Early Days of Ethereum

Mihai Alisie is an Ethereum co-founder who played a central role in establishing the project's legal and organizational foundations. He co-founded Bitcoin Magazine with Vitalik Buterin, incorporated the first Ethereum legal entities in Switzerland, and coined the term "Crypto Valley."

Bitcoin Magazine

Before Ethereum, Mihai co-founded Bitcoin Magazine with Vitalik Buterin, establishing a professional relationship that would carry into Ethereum's founding.

Connecting the Team

Taylor Gerring met Mihai in Milan, Italy in late 2013 while working for Wendell Davis at Hive Bitcoin wallet:

"It would have been towards the end of that year was when I met Mihai Alisie in Milan, Italy. I think that was late 2013… Mihai is the one who ended up connecting me to Vitalik and the rest of the team." — Taylor Gerring

Viktor Trón also met Mihai at an early London Ethereum meetup organized by Stephan Tual in 2014.

Founding the Legal Entities

Mihai was instrumental in establishing Ethereum's Swiss legal structure:

EthSuisse (February 28, 2014): Mihai co-founded Ethereum Switzerland GmbH (the for-profit entity) with Swiss local Herbert Sterchi, serving as "president of the management partner."

Stiftung Ethereum (July 14, 2014): Mihai co-founded the Ethereum Foundation (the non-profit) alongside Vitalik and Taylor Gerring. He was one of the original three directors because they were the only ones physically present in Switzerland to sign the founding documents.

Taylor explained the circumstance:

"At first it was just Vitalik, Mihai, and myself were the three people. Part of that was because we were the only three people physically present in Switzerland at the time." — Taylor Gerring

Coining "Crypto Valley"

During discussions about the Ethereum Foundation's setup, Mihai suggested the term "Crypto Valley" to refer to the Zug region. This name was inspired by the area's emerging cluster of Bitcoin and blockchain firms, and it became the globally recognized brand for Switzerland's blockchain ecosystem.

The Ethereum Project Vision

Mihai authored "The Ethereum Project: Learning to Dream with Open Minds" on the Ethereum Foundation Blog (July 14, 2014), articulating the project's ethos:

"From inception, our intention was to deliver a technology aligned with the community at large and to encourage a meritocratic culture based on trust, openness and respect – not only for our fellow etherians but everyone – united by raw passion for positive world change."

"The only real option was to build a non-profit structure with a declared mission to develop, maintain, nurture and explore the potential of this new technology. Motivated not by money but radiant passion for this crazy idea of a free, open and decentralized world."

He captured the project's organic growth:

"The project started as an idea in Vitalik's mind. Ethereum has now expanded into thousands and thousands of other minds around the world, thanks to this interconnected digital mesh called Internet. A sea of minds brought together by the idea of a Turing complete general purpose blockchain is creating, as you're reading these lines, the minecraft of blockchain tech."

The Red Wedding

During the "Red Wedding" in June 2014, Mihai was among those Vitalik asked to continue, alongside Jeff Wilcke, Gavin Wood, Joe Lubin, and Anthony Di Iorio.

Recruitment

Mihai assisted with recruitment efforts for the Ethereum development team. Gavin Wood noted in his second development update:

"After doing some recruitment on behalf of ÐΞV in Bucharest with the help of Mihai Alisie and the lovely Roxanna Sureanu…"

Departure

Mihai resigned from the Ethereum Foundation board on August 4, 2015, along with Taylor Gerring. He was replaced by professional board members Lars Klawitter, Vadim Levitin, and Wayne Hennessy-Barrett. He resigned from EthSuisse on October 14, 2015.

Primary Sources

This profile draws from multiple Early Days of Ethereum sources:

• The Ethereum Project by Mihai Alisie
• Stiftung Ethereum
• Ethereum Switzerland GmbH
• Crypto Valley
• Episode 4 with Taylor Gerring
• Episode 10 with Viktor Trón