Early Days of Ethereum

Charles Hoskinson is one of the eight Ethereum co-founders who served as Ethereum's short-lived CEO during the project's formative months. He was removed from leadership during the "Red Wedding" in June 2014 and later co-founded IOHK (IO Global) and the Cardano blockchain.

Miami Conference

Charles was present at the Miami Bitcoin Conference on January 26, 2014, when Vitalik Buterin first publicly announced Ethereum. He stayed at the house Anthony Di Iorio rented, appearing in the iconic team photo alongside Vitalik Buterin, Joe Lubin, Gavin Wood, Anthony Di Iorio and Taylor Gerring.

Switzerland Period

Charles arrived in Zug, Switzerland in early February 2014 and was involved with the EthSuisse for-profit legal entity (incorporated February 28, 2014). He was part of the early business team alongside Amir Chetrit, Joe Lubin, and Anthony Di Iorio.

Taylor Gerring captured the early days:

"Charles bought dinner for 10 people that night. This was the first time I remember eating out after sleeping on the floor for a month. The bill was 100s of Swiss Francs and little did we know—none of us would be paid for months to come." — Taylor Gerring, March 1, 2014

Corporate vs Open Source

A key tension emerged over Ethereum's organizational structure. Taylor Gerring recalled the philosophical divide:

"Charles, I think on his part, was a little bit more on the let's set this up like Google, and make it a corporation, and I was definitely more on the side of open source and making it available to everybody." — Taylor Gerring

Growing Distrust

As the months progressed, team members began questioning Charles's leadership and claims. Taylor Gerring noted:

"By this point, we were fairly suspicious of Charles' claims. Here we were shopping, but tomorrow I will include photos when I realized it was more bravado than substance." — Taylor Gerring, March 11, 2022

"Charles would scribble on the windows with a whiteboard marker to illustrate some of the things he would claim. Eventually, I asked myself what he was trying to convey." — Taylor Gerring, March 12, 2022

Taylor described the atmosphere before the decisive meeting:

"There was unease cropping up with Charles, who seemed to have kind of lost the trust of the people that he claimed to want to be leading." — Taylor Gerring

The Red Wedding

On June 7, 2014, in what became known as the "Red Wedding," Vitalik made the decision to restructure Ethereum's leadership. The eight co-founders group was dissolved. Taylor recalled the tense day:

"I remember the day being very, very uncomfortable. Everybody had come to Zug. There were girlfriends and partners there in addition to just the people involved with Ethereum. And it was just very uncomfortable for a very long time. It was an emotionally exhausting day." — Taylor Gerring

Charles and Amir Chetrit were removed, while Mihai Alisie, Jeff Wilcke, Gavin Wood, Joe, and Anthony were asked to continue. Stephan Tual and Taylor were appointed to take their places.

Aftermath

Charles reportedly gave all of his ether allocation to his assistant, Jeremy Wood, in frustration. The two later collaborated as co-founders of IOHK (later partially rebranded as IO Global) in April 2015, developing the Cardano blockchain.

Steven Nerayoff observed Charles at a later meetup:

"A lot of people were asking about Ethereum. I saw him punt on those questions. He was very good about it. He was not derogatory to the company at all. He handled it with class."

Vinay Gupta was less diplomatic on The Bitcoin Podcast:

"Same logic applies to Charles Hoskinson. There are all kinds of legends about that guy. Jesus Christ, right? Serious, serious troublemaker. Lots of people know the stories."

Primary Sources

This profile draws from multiple Early Days of Ethereum sources:

• Taylor Gerring Photos
• Red Wedding
• Episode 4 with Taylor Gerring
• The Cryptopians by Laura Shin