Early Days of Ethereum

Amir Chetrit is one of the eight Ethereum co-founders, known in early Ethereum circles as "Capitalist Amir" to distinguish him from Amir Taaki ("Anarchist Amir"). Based in Israel, he was responsible for business development during Ethereum's earliest phase before being asked to step aside during the "Red Wedding" in June 2014.

Early Leadership Structure

Amir was part of Ethereum's early business team alongside Charles Hoskinson, Joe Lubin, and Anthony Di Iorio. Kieren James-Lubin described his role:

"Amir Chetrit, who is in Israel, he kind of did business development. He's a funny guy. I still see him every once in a while. Joe, my dad, and Anthony Di Iorio [were] the other business guys who probably had the most operating experience." — Kieren James-Lubin

Episode 16 adds Di Iorio's view that Amir was not a peripheral figure in the earliest months. Di Iorio describes him as part of the initial five-person founder group with Vitalik, Mihai, Charles, and himself, before Gavin, Jeff, and Joe were added.

Miami and the Presale Delay

The strongest new detail from Episode 16 is Di Iorio's claim that Amir played a decisive role in stopping Ethereum from launching too early after the January 2014 Miami conference.

Di Iorio says the team initially expected to move immediately, but that Amir objected when it became clear the sale could raise far more than expected. In his telling, Amir was the one person in the room with the common sense to say they had to slow down, rethink the structure, and make sure the project was set up properly before taking in money.

That account complicates the later narrative around Amir. Whatever frustrations developed afterward, Di Iorio credits him with helping avoid a legally reckless early launch.

Questions About Contribution

As Ethereum's development progressed, some team members began questioning Amir's actual contributions. Taylor Gerring recalled the growing frustration:

"Amir Chetrit, who a lot of people, myself included, were kind of asking what contribution is this guy giving other than just being given a title of founder? Because he was supposed to be responsible for all the stuff that I was actually doing, and he wasn't really involved, like wasn't somebody I reported up to in any way." — Taylor Gerring

At the Bitcoin Expo 2014 in Toronto, tensions came to a head:

"I think those kind of conversations came to a head when he was wearing swag of a different organization in Toronto when we had that Bitcoin Expo 2014 and I ended up in the basement of the office there on the phone with like a Cloudflare type company to provide DDoS protection and I'm just like I don't understand why I'm on the phone having the big boy meeting and Amir, who's supposed to be doing this, is not." — Taylor Gerring

The Red Wedding

In June 2014, during what became known as the "Red Wedding," Vitalik Buterin made the decision to restructure Ethereum's leadership. Taylor Gerring described the outcome:

"I like to think that by choosing to put Stephan and myself in place in leadership positions and asking Amir and Charles to move on to other things, I feel like we had the team in place to actually get Ethereum delivered." — Taylor Gerring

Anthony D'Onofrio noted Amir's departure more simply:

"I guess Amir left, but that's another story."

Bob Summerwill observed:

"Well, Amir was kind of kicked out from what I saw based on the fact that people thought he wasn't actually doing anything. He wasn't really like pulling his weight or doing anything useful."

Despite the professional separation, personal relationships remained cordial. Anthony D'Onofrio recalled:

"I liked Amir as a person. We haven't talked to him in a few years. We're still cool to this day, but yeah. I mean, what was his skillset? Yeah. I don't know."

Business Development Role

Though questions were raised about execution, Amir did attempt business development work. Kieren James-Lubin reflected on the overall business side:

"You know, not that they were great at business like Amir, Charles, but there was more of a like, what do you do? And some of what they did was like, try to set up deals with the Council of Zug and then do like other business development, etc. That kind of was lost afterwards."

Bob Summerwill noted: "There's bizdev sort of stuff. He said he was talking to people, potential investors sort of thing."

(Bob Summerwill and Amir at BTC Miami, January 2018)

Primary Sources

This profile draws from multiple Early Days of Ethereum interviews:

• Episode 1 with Victor Wong, Kieren James-Lubin, and Jim Hormuzdiar
• Episode 4 with Taylor Gerring
• Episode 5 with Anthony D'Onofrio
• Episode 9 with Amir Taaki
• Episode 16: Anthony Di Iorio