Early Days of Ethereum

Preserving the history and stories of the people who built Ethereum.

eth dev cic

UK registered non-profit organization incorporated in August 2014

The UK legal entity was originally incorporated as ETH DEV Ltd at Companies House, Cardiff, by Gavin Wood, Jeff Wilcke and Vitalik Buterin.

It was formed on 7th August 2014 as a private limited company and converted into a Community Interest Company (CIC) on 18th December 2014. Wikipedia defines CICs as:

A community interest company (CIC, pronounced "see-eye-see", or colloquially, "kick") is a form of social enterprise in the United Kingdom intended "for people wishing to establish businesses which trade with a social purpose…, or to carry on other activities for the benefit of the community"

This incorporation occurred just under a month after the incorporation of the Stiftung Ethereum on 14th July 2014, with the intention of the ETHDEV entities providing contracted services to the Foundation for development of the protocol. The EthSuisse for-profit was being quickly decommissioned at this stage, as the project switched definitively to a non-profit model after the "Red Wedding" on 7th June 2014.

All information on the legal entity is publicly available from Companies House, an executive agency of the British Government, here under ETH DEV C.I.C. (company number 09165464) from free.

Here's a summary, arranged by epoch:

Stiftung Ethereum and ETHDEV (July 2014 to February 2015)

The Interregnum (March 2015 to June 2015)

The Ming Dynasty (July 2015 to January 2018)

The Infinite Garden (February 2018 onwards)

  • 19th Jan 2018 - Ming Chan is terminated as a director
  • 7th Feb 2018 - Patrick Storchenegger is appointed as a director
  • 19th Dec 2018 - Application to strike the company off the register
  • 26th Mar 2019 - Company disolved via voluntary strike-off