Is the crypto market too harsh on Vitalik?

Vitalik has been absent from social media for over 20 days.

During this period, the price of Ethereum repeatedly fell below the psychological barrier for investors. On March 12, the ETH/BTC exchange rate hit a new low since June 2020, dropping to 0.022676. The ETH to BTC exchange rate continued to decline, with early large holders fleeing, retail investors panicking, and negative sentiment pervasive.

In February, a controversy erupted within the Ethereum community, demanding Vitalik's attention on current industry hotspots. In response, Vitalik stated that he does not believe the currently popular competitive models are the best products for blockchain, and he and Ethereum continue to pursue better products.

At the same time, two executives from a trading platform joked on social media, leveraging the investment by an Abu Dhabi investment agency in the platform, which triggered a wave of on-chain meme token activity.

In this cycle, meme tokens are gaining popularity, competitive games are prevalent, and a frenzied speculative sentiment pervades the crypto community. In addition, a broader sense of confusion looms over the entire industry, and it seems that the real innovations that could lead the industry to thrive have disappeared.

The industry is desolate, and meme tokens have become the main narrative. People begin to reminisce about the summer of 2020 when decentralized finance thrived on Ethereum.

From "V God" to "Little V"

Once, people referred to him as "V God," seeing him as a spiritual leader guiding the direction of encryption development. Now people call him "Little V," telling him to "get out" of Ethereum.

Vitalik recently became the center of public opinion in early February. At that time, the community was filled with doubts about Ethereum. In the face of criticism, suggestions, and insults, Vitalik ultimately responded on social media: he does not agree that the current competitive model is the best product; he is pursuing a better product. Regarding the calls for reform within the Ethereum Foundation, Vitalik also expressed his helplessness towards suggestions from outsiders.

It was unimaginable two years ago that Vitalik would become the target of criticism.

Groups often crave powerful leaders, urgently needing an object of worship to gain psychological support and guidance. This drives them to create idols, magnifying the virtues of a certain individual to shape an all-powerful "god." Once this constructed "god" fails to meet the overly high expectations of the public, the shift in group attitude is also extremely rapid and brutal. They instantly turn from blind worship to fierce criticism, forcefully pushing the "god" off the pedestal and venting their disappointment and anger through insults and slander.

Vitalik has fully experienced the process of both deifying and destroying figures in the crypto community. Once, within the crypto community, Vitalik's remarks and thoughts pointed the direction for the industry. Vitalik is eager to express various opinions, such as the concept of soul-bound tokens and network states a few years ago, which he either proposed or strongly supported. Under his promotion, these new concepts once became industry hotspots, pursued and practiced by numerous projects.

Especially during bear markets, major projects are laying out potential hotspots for bull markets. At that time, Vitalik was optimistic about Web3 social, and entrepreneurs flocked to it, but after a brief surge during the bear market, everything returned to calm.

The bull market is coming, but the directions that Vitalik "pointed out" during the bear market have not seen a major explosion at the application level. Chaos and confusion have become the feelings of most project teams.

Without real innovation and a new narrative to invigorate the industry, the spectacular scene of the decentralized finance boom that once occurred on Ethereum has not reappeared in the crypto market.

The infrastructure of blockchain has been completed, and the highways have been built, but there are no cars to drive. The core contradiction in the current blockchain industry is no longer related to the 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, that was given by Bitcoin back in 2008; if it is decentralized finance, that was the answer given by Ethereum in 2020. Currently, the most practical application of encryption currencies can be said to be stablecoins, which are effectively changing the traditional world in areas such as cross-border payments.

Besides, is there no more innovation in the blockchain industry? In this cycle, asset issuance platforms on various chains are thriving, which is merely an innovation in the way assets are issued, with the essence of the casino donning a new guise. Another area that is optimistic is the blockchain AI track, which has attracted a significant amount of funding, but the bubble has been burst by some groundbreaking developments. The more prominent issue in this track is that the subject of the narrative is still AI; blockchain technology only provides on-chain identity and assists in building economic systems, rather than being a crypto-native track.

