Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin faces new legal fight over employee equity 

The lawsuit claims Lubin attracted the early employees with the promise of a solid stake in Consensys AG, but allegedly didn’t follow through

article-image

Consensys founder Joe Lubin | MoneyConf (CC license)

share

Several former Consensys employees have sued co-founder Joseph Lubin, alleging he deprived them of their stock awards’ value.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday, accused Lubin of allegedly luring highly skilled professionals into leaving stable jobs with the vision of building a “crypto Google” and assuring them significant rewards for their risk. 

This promise, the plaintiffs claimed in the lawsuit, went unfulfilled, leading to their legal action. The complaint was filed Friday in a New York state court.

The lawsuit claims Lubin attracted the early employees with the promise of a solid stake in Switzerland-based Consensys AG, but allegedly didn’t follow through. 

“The idea was that Consensys — and its projects and [intellectual property] — would be owned by all employees. Especially early employees,” lawyers for the plaintiffs wrote.

Lubin allegedly drained the core assets from the original Consensys hub, funneling them into a new entity called Consensys Software (CSI), still under his control. 

This maneuver effectively sank the value of the shares belonging to this initial team, rendering them almost worthless, according to the lawsuit.

“Yet Lubin did not bring over many of his early employees—the Plaintiffs here—as equity holders in the new company. Instead, they continued to hold shares in the far less valuable entity that had been stripped of its assets,” the lawsuit said.

This plan is said to have included perks for JPMorgan, securing the bank a board position and a stake in the new entity.

Playing a “pivotal part” in Lubin’s strategy, JPMorgan, through its then-blockchain lead Umar Farooq, allegedly engaged in months of discussions with Lubin ahead of the scheduled transfer of assets, the suit said.

Blockworks has reached out to JPMorgan for comment.

Read more: New York AG sues DCG, Gemini and Genesis in ‘sweeping lawsuit’

The lawsuit bears resemblance to an earlier Swiss court case that wasn’t successful for the ex-employees, a Consensys spokesperson told Blockworks.

“Plaintiffs now believe their meritless claims stand a better chance of yielding a pay day if they game US courts and entangle Consensys Software and other unrelated parties in litigation,” they added.

“We fully expect that the plaintiffs, who were never employees of Consensys Software, will soon find this gambit is another fruitless attempt to enrich themselves from the success of others.”

The plaintiffs seek to secure damages from Lubin and Consensys in an amount to be determined at trial.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

  • Blockworks Daily: The newsletter that helps thousands of investors understand crypto and the markets, by Byron Gilliam.
  • Empire: Start your morning with the top news and analysis to inform your day in crypto.
  • Forward Guidance: Reporting and analysis on the growing intersection of crypto and macroeconomics, policy and finance.
  • 0xResearch: Alpha directly in your inbox. Market highlights, data, degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance and more.
  • Lightspeed: Built for Solana investors, developers and community members. The latest from one of crypto’s hottest networks.
  • The Drop: For crypto collectors and traders, covering apps, games, memes and more.
  • Supply Shock: Tracking Bitcoin’s rise from internet plaything worth less than a penny to global phenomenon disrupting money as we know it.
Tags

Upcoming Events

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research Report Templates.jpg

Research

Bluefin possibly stands at an inflection point. The token is near an all-time low yet the protocol’s spot volume market share and derivatives exchange usage have been increasing month over month since its November launch. Given its current market position and the upcoming upgrades (for both Bluefin and SUI), there may be upside potential before the increased supply growth in December. However, strong opposition from existing competitors (like Cetus and Suilend), as well as new entrants (like Aftermath), pose key challenges to Bluefin’s medium-term success.

article-image

Top Committee Democrat Sen. Elizabeth Warren in her opening statement accused Atkins of “helping billionaire CEOs like Sam Bankman-Fried”

article-image

Introducing garbled circuits for enhanced privacy and regulatory compliance

article-image

Ross Ulbricht was a freedom maximalist building freedom tech, powered by Bitcoin

article-image

Solana validators can reap benefits including payments, votes and community clout

article-image

Sponsored

WalletConnect is cementing itself as the essential connectivity layer, ensuring wallets remain the entry point for billions of users

article-image

According to a legal filing, Galaxy Digital helped boost the price of LUNA while quietly selling its tokens