**** Official Ethereum QA thread ****

[ddink7]

Charles, thank you for your response!

I'm sure you all have considered this, but if it becomes necessary to block U.S. investors, it seems logical that it would be necessary to block investors in other jurisdictions as well (if those countries had similar legal framework as the U.S. and/or similar regulatory bodies like the SEC). If enough people get excluded based on what jurisdiction they live in, it seems like the development of the Ethereum ecosystem could be severely hampered.

Obviously this is all just speculative so there is no need to comment on it, but I hope the team is considering this possibility.

[ctenc001]

How do I invest? Are coins already bieng given out with the alpha client, and will these remain in circulation when the final product comes online?

[canth]

How do I invest? Are coins already bieng given out with the alpha client, and will these remain in circulation when the final product comes online?

http://forum.ethereum.org/discussion/196/investment-faq-live-updates#latest

The alpha client is on testnet only - these coins will have no value when Ethereum launches.

[BittBurger]

Hi Charles!

I am new to the crypto world.  Could you give some insight how the actual buying process will likely be structured?  

I have a vague idea from the MasterCoin Foundation "IPO". 
I've heard that we will send BTC to an address.  

1)  How do you know who the sender was, and do you just send ether back to that sender?
2)  Would there need to be a QT client, and the user provide you with a receiving address?

Just want to be prepared for the "opening bell".

Thank you.

Kevin

[msin]

Charles, thank you for your response!

I'm sure you all have considered this, but if it becomes necessary to block U.S. investors, it seems logical that it would be necessary to block investors in other jurisdictions as well (if those countries had similar legal framework as the U.S. and/or similar regulatory bodies like the SEC). If enough people get excluded based on what jurisdiction they live in, it seems like the development of the Ethereum ecosystem could be severely hampered.

Obviously this is all just speculative so there is no need to comment on it, but I hope the team is considering this possibility.

If investments are in BTC, how will anyone differentiate US investors to the rest of the world?

[ak84]

What's the estimated launch date for ethereum?

[Ursium]

What's the estimated launch date for ethereum?

We're aiming for a go live of the main net by Q3-Q4 2014, but cannot commit to anything at this early stage.

[BittBurger]

What's the estimated launch date for ethereum?

We're aiming for a go live of the main net by Q3-Q4 2014, but cannot commit to anything at this early stage.

Question above directed to you also Ursium!
Regarding this last statement.  The launch you're referring to.  Is it the IPO that was supposed to be Feb 1, now Q3 or Q4 ?

[achillez]

What's the estimated launch date for ethereum?

We're aiming for a go live of the main net by Q3-Q4 2014, but cannot commit to anything at this early stage.

Question above directed to you also Ursium!
Regarding this last statement.  The launch you're referring to.  Is it the IPO that was supposed to be Feb 1, now Q3 or Q4 ?

im curious about this also

[thetoughtruth]

Ok here is my question.  

During the Etherium introduction video Charles Hoskinson made the obvious mistake of mentioning that former Goldman Sachs employees have worked on the Etherium project.  

Many people have taken issue with these statements.  My issue is Mr. Hoskinson when he mention this appeared to be completely tone deaf or insensitive to the mood of the cyptocurrency community.  Even worse is no one who was involved with the video realized this would become a major issue.  So how experience does the Etherium team have in the community, and what steps will be taken so such blunders don't happen in the future?

[ddink7]

Ok here is my question.  

During the Etherium introduction video Charles Hoskinson made the obvious mistake of mentioning that former Goldman Sachs employees have worked on the Etherium project.  

Many people have taken issue with these statements.  My issue is Mr. Hoskinson when he mention this appeared to be completely tone deaf or insensitive to the mood of the cyptocurrency community.  Even worse is no one who was involved with the video realized this would become a major issue.  So how experience does the Etherium team have in the community, and what steps will be taken so such blunders don't happen in the future?

You can take it for what you will; as for myself, I was encouraged. Goldman Sachs as a corporation may be unethical, but they only hire the best and brightest (and there is NO REASON to expect that run-of-the-mill employees share their company's disdain for ethics).

Charles, if you want to hire some of the best cryptographers in the world, and they happen to have once worked for the NSA (as many of the best cryptographers in the world do), you have my permission to do so! I want you guys to put together the best team you possibly can, irrespective of where they FORMERLY worked.

[thetoughtruth]

Ok here is my question.  

During the Etherium introduction video Charles Hoskinson made the obvious mistake of mentioning that former Goldman Sachs employees have worked on the Etherium project.  

Many people have taken issue with these statements.  My issue is Mr. Hoskinson when he mention this appeared to be completely tone deaf or insensitive to the mood of the cyptocurrency community.  Even worse is no one who was involved with the video realized this would become a major issue.  So how experience does the Etherium team have in the community, and what steps will be taken so such blunders don't happen in the future?

You can take it for what you will; as for myself, I was encouraged. Goldman Sachs as a corporation may be unethical, but they only hire the best and brightest (and there is NO REASON to expect that run-of-the-mill employees share their company's disdain for ethics).

Charles, if you want to hire some of the best cryptographers in the world, and they happen to have once worked for the NSA (as many of the best cryptographers in the world do), you have my permission to do so! I want you guys to put together the best team you possibly can, irrespective of where they FORMERLY worked.

