The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and The Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze

The book delves into the rise of cryptocurrencies, particularly focusing on the people involved and the events that shaped the industry. It explores the stories of key figures like Vitalik Buterin, Mihai Alisie, Anthony Di Iorio, Gavin Wood, Jeffrey Wilcke, Charles Hoskinson, Joe Lubin, and other driving forces behind Ethereum and other revolutionary blockchain technology projects.

The book provides insights into the motivations, conflicts, and controversies within the crypto world, shedding light on both the idealistic aspirations and the darker sides of the industry. It starts with Vitalik's introduction to Bitcoin, his contributions to Bitcoin Weekly and Bitcoin Magazine, and the significant surge in Bitcoin's price, which fueled Vitalik's vision for Ethereum. As Bitcoin's value soared, Vitalik shared his Ethereum white paper with friends, leading to the development of the first implementations by Jeff Wilcke and Gavin Wood.

The addition of Jeff, Gavin, and Joe as co-founders marked a pivotal moment in Ethereum's evolution. Stiftung Ethereum's establishment and the subsequent crowd sale laid the foundation for Ethereum's journey. Concurrently, the creation of the initial version of MyEtherWallet in 2015 underscored the burgeoning potential of this nascent platform. Key meetings, such as the gathering in London attended by influential figures in the Ethereum sphere, Christoph Jentzsch's demonstration of Slock.it, and the announcement of The DAO.

But things weren't smooth sailing. There were internal conflicts, like Gavin's firing, and external problems, like a hacker exploiting a part of Ethereum called The DAO and causing chaos. This led to debates on how to fix things, splitting Ethereum into two: Ethereum and Ethereum Classic (ETHC) and triggering a series of events, such as the accidental transfer of funds to the DAO post-fork.