Today marks the 5 year anniversary of Ethereum’s main net launch. Five years later, Ethereum is the largest blockchain network for Dapps and hosts the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap. Multis owes everything to Ethereum and to the vision of its founders who were able to create a network that’s radically inclusive, structurally secure, and transparent. As the Multeam works every day to build the future of business banking, we decided to take a look back at what we were up to 5 years ago. All we can say is: a lot has changed in 5 years!
Thibaut, CEO @Multis
“In 2015, I left my investment banking job to join a political campaign. I had bought some Bitcoin in 2014, but I really started discovering the amazing potential of blockchain technologies when investigating democracy initiatives like #followmyvote. I saw Bitcoin and Colored Coins (read: ERC20 before it got cool) as a great ways to fight electoral fraud.
Back then, I would discuss Bitcoin and Ethereum with my friends but nobody really understood what I was talking about. To be fair, I wasn’t so clear on it all myself! I made the mistake of focussing on the tech side (mining, hashing, proofs of stake) instead of laying out hypothetical use cases. I was obsessed with crypto.
I vividly remember buying my first Ethereum on Kraken in an Internet Café (remember those?!) in the Greek city of Larissa. It took so long to complete the transaction- even back then, I knew that UX had to be better!”
Théophile, CTO @Multis
“In 2015 i was living in London, and i had lost interest in crypto (really, Bitcoin) after 2014. I even refused to interview for a job at blockchain.com because they weren’t using React 😅At the time I was a Clojure hobbyist and was spending a bit too much time at the pub. I couldn’t have imagined that a mere 3 years later I would be working around the clock on a project known at the time as WalletX that was to become the first ever crypto business bank on the Ethereum blockchain.”
Greg, Engineering Lead @Multis
“In 2015, my life radically changed, I decided to move from what was becoming a boring Parisian life “metro-boulot-dodo” to new adventures in the UK. I learnt a new language, a new culture, met new people and slowly discovered the startup ecosystem full of innovations which would eventually lead me down the crypto rabbit hole in 2016.
Also, in 2015 I was a huge fan of the “this is fine” meme 😂”
Samantha, Marketing Lead @Multis
“In 2015 I was completely in the dark about Ethereum. I was working in legacy media at the time (the publication I worked for started writing about Ethereum two years later in 2017) and I was aware of Bitcoin only as a refuge in countries with volatile local currencies but that was it. I was spending my free time writing short stories about American women living in Paris, think: Sex and the City…. but boring. I first learned about Ethereum and its ability create a new decentralized internet 3 years later. Now working at Multis I have the pleasure to be part of it.”
Ania, Growth Intern @Multis
“In 2015 I was in my junior year in high school. That was the year I discovered entrepreneurship and founded a mini-company with my classmates, it was a DIY beauty brand. Nothing at all to do with tech, but even back then our focus was on inclusivity and transparency — 5 years later still working on inclusion but in the banking system.”
5 years is a short amount of time to be around. Just as at Multis we’re actively building to integrate traditional currencies, new technical features, and improving our UX so is Ethereum. We are looking forward to the launch of Ethereum 2.0, welcoming new players in the space, and resolving the issues around scalability and network congestion.
To learn more about the 5 year anniversary of Ethereum, we’ve compiled some recommended reading and listening:
- Ethereum’s Past, Present, and Future — Interview with Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin on the Bankless Podcast
- Ethereum Marks its Anniversary — a curated dossier of stories featuring profiles of key creators, iconic moments, and future predictions from Decrypt
- The Infinite Machine: How an Army of Cyrpto-hackers is Building the Next Internet with Ethereum — Camila Russo’s entertaining history of the rise of Ethereum (seriously, get this for the friend who doesn’t quite “get” crypto)
Interested in making the most of your company’s crypto? Join Multis here and get a 30 day free trial.
