Anthony Di Iorio, one of the co-founders of Ethereum, has left the cryptocurrency space, citing safety concerns
The Ethereum ecosystem has lost one of its oldest members after Anthony Di Iorio announced over the weekend that he is leaving the cryptocurrency space. According to the Bloomberg report, Di Iorio said he wouldn’t get involved with cryptocurrency projects again because of personal safety concerns.
He said, “It’s got a risk profile that I am not too enthused about. I don’t feel necessarily safe in this space. If I was focused on larger problems, I think I’d be safer.” Di Iorio says he has been maintaining a security team for his personal safety since 2017, with someone traveling with him everywhere he goes.
The Ethereum co-founder says he intends to sell his company, Decentral Inc., in the coming weeks and focus his attention on philanthropy and other non-crypto-related ventures. He says he will sever ties with crypto companies he is working with and has no intention of funding another blockchain company.
Di Iorio created Decentral in 2014, a year after he had partnered with Vitalik Buterin, Gavin Wood, and Charles Hoskinson to create Ethereum. Its native token, the Ether (ETH), has consistently sat just behind Bitcoin as the second most valuable cryptocurrency in the world.
The co-founder’s exit from the cryptocurrency space comes at a time when the Ethereum network is migrating to proof of stake (PoS) consensus. Ethereum developers have been working hard to ensure that the PoS protocol is launched, and the exit of Di Iorio will be a huge blow to the Ethereum community.
In recent years, Di Iorio has been heavily involved in venture capital investing and startup advising. For a brief period of time, the Canadian was also the chief digital officer of the Toronto Stock Exchange. According to a Forbes report in February 2018, Di Iorio is worth over $1 billion.
