We close out Season 8 with the most ambitious organization we've ever covered on Acquired: Ethereum, and it's celebrity wunderkind founder Vitalik Buterin. If you thought Mark Zuckerberg IPO-ing Facebook at $100B by age 27 was something, just wait until you hear the story of this high school junior creating $500B (!!) of market cap by the same age — and oh yeah, maybe seeding the future dethroning of Facebook, Google, Amazon and all of big tech in the process. Regardless whether you're a crypto neophyte, a die-hard bull, or a skeptical bear, this is a story you need to hear, and Ethereum is an innovation you need to understand. Buckle in for a wild ride... and some special surprises from a few Acquired friends. :) If you love Acquired and want more, join our LP Community for access to over 50 LP-only episodes, monthly Zoom calls, and live access for big events like emergency pods and book club discussions with authors. We can't wait to see you there. Join here at: https://acquired.fm/lp/ Sponsors:  Thanks to Tiny for being our presenting sponsor for all of Acquired Season 8. Tiny is building the "Berkshire Hathaway of the internet" — if you own a wonderful internet business that you want to sell, or know someone who does, you should get in touch with them. Unlike traditional buyers, they commit to quick, simple diligence, a 30-day or less process, and will leave your business to do its thing for the long term. You can learn more about Tiny here: http://bit.ly/acquiredtiny Thank you as well to Vouch and to Capchase. You can learn more about them at: https://bit.ly/acquired-vouch http://bit.ly/acquiredcapchase Links: The Ethereum Whitepaper: https://ethereum.org/en/whitepaper/ Yung Spielburg https://open.spotify.com/artist/273so0X2Yuo93vfeX2nLDI and Mike Taylor https://open.spotify.com/artist/30ejUciK31BCg0IVCbt1dW on Spotify Carve Outs: Arthur C. Clarke: https://www.amazon.com/Arthur-C-Clarke/e/B000APF21M? (especially Rendezvous with Rama and The City & The Stars) Disney-Marvel's Loki: https://www.disneyplus.com/series/loki/6pARMvILBGzF The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson: https://www.amazon.com/Diamond-Age-Illustrated-Primer-Spectra/dp/0553380966 Nier Automata: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nier:_Automata Magic the Gathering IRL: https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/event-types/friday-night-magic Episode Sources: https://www.amazon.com/Infinite-Machine-Crypto-hackers-Building-Internet/dp/0062886142/ http://www.gjermundbjaanes.com/understanding-ethereum-smart-contracts/ https://bitcoinmagazine.com/technical/bootstrapping-a-decentralized-autonomous-corporation-part-i-1379644274 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4916.msg72174#msg72174 https://bitinfocharts.com/comparison/ethereum-transactionfees.html#6m https://blog.ethereum.org/2015/07/30/ethereum-launches/ https://coinmarketcap.com https://cointelegraph.com/news/ico-market-2018-vs-2017-trends-capitalization-localization-industries-success-rate https://consensys.net/about/ https://decrypt.co/36641/who-are-ethereums-co-founders-and-where-are-they-now https://defipulse.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aether_(classical_element) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin_Magazine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcointalk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Hoskinson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynthia_Dwork https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dai_(cryptocurrency) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decentralized_autonomous_organization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decentralized_finance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emin_Gün_Sirer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EOS.IO https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethereum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethereum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gavin_Wood https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Russia_(1991–present) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Goldberg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jed_McCaleb https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Lubin_(entrepreneur) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MetaMask https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pr