Vitalik's Situation: The Transformation from "God" to "Human"

Vitalik has been missing from social media for over 20 days. During this period, the price of Ethereum has repeatedly fallen below the psychological threshold for investors. On March 12, the ETH/BTC exchange rate dropped to 0.022676, hitting a new low since June 2020. The ETH/BTC exchange rate continues to decline, with early investors selling off in large quantities, retail investors in panic, and negative sentiment spreading.

In February of this year, a debate erupted within the Ethereum community. The community hoped that Vitalik would take a step back and focus on the current hot topics in the industry. In response to the criticism, Vitalik stated that he does not believe the current popular competitive model is the best product for blockchain, and he and Ethereum continue to pursue better products.

During the time Vitalik was silent, two founders of a trading platform started joking on social media, leveraging the investment from an Abu Dhabi investment agency in the platform, which sparked a wave of Meme coin frenzy on a certain blockchain.

In this cycle, the Meme sector is booming, competitive gameplay is prevalent, and a crazy speculative sentiment is permeating the crypto community. Besides this, a broader sense of confusion hangs over the crypto community, and the real innovations that could drive the industry forward seem to have vanished.

The industry is desolate, and Memes have become the mainstream narrative. People are starting to reminisce about the prosperous summer of 2020 on Ethereum's DeFi.

From "V God" to "Little V"

Once, people called him "V God" and regarded him as a spiritual leader, relying on him to point the way for the development of cryptocurrency. Now people call him "Little V" and even want him to "get out" of Ethereum.

Vitalik recently became the focus of public opinion in early February. At that time, the community was filled with doubts about Ethereum. In response to people's doubts, suggestions, or insults, Vitalik eventually replied on social media, stating that he does not agree that the current competitive model is the best product, and he is pursuing a better product. Regarding the calls for innovation at the Ethereum Foundation, Vitalik also expressed his helplessness towards those who have no knowledge of the foundation's inner workings but still offer suggestions.

Vitalik has become the target of criticism, which was unimaginable two years ago.

Groups often crave a powerful leader, eagerly needing someone to worship, thereby gaining psychological support and guidance. This drives them to engage in deification, amplifying the merits of an individual to create an all-powerful "deity". Once this constructed "deity" fails to meet the public's overly high expectations, the shift in group attitude is extremely swift and brutal. They instantly turn from blind worship to fierce criticism, violently pushing the "deity" off its pedestal and expressing their disappointment and anger through insults and slander.

Vitalik has completely experienced a process of being deified and then demonized by the crypto community. In the past, within the crypto community, what Vitalik said and the ideas he proposed pointed the way for the crypto industry. Vitalik was keen to express various thoughts, such as SBT from a few years ago, digital nations, and so on, all of which were concepts proposed or strongly supported by Vitalik. It was also under Vitalik's strong promotion that these new concepts were pursued and practiced by project parties in the industry at that time, becoming a temporary trend.

Especially during bear markets, major projects will vigorously layout tracks that may explode during bull markets. At that time, Vitalik was optimistic about Web3 social, and entrepreneurs flocked in, but after a period of popularity during the bear market, it all cooled down.

The bull market is coming, but the directions "pointed out" by Vitalik during the bear market have not led to a major explosion in application levels during the bull market. Chaos and confusion have become the feelings of most project teams.

Without true innovation and a new narrative to invigorate the industry, the grand spectacle similar to the DeFi Summer that once took place on Ethereum has not reappeared in the crypto sector.

The infrastructure of blockchain has been fully built, and the highways have already been constructed, but there are no vehicles to run on them. The core contradiction in the blockchain industry now has nothing to do with infrastructure. Instead, it is about what changes blockchain can bring to human life or the products of the world. What is the answer to this question?

If the answer is payment, then Bitcoin provided that answer back in 2008. If the answer is DeFi, then Ethereum provided that answer in 2020. The most practical application in the crypto space at the moment can be said to be stablecoins, which are genuinely changing the traditional world in various fields such as cross-border payments.

Aside from these, is there no more innovation in the blockchain industry? During this cycle, asset launch platforms on various chains have become popular; this is merely an innovation in asset issuance methods, with the core of the casino changing to a new facade. Another area that has garnered attention is the blockchain AI track, which has attracted significant funding, but the bubble was burst by the sudden emergence of an AI company. A more prominent issue with this track is that the narrative's main subject remains AI. Blockchain technology can help AI agents obtain on-chain identities, build economic systems, etc., but it is always serving AI. This track is not a crypto-native track.

Under a vast wilderness, casinos are considered the best products in the cryptocurrency industry. In the face of many people's advice, Vitalik himself and Ethereum could engage more in the "casino" gameplay. Vitalik refused, saying, "If I look into my heart, I will find something worth fighting for."

Vitalik also enjoyed the feeling of being idolized, and when he was brought down from that pedestal, people saw his human side. This human side, in the eyes of some, is stubborn, arrogant, and unable to listen to others' opinions. But it was also these traits that allowed him to create Ethereum.

The love of childhood can change the world

A psychologist once said, "When you were young, whatever made time fly and brought you joy, that is your pursuit in this world."

