The bull market of 2021 has claimed numerous victims, including many crypto startups and whizzes. The latest is a former Ethereum co-founder Anthony Di Lorio, who’s leaving the industry. The Canada-native revealed he has ditched crypto partly because of safety concerns.
Why Di Lorio Has Left The Crypto Space
According to a Bloomberg report on July 16, one of Ethereum’s eight co-founders, Anthony Di Lorio, is set to sell his Toronto-based software development startup Decentral and focus his time on philanthropy and non-crypto initiatives. He plans to eventually end his relationship with other crypto startups he’s associated with and won’t be investing in more blockchain projects.
Di Lorio is quoted as saying:
“I want to diversify to not being a crypto guy, but being a guy tackling complex problems.”
Di Lorio, a 46-year-old early bitcoin investor who is best known for helping jumpstart the development of the Ethereum network back in 2014, posited that his exit is partly related to concerns about his personal security given the “risk profile” of cryptocurrencies. “I don’t feel necessarily safe in this space. If I was focused on larger problems, I think I’d be safer,” he explained.
At Ethereum, Di Lorio mostly played the role of financier while the widely-known co-founder Vitalik Buterin was the techie. Other co-founders like Cardano’s Charles Hoskinson and Polkadot’s Gavin Wood brought technical expertise.
Talks with potential buyers are afoot and he expects to sell Decentral, which he values at “hundred of millions”, for fiat or a stake in another business and not crypto.
What’s Next For Di Lorio?
Di Lorio’s involvement with Ethereum — the network that has become the home to many cool crypto projects like decentralized finance (DeFi) and NFTs — has paid off handsomely as its native cryptocurrency ether erupted to vertiginous heights in 2021. The crypto presently boasts a market capitalization of around $220 billion.
Though he did not disclose his crypto holdings, Forbes estimated that he had amassed a fortune worth as much as $1 billion back in February 2018 when ETH’s price was less than 50% its current $1,886.24 level.
Di Lorio now wants to be known as a problem solver instead of a crypto guy. Per Bloomberg, he’s currently working on a game-changing venture dubbed “Project Arrow” that’s developing a zero-emission car and is run by one of his high school friends. He is also having discussions with political leaders, including Paraguayan senator and bitcoin fan Carlos Rejala.
Notably, Di Lorio’s departure comes days after Dogecoin co-creator Jackson Palmer announced in an extensive tweetstorm that he was leaving cryptocurrency for good. In particular, he called crypto-assets “inherently right-wing” and claimed the sector is controlled by a “powerful cartel of wealthy figures”.
But unlike Palmer who is wholeheartedly done with crypto, the Ethereum co-founder is open to using crypto/blockchain technology in his future work. “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,” Di Lorio said.
