Anthony Di Iorio, one of ethereum’s network eight cofounders said he’s quitting the world of cryptocurrency because of concerns for his personal safety.
Di Iorio, who supported the kickstart the Ethereum development as a funder for the project in 2013 has had a security team since 2017, with guards travelling with him or meeting up with him everywhere he goes, according to reports.
He said doesn’t “feel necessarily safe in this space” and warned “a lot of times [cryptocurrency is] not … what the world needs.”
“[Crypto is] really a small percentage of what the world needs,” Di Iorio told Bloomberg, adding he wants to “to diversify to not being a crypto guy, but being a guy tackling complex problems. I will incorporate crypto when needed, but a lot of times, it’s not.”
The 48-year-old is planning to selling his company Decentral, a Toronto-based innovation hub and software developer for hundreds of millions but will not be selling for cryptocurrency and would be looking to exchange it for traditional currency or equity in another company.
Anthony Di Iorio co-founded Etherum in 2013 and the network’s native token Ether has a market value of around $225bn. He has decided to walk away from the crypto space due to concerns over his personal safety.