto whales is a real thing, and although crypto is based around the decentraized finance concept, people holding huge amounts of one crypto (whale status) can manipulate the sphere drastically, similarly to wealth mongers in the traditional stock market.
Yes the community has a vote (as we saw in the first ETH hard fork / DAO attack situation) but in the end, the vote weight is based on how much of that crypto someone holds in their wallet. Because of this, the manipulations of the cyrpto market by whales for better or for worse, exists and does take away from a true vote within the community.
I had begun to see this realization after a year in the cyprto space, but I do think Laura's book really solidified and exposed some of these issues for me. I love the podcast "Unchained" which is why I decided to listen to the book in the first place and it didn't disappoint.
P.S. I was very happy to see the fall of the "Ming Dynasty" after all the trauma!
May 10, 2022
This is a fascinating read, for people in the crypto world and those outside of it, too. From the very beginning of the story, I thought to myself, one day there will be a movie about Vitalik Buterin starting Ethereum and everything that went down in the early days. From what I heard, that's already in the works. I only wish Laura Shin was writing the script!
It's clear from reading this that Shin has been deeply involved in the emergence of blockchain technology since the beginning. As a writer, she is unbiased, presenting people's words and opinions as their own, not editorializing as many are so fond of doing in today's journalism.
Shin manages to unpack technical concepts in a way that makes a nontechnical person able to understand. With excellent use of anecdotes and metaphors, Shin unravels the technical aspect of the story without pulling the reader away from what matters.
This is an excellent read for anyone who is interested in emerging technologies, but more importantly, about personalities and greed; a modern retelling of David and Goliath. There is an innocence about Vitalik Buterin that has survived despite countless attempts to crush it. Many think idealism is a fault, but in my opinion, it's what makes Buterin truly one-of-a-kind. I appreciate journalists like Laura Shin for telling his story while maintaining the integrity and vision of the project, and of Buterin himself.
In the words of Shakespeare in As You Like It,
"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players"
This is a story about one highly unusual individual with a brilliant idea. After that idea is born, a swarm of bad actors enter the scene to take advantage of his naivety. In The Cryptopians, everyone in the story is a player on a stage, except for one. Vitalik Buterin finds himself center stage, unaware that he is an actor, unaware that those around him are acting. Shin has done a fantastic job of translating this story to the stage for everyone to see.
It's clear from reading this that Shin has been deeply involved in the emergence of blockchain technology since the beginning. As a writer, she is unbiased, presenting people's words and opinions as their own, not editorializing as many are so fond of doing in today's journalism.
Shin manages to unpack technical concepts in a way that makes a nontechnical person able to understand. With excellent use of anecdotes and metaphors, Shin unravels the technical aspect of the story without pulling the reader away from what matters.
This is an excellent read for anyone who is interested in emerging technologies, but more importantly, about personalities and greed; a modern retelling of David and Goliath. There is an innocence about Vitalik Buterin that has survived despite countless attempts to crush it. Many think idealism is a fault, but in my opinion, it's what makes Buterin truly one-of-a-kind. I appreciate journalists like Laura Shin for telling his story while maintaining the integrity and vision of the project, and of Buterin himself.
In the words of Shakespeare in As You Like It,
"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players"
This is a story about one highly unusual individual with a brilliant idea. After that idea is born, a swarm of bad actors enter the scene to take advantage of his naivety. In The Cryptopians, everyone in the story is a player on a stage, except for one. Vitalik Buterin finds himself center stage, unaware that he is an actor, unaware that those around him are acting. Shin has done a fantastic job of translating this story to the stage for everyone to see.