For Vitalik, what is worth fighting for has long been written in his childhood experiences. At the age of 4, he received a computer from his father. While other kids played computer games, he was fascinated by Excel software and soon learned to write automated calculation programs in Excel. By the age of 7, he created a "Rabbit Encyclopedia" document filled with charts and mathematical formulas, which soon confirmed his talent in mathematics and programming. At 10, his mental arithmetic speed was already more than double that of his peers. At 11, he began to study subjects such as mathematics, programming, and economics in a "Genius Youth Class" ahead of schedule...

Programming technology itself makes Vitalik happy, and using technology to change the world is his pursuit. Compared to some speculators in the crypto space, he is relatively conservative.

In 2018, Ethereum plummeted and faced skepticism from the community. Vitalik once issued a warning - do not let Ethereum become a "tulip" for speculators to make profits. At that time, just like now, Vitalik also considered leaving Ethereum, "Should I drop ethereum and work for Google?"

Questions about Ethereum often arise during periods of low coin prices. In the face of community doubts and insults, Vitalik always thinks about "leaving".

Vitalik has always had his own convictions. His commitment to technology and his vigilance against "bubbles" have never changed. It is precisely these convictions that have brought transformation and innovation to the crypto world.

Looking back at the history of cryptocurrency development, the most important innovations that have led the industry over the past decade have mostly occurred on Ethereum, known as the "world computer": Ethereum has widely adopted smart contracts, providing a platform for the prosperity of innovative financial mechanisms in DeFi, such as liquidity mining, the establishment of various layer two solutions like Rollups and Plasma, the practice of governance models in DAOs, and so on.

Currently, major institutions such as the Trump family's DeFi project, Sony's Layer 2, and Deutsche Bank's Layer 2 are increasingly building Web3 applications and infrastructure solutions on Ethereum. The Ethereum ecosystem is mature and leading in terms of technical resource reserves, development team support, on-chain capital volume, and client security.

Moreover, Vitalik is not only realizing his technical ideals with Ethereum, but he also places his social ideals on Ethereum, which is not limited to Ethereum alone. The concepts he advocates, such as decentralization, resistance to censorship, and quadratic voting, involve democratic practices, internet structure, and commercial and public welfare organizations. This makes his influence extend beyond the crypto community.

The Future of Ethereum

Is there still something to look forward to with Ethereum? The answer is definitely yes.

In April, Ethereum will welcome the mainnet launch of the Pectra upgrade. This incorporates changes from the execution layer ( Prague upgrade ) and the consensus layer ( Electra upgrade ). Pectra introduces 11 key Ethereum Improvement Proposals aimed at enhancing scalability, staking flexibility, and user experience. Overall, after this upgrade, on a technical level, it will improve the performance and stability of the Ethereum network; on an economic level, it will change Ethereum's staking economic model, which will affect the supply-demand relationship and market price of Ethereum; on an application level, it will attract more developers and users to the Ethereum ecosystem, promoting innovation and development of decentralized applications, among other things.

In the United States, a stakable Ethereum spot ETF may also be approved. In the first quarter of 2025, an asset management company submitted an application on behalf of a certain exchange, planning to introduce staking features to its spot Ethereum ETF. In addition, another company submitted an S-1 form for the proposed Ethereum spot ETF, which includes staking features. There are also companies that have applied to provide staking features for the spot Ethereum ETF.

The implementation of the Pectra upgrade is expected to shorten the unbinding period for Ethereum staking, which was a significant obstacle when staking was initially introduced for spot ETFs.

This upgrade may become a catalyst for the approval of the staking ETF.

There is a consensus in the industry that one major reason for the current weak appeal of Ethereum spot ETFs is that the existing ETFs do not have staking functionality. The launch of staking functionality will allow holders of Ethereum spot ETFs to earn rewards for staking their Ethereum. After staking, investors will receive an annualized return of 3-3.5%. With the launch of stakeable Ethereum spot ETFs, it is expected to significantly increase capital inflow into Ethereum spot ETFs, thereby driving up the price of Ethereum.

Both of these are substantial positive factors that can be expected for Ethereum prices this year.

But another truth is that the upcoming changes in Ethereum, which are worth looking forward to, are just some improvements along a predictable path. These changes are merely widening and leveling the highway. They are not disruptive industry innovations, nor are they groundbreaking products or applications.

The use cases of Ethereum have actually reached their peak. In this cycle, there haven't been any projects on the Ethereum main chain that have garnered widespread participation, and the price has not exceeded previous highs. Its TVL remains highest in 2021.

Once it was the preferred choice for building smart contract platforms, but now, as the infrastructure of the blockchain world has developed and improved, there are more user-friendly and cheaper public chains available for selection, Ethereum is no longer the only option. In this cycle, public chains like Solana, Sui, and TON have developed their own ecological characteristics. The leading Ethereum Layer 2 has also made its own achievements.

Vitalik's decentralization is a good thing for the industry. As the industry matures, Ethereum is no longer the only leader, and more rising stars can compete with it, which can stimulate a richer ecosystem. With the establishment of a rich blockchain ecosystem, Ethereum's importance in the industry will grow.