Steven Nerayoff, an early advisor to the developers of the Ethereum network, has dropped bombshells regarding ETH co-founders. Nerayoff claims that their fraudulent activities by far exceed the criminal scheme of former Boy Wonder Sam Bankman-Fried. 

Steven Nerayoff Accuses Ether Founders Of Massive Fraud

Steven Nerayoff has boldly alleged that Ethereum founders Vitalik Buterin and Joseph Lubin are bigger fraudsters than the now-convicted Sam Bankman-Fried.

Nerayoff made this wild allegation regarding Buterin and Lubin in a recent post on X (formerly known as Twitter). According to the ex-Ethereum advisor, the pair committed more fraudulent activities regarding the ETH coin than Bankman-Fried.

“Ethereum is the fraudulent elephant in the room in plain sight 1000x bigger than SBF,” Nerayoff opined. 

Bankman-Fried orchestrated one of the biggest financial frauds in American history, involving his crypto exchange FTX and its sister trading firm Alameda Research. SBF’s scheme to pilfer funds from FTX customers and lenders to purchase luxury property, Binance’s stake in FTX, and political favor unraveled, taking the 31-year-old MIT graduate down with it. He was recently convicted on all seven counts and faces up to 110 years in prison.

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Do Ethereum Founders Have Ties To Corrupt SEC Officials? 

Nerayoff did not offer any substantial evidence to back up his explosive allegations against Ethereum’s Buterin and Lubin, but he cited key figures in the U.S. government such as ex-SEC chair Jay Clayton and current chair Gary Gensler, who reportedly had private dealings with the duo.

“Joe Lubin & Vitalik Buterin have been the front with corrupt officials at the highest levels of federal agencies such as Clayton, Gensler & many others. Cover this now,” Nerayoff asserted.

Nerayoff’s claims imply that Ethereum’s executives likely bribed high-ranking government officials, giving the project an unfair advantage in the cryptocurrency market. The bribery claim is that Ethereum execs gave the U.S. Securities and Exchange hush money to turn a blind eye to the network’s ICO and thus not lodge securities violation charges.

All in all, the credibility of Nerayoff’s allegations isn’t helped by his own reputation for often stretching the truth: He has labeled himself as one of the eight Ethereum co-creators in the past, which has been dismissed as baloney by other early Ethereum contributors.