May 18, 2022
The tale of Ethereum is a tedious one, populated by potheads and losers and casual sexual abusers and lunatics and wastrels cleaving to a dim and unimaginative vision helmed by Vitalik Buterin -- who some have called a visionary, but who comes across -- at least here -- as merely a clever young lad who had some ideas on how to add features to blockchain, but who ultimately was as lonely as his fawning retinue. The only reason I finished this largely bland book of Skype and Slack chat excerpts and valiant forks and relentless fluctuations that didn't interest me in the slightest was for research purposes. Shin's reporting is competent and ultimately more concerned with lunging for salacious duties about these largely dull personalities, which include Ming Chan, a wildly manipulative and clearly bipolar figure who played off the Asian woman archetype favored by these white men with explosive and emotional behavior that included sobbing, screaming, and much other unhinged deportment. I read this book knowing more about her (or even Vitalik) than why these apparent geniuses failed to anticipate hacks and what the whole purpose of crypto is other than to get rich while doing nothing -- the kind of life that simply doesn't appeal to me. Shin cannot write very well. Nick Bilton is her better and probably would have made this story of the Ethereum Foundation gripping and essential. But this is merely a collection of facts and figures without a vision. Small wonder that the crypto dudebros (and those in the equally vapid New York media world, which has an equal proportion of sociopaths) have gone wild over this book. With crypto tanking big time now (I'm writing in May 2022) and proving how its ties to to the mainstream economy are ineluctable, it's clear that this "revolution" is ephemeral and that the people who founded this and who still participate in this are not terribly indistinguishable from vacuous Wall Street dudebros, who are among the most boring people on earth.
May 12, 2022
I'm trying to learn as much as I can about the crypto space as I'm working on a new web3 project, and I have enjoyed the authors podcast. In fact, most writing about crypto seems to be in podcasts and blogs and there are very few well researched insightful books. But this definitely hits the bar - a well researched and engaging story of the founding of Ethereum and many of it's struggles getting off the ground.
Fascinating to read about the founding story. I didn't know Vitalik had 7 cofounders for instance! But I think that really helped Ethereum grow from a project to an ecosystem, as things like Consensys have driven it forward more than I realized.
Fascinating to hear the stories about Devcon, and how Vitalik maintained control as a 22 year old. I thought there was way too much description around the drama of Ming Chan however.
A big takeaway from the description of The DAO is just how fragile coding with money on the line is. Hackers are constantly looking for bugs/loopholes in ways that most software engineers are not used to. And of course, we are reminded of this with hacks literally every week these days. Interestingly, the author claimed to have identified The DAO hacker just as the book came out, I guess to help grease promotion, but a compelling story!
Fascinating to read about the founding story. I didn't know Vitalik had 7 cofounders for instance! But I think that really helped Ethereum grow from a project to an ecosystem, as things like Consensys have driven it forward more than I realized.
Fascinating to hear the stories about Devcon, and how Vitalik maintained control as a 22 year old. I thought there was way too much description around the drama of Ming Chan however.
A big takeaway from the description of The DAO is just how fragile coding with money on the line is. Hackers are constantly looking for bugs/loopholes in ways that most software engineers are not used to. And of course, we are reminded of this with hacks literally every week these days. Interestingly, the author claimed to have identified The DAO hacker just as the book came out, I guess to help grease promotion, but a compelling story!
June 27, 2022
A better title for this book would be Vitalik Buterin's slow, hard lessons in creating Ethereum. Frankly this book attempts to be a tell all behind the scenes look at the founding of Ethereum and the egos, immaturity, idealism and exasperation of all involved parties. It vacillates between a forensic account of crypto trades including dates, times and hash codes and rumors and gossip as told by those interviewed. Towards the end, the author even switches to a first person account of her experiences.
The book paints an ugly picture of the Ethereum community and adjacent crypto projects. I felt it was a worthwhile read as I am involved in one of the projects mentioned and this provides some warning for some of the individuals that are active in the crypto space. I give the book a four star rating as although the material is important and an interesting read, the style is choppy at times and tawdry at others.
Although the story here may scare people, especially financial professionals away from the crypto space, I suppose if the same sort of dirt digging were applied to other industries we would see even uglier stories. On the other hand, those seeking to invest or participate in the the whole Web3 space have now had ample warning of what to be on the lookout for.