My issue is not with the involvement of former Goldman Sachs employees, I know you need to hire good people.  My issue is with how the heck could they have made such a horrible PR move?  Surely someone would have said...."Hey Charlie mentioning GS is probably a BAD THING"

[username here]

Like anyone, I'm excited to see what you come up with.

That said, what is with the massive premining and IPO when you don't have anything ready to go?  It is like saying trust us, we promise we are not going to screw you.  Which, sadly, many people on this board have fallen victim to already.

Are you going to address this issue?

[_ingsoc]

Ok here is my question. 

During the Etherium introduction video Charles Hoskinson made the obvious mistake of mentioning that former Goldman Sachs employees have worked on the Etherium project. 

Many people have taken issue with these statements.  My issue is Mr. Hoskinson when he mention this appeared to be completely tone deaf or insensitive to the mood of the cyptocurrency community.  Even worse is no one who was involved with the video realized this would become a major issue.  So how experience does the Etherium team have in the community, and what steps will be taken so such blunders don't happen in the future?

You should know that I asked about Goldman Sachs (jokingly) in the first question on here. I hoped that people would see it and use it as a reference instead of asking about it over and over. Check out their responses below. If you believe them to be truthful, then that's good. If you don't believe it, then that's good too. But there is only so much they can do. They're giving you direct information, directly from the man who said it.

Categorically, no.

From Charles Hoskinson:

"We have two people on our team who started their financial careers- as many thousands have done- at Goldman Sachs. They have both since left and started other ventures. In both cases those were hedge funds. Joe retired and moved to Jamaica to be in the music industry and came out of retirement to join us. Costa went to university of Edinburgh to study LCS's relationship to finance for a PhD in Quantitative Finance. He is now running a hedge fund in Kyrgyzstan as well as building a full clearing house in etherscript.

We have no relationship with Goldman Sachs nor are they an investor. I wouldn't take their money if offered. I have great respect for their knowledge of the financial industry as well as quality of talent, but no respect for their business practices or questionable conduct."

Goldman Sachs has no involvement in our venture. We have no current GS employees nor intend on hiring any nor establishing a partnership. We will not accept investment from goldman sachs nor collaborate with them as a partner at any time.

[_ingsoc]

Like anyone, I'm excited to see what you come up with.

That said, what is with the massive premining and IPO when you don't have anything ready to go?  It is like saying trust us, we promise we are not going to screw you.  Which, sadly, many people on this board have fallen victim to already.

Are you going to address this issue?

They have plenty ready to go. It's very alpha, but it's all open and free for you to play with: https://github.com/ethereum. As I post this, their lead Go dev updated the Go repository just a few minutes go.

If you look at the facts, this already beats out 99% of the projects on here that end up taking your money with nothing to show (I'm looking at you Mastercoin!). They're showing you things and haven't taken a dime for it.

[_ingsoc]

My issue is not with the involvement of former Goldman Sachs employees, I know you need to hire good people.  My issue is with how the heck could they have made such a horrible PR move?  Surely someone would have said...."Hey Charlie mentioning GS is probably a BAD THING"

Even though he seemed to have just mentioned it in passing in the video, I'm happy he did. Can you imagine if people discovered someone worked for Goldman Sachs after the project got up and running and completed a fundraiser? I think the Internet would have exploded. They've been honest, and it's stupid for us to crucify them for their past actions. They left Goldman Sachs, didn't they?

[td services]

Do you have any recommendations for SCRUM and online collaboration tools for doing crypto projects?

First, here is why SCRUM is awesome http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XU0llRltyFM and here is the tool we are using: http://www.scrumdo.com/

These are solid reads http://it-ebooks.info/book/494/, http://it-ebooks.info/book/2803/

Thanks for following up with answer. Scrum was great for Wikispeed!

[greentea]

please explain the reason for the IPO and the premine.

Someone said earlier that the IPO was for developing the client/application, and the premine to pay the founders.

But that is one in the same ... it's really a turn-off for investors when you're asking money from them and then immediately diluting their shares with the premine.

Also, explain the Q3-Q4 launch date? 

[Ursium]

Question above directed to you also Ursium!
Regarding this last statement.  The launch you're referring to.  Is it the IPO that was supposed to be Feb 1, now Q3 or Q4 ?

Q3/Q4 launch = main net launch
The pre-sale of Ether we haven't announced yet, and will do so as soon as we have sorted its details.

[Ursium]

Like anyone, I'm excited to see what you come up with.

That said, what is with the massive premining and IPO when you don't have anything ready to go?  It is like saying trust us, we promise we are not going to screw you.  Which, sadly, many people on this board have fallen victim to already.

Are you going to address this issue?

That's not at all what we're saying, if we did say something ridiculous and mickey mouse like that I wouldn't be involved in the project, I'd run away in the other direction as my name is public. I think it's fair to say it's true for the rest of the team, too.

When the ether presale is announced, there's going to be:
- a list of every project we plan to develop and support
- total transparency on where funds will be assigned where and by whom
- exactly how any potential legal entity will be formed
- what would happen should things go 'wrong'
.. and of course when the project is launched, total transparency on accounting through an independent accounting firm

I've personally been involved in raising funding for three startups in the past, and many more on behalf of third parties, including conducting due diligence exercises on very large enterprise projects and M&A. Things are going to be done by the book.

What we can't do is give you answer to the above questions today, because nothing is set in stone yet. I hope this clear things up. I also encourage you to conduct your own due diligence exercises, as one would do for ANY investment of ANY size.