Ethereum DEV UG was a German Unternehmergesellschaft (UG) — a limited liability entrepreneurial company — established in Berlin in 2014. It served as the legal entity for Ethereum's development operations before the creation of the larger Ethereum Dev GmbH.
Purpose
The UG form is a simplified version of the German GmbH (Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung) that can be established with minimal share capital (as low as €1). Ethereum DEV UG was used as the contracting entity for development work, including signing contracts with external development firms.
For example, Ethereum DEV UG signed a contract with the Polish firm Imapp sp. z o.o. in Warsaw for work on the C++ JIT VM (evmjit), carried out by Paweł Bylica and Artur Zawłocki starting in November 2014.
Directors
The entity was established by members of the Ethereum founding team, including Vitalik Buterin, Jeffrey Wilcke, and Gavin Wood, who were also involved in the subsequent Ethereum Dev GmbH.
Relationship to Other Entities
Ethereum DEV UG was part of the broader organizational structure that included:
- Ethereum Foundation (Stiftung Ethereum) — the Swiss non-profit foundation established in Zug
- Ethereum Dev GmbH (ETHDEV) — the Berlin-based limited-liability company that succeeded the UG for larger-scale development operations
- DEVgrants — the grants program administered by ETHDEV
The UG served as a transitional legal vehicle during Ethereum's early organizational phase, before the more formal GmbH structure was put in place.