I also felt that one big miss of the book was the big picture of how Ethereum and Web3 are impacting the world. If you read behind the lines there are clues, but we need an explicit overview of why Ethereum, and crypto in general are disruptive and significant to all of us.
The book paints an ugly picture of the Ethereum community and adjacent crypto projects. I felt it was a worthwhile read as I am involved in one of the projects mentioned and this provides some warning for some of the individuals that are active in the crypto space. I give the book a four star rating as although the material is important and an interesting read, the style is choppy at times and tawdry at others.
Although the story here may scare people, especially financial professionals away from the crypto space, I suppose if the same sort of dirt digging were applied to other industries we would see even uglier stories. On the other hand, those seeking to invest or participate in the the whole Web3 space have now had ample warning of what to be on the lookout for.
I also felt that one big miss of the book was the big picture of how Ethereum and Web3 are impacting the world. If you read behind the lines there are clues, but we need an explicit overview of why Ethereum, and crypto in general are disruptive and significant to all of us.
January 18, 2023
The Cryptopians is a great book for those who are interested in the crypto community and want to learn more about the early days of Ethereum. Written by one if the insiders in the industry, Laura Shin, it provides some interesting insights into the founders, the crypto community and the ICO craze that happened in 2017-2018. It’s a well-researched roller coaster ride where you meet lots of really peculiar characters: from detached idealists to sociopathic managers and greedy entourage. I found it too technical in some places, but overall greatly enjoyed this entertaining read about corporate greed in an environment that was supposed to be open-source, socialistic, decentralized and somewhat utopian.
On the side note, I attended one of the crypto events last year where I sat on two presentations by two of the Ethereum founders. One of them was Vitalik and he had this out of this world kind personality, so focused on the tech part of it. That presentation was so packed that people had nowhere to stand and the audience just kept applauding through the whole event. Really a cult kind of following. The other founder that I saw in person (won’t name him as he is not portrayed really well in this book) gave me a really uncomfortable feeling: he was promoting his new initiative and personally I felt like this was all a fraud. It was interesting to learn, after reading this book, that my gut feeling was actually right and that he is just an opportunist.
On the side note, I attended one of the crypto events last year where I sat on two presentations by two of the Ethereum founders. One of them was Vitalik and he had this out of this world kind personality, so focused on the tech part of it. That presentation was so packed that people had nowhere to stand and the audience just kept applauding through the whole event. Really a cult kind of following. The other founder that I saw in person (won’t name him as he is not portrayed really well in this book) gave me a really uncomfortable feeling: he was promoting his new initiative and personally I felt like this was all a fraud. It was interesting to learn, after reading this book, that my gut feeling was actually right and that he is just an opportunist.
August 15, 2022
This true story of the early alt-coin years is every bit as appalling, enlightening, and dramatic as “The Wolf of Wall Street,” though it involves much more complicated morality and mischief. Laura Shin animates every page, giving us a vivid sense of the surreal lifestyles and characters that produced “the financial revolution.” The research involved in this book is breathtaking, but Laura pulls it all together into a tale that draws us in and keeps us guessing. Most impressively, she made the highly-technical coding and investing schemes comprehensible to normies like me.
There are many who have questioned the philosophies and failures of our current economic system, myself included. This book is about many such people who decided (for very diverse reasons) to do something about it. I have learned invaluable lessons by following the details of their experiences, though primarily, they are examples of what not to do (as so many life lessons are). I’d recommend this book for any crypto-enthusiast, whether idealogue or speculator.
There are many who have questioned the philosophies and failures of our current economic system, myself included. This book is about many such people who decided (for very diverse reasons) to do something about it. I have learned invaluable lessons by following the details of their experiences, though primarily, they are examples of what not to do (as so many life lessons are). I’d recommend this book for any crypto-enthusiast, whether idealogue or speculator.
