After more than three years in the making, Laura Shin has just released her first book, The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze. In it she dives into the history of Ethereum and the 2017 ICO craze by telling the tale of the early tensions and power struggle that defined Ethereum's founding. It gives the inside story of The DAO, and depicts 2017's global initial coin offering tidal wave that boosted prices and fortunes.

Laura Shin, former Forbes journalist, podcast host, and now author, joined us for a fascinating chat about the research that went into the book (including the 200+ interviews), revealing the infamous Ethereum hacker, and how the book has been received and her future plans for another.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Laura's background and how she got into crypto
• Why did Laura choose to write this book?
• Researching for the book and the people she interviewed
• Laura's takeaways about the Ethereum founders
• The reveal of the hacker and the reactions from those close to them
• The Ethereum 'Shadow Government'
• The importance of Vitalik to Ethereum today and where he might be headed next
• Where are the other co-founders of Ethereum now?
• What's next for Laura?

Episode links:

• Buy the book
• Laura Shin
• The Unchained Podcast
• Laura on Medium
• Laura on Twitter

Sponsors:

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This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/436