Steven Nerayoff, an early advisor to Ethereum, had criminal extortion charges against him dismissed by a New York judge on May 5. The charges were related to allegations that he and his employee, Michael Hlady, had threatened to "destroy" a crypto startup if they were not paid millions of dollars. While Hlady pleaded guilty to extortion in April 2021, Nerayoff maintained his innocence and claimed that he was set up by the FBI. The dismissal of the charges against Nerayoff is unusual, and experts suggest that there may have been a change in circumstances that led to the case being dropped. It is not uncommon for the government to use tactics to obtain cooperation, but there is no evidence that Nerayoff was coerced into talking.