January 19, 2025
It is difficult to imagine a more definitive account of Ethereum's early days ever being released. Though cumbersome in the discussion of certain topics (particularly the development of the DAO and the failure of ConsenSys), I felt incredibly engaged by the surprising amount of interpersonal drama related to Ethereum's founding as well as its transition to the multi-billion dollar chain that it is today. Many of the issues and falling outs are well-foreshadowed and I found it enjoyable to reconcile my knowledge of the current state of the network with the information given in Shin's presentation to guess what would occur later in the book. I'm not sure how friendly this book would be to people who know little about the technical underpinnings of cryptocurrency, but I thought Shin did a great job describing particulars of Ethereum/crypto with which I was less familiar. Overall, a great read.
March 26, 2022
The first half of this book recounts Ethereum's genesis story and the DAO hack. It's largely repeated information if you've read The Infinite Machine by Camila Russo or Out of the Ether by Matthew Leising.
The second half discusses topics I wasn't familiar with like what the early days of ConsenSys, MyEtherWallet, and Poloniex looked like. Also it briefly describes the Parity multi-sig hack (very interesting).
I recommend if you're interested in learning more about the narrative behind early Ethereum figures: Joe Lubin, Gavin Wood, Péter Szilágyi, Jeffrey Wilcke, Charles Hoskinson, Ming Chan (previous executive director at the Ethereum Foundation), etc. Warning: the early chapters move really slowly.
Format: Audible
The second half discusses topics I wasn't familiar with like what the early days of ConsenSys, MyEtherWallet, and Poloniex looked like. Also it briefly describes the Parity multi-sig hack (very interesting).
I recommend if you're interested in learning more about the narrative behind early Ethereum figures: Joe Lubin, Gavin Wood, Péter Szilágyi, Jeffrey Wilcke, Charles Hoskinson, Ming Chan (previous executive director at the Ethereum Foundation), etc. Warning: the early chapters move really slowly.
Format: Audible
March 27, 2022
An enjoyable and interesting read but the author focuses way too much on characteral personal lives that it ends up being hundreds of pages of gossip. Needs a good edit and a larger focus on ecosystem wide events, the use cases for successful Ethereum applications, and the potential for Ethereum in the future.
Disclosure, I do currently work for the company ConsenSys featured throughout. That said, the gossip around Joe Lubin didn't irk me half as much as what seemed like a character assassination of Ming (the former executive director of the Ethereum foundation) by the author. That sub-plot took up way too much space and was so full of gossip (and "she said he said" anecdotes) that I almost stopped reading the book.
Disclosure, I do currently work for the company ConsenSys featured throughout. That said, the gossip around Joe Lubin didn't irk me half as much as what seemed like a character assassination of Ming (the former executive director of the Ethereum foundation) by the author. That sub-plot took up way too much space and was so full of gossip (and "she said he said" anecdotes) that I almost stopped reading the book.
February 24, 2023
I’ve had a bit to do with crypto over the last 3 years, having gone down the bitcoin rabbit hole & arrived at a ‘bitcoin not crypto’ place. All of this made the book really interesting and I ripped through it. But I give it 3/5 because unless you’d been inside crypto the book would be really hard to absorb.
The book looks largely into the ups & downs of Ethereum. My takeaway words / ideas were Acrimony, Egos, Sickening wealth, Hyped up altcoins, regulators will catch up & Charles is a twat.
I think Ethereum - despite the above has the possibility of being absolutely huge if it avoids SEC declaring it a Security & State capture. Why? Due to the innovation, developer commitment & disruption it could foster of traditional finance & tech.
The book looks largely into the ups & downs of Ethereum. My takeaway words / ideas were Acrimony, Egos, Sickening wealth, Hyped up altcoins, regulators will catch up & Charles is a twat.
I think Ethereum - despite the above has the possibility of being absolutely huge if it avoids SEC declaring it a Security & State capture. Why? Due to the innovation, developer commitment & disruption it could foster of traditional finance & tech.
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