Beneath this desolation, speculative projects are instead considered the best products in the encryption industry. In the face of many people's advice, urging Vitalik himself and Ethereum to invest more in these types of 'casino' plays, Vitalik refused, saying, 'If I look deep within myself, I will find something worth fighting for.'

Vitalik has also enjoyed the feeling of being placed on a pedestal by people, and when he was brought down from that pedestal, people saw his side as an ordinary person. To some, this side appears to be stubborn, arrogant, and unwilling to listen to others' opinions. But it is precisely these traits that allowed him to create Ethereum.

Childhood passions can change the world

The psychologist Jung once said: "As a child, what you did that made time fly and brought you joy, that answer is your pursuit in the world."

For Vitalik, the things worth fighting for were already written in his childhood experiences. At the age of 4, he received a computer as a gift from his father. While other children played games, he became obsessed with spreadsheet software and soon was able to write automatic calculation programs with it; at 7, he created a "Rabbit Encyclopedia" document filled with charts and mathematical formulas, which confirmed his talents in mathematics and programming; by 10, his mental arithmetic speed was already twice that of his peers; at 11, he began to study subjects such as mathematics, programming, and economics in a "Genius Class."

Vitalik is happy with programming technology itself, and his pursuit is to use technology to change the world. Compared to some speculators in the crypto market, he has maintained a relatively conservative attitude.

In 2018, Ethereum plummeted and faced community skepticism, and Vitalik once warned against letting Ethereum become a tool for speculators to profit. At that time, just like now, Vitalik also considered leaving Ethereum, "Should I give up on Ethereum to work for some tech giant?"

Whenever the price of coins is sluggish, doubts about Ethereum arise. Faced with the community's doubts and insults, Vitalik often has thoughts of "leaving."

Vitalik has always adhered to his beliefs. His dedication to technology and vigilance against "bubbles" has never changed. It is these convictions that have brought transformation and innovation to the crypto world.

Looking back at the history of encryption development, the important innovations that have led the industry have mostly occurred on Ethereum, known as the "world computer," over the past decade: the widespread adoption of smart contracts, providing a platform for innovative mechanisms in decentralized finance such as liquidity mining, the establishment of various layer two solutions like Rollups and Plasma, and the practical governance models of decentralized autonomous organizations.

Nowadays, more and more large institutions are 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 funding scale, and client security.

Moreover, Vitalik not only realizes his technical ideals through Ethereum but also places his social ideals upon it, and is not limited to Ethereum alone. The concepts he advocates, such as decentralization, resistance to censorship, and quadratic voting, relate to democratic practices, internet structure, business, and nonprofit organizations. This extends his influence beyond the crypto community.

Is there hope for Ethereum?

Ethereum still has potential.

In April, Ethereum will welcome the mainnet launch of the Pectra upgrade. This upgrade integrates changes to the execution layer and the consensus layer, introducing 11 key improvement proposals aimed at enhancing scalability, staking flexibility, and user experience. Overall, after this upgrade, the technical aspects will improve the performance and stability of the Ethereum network; the economic aspect will change the staking economic model, affecting the supply and demand relationships and market prices of Ethereum; and the application layer will attract more developers and users into the ecosystem, promoting innovation and development of decentralized applications.

In the United States, a stakeable Ethereum spot ETF may also be approved. In the first quarter of 2025, several asset management companies submitted applications to introduce staking functionality for the spot Ethereum ETF.

The Pectra upgrade is expected to shorten the unbinding period for Ethereum staking, which may serve as a catalyst for the approval of staking ETFs.

It is widely believed in the industry that one of the main reasons for the weak attractiveness of the current Ethereum spot ETF is the lack of staking functionality. After the staking feature is launched, ETF holders can earn an annualized return of 3-3.5%. With the launch of the stakable Ethereum spot ETF, it could significantly boost capital inflows, thereby driving up the price of Ethereum.

Both of these are substantial benefits for Ethereum that can be anticipated this year.

But another fact is that these anticipated changes are merely improvements along a foreseeable path. These enhancements are just about refining the infrastructure rather than being disruptive industry innovations or groundbreaking product applications.

The use cases of Ethereum seem to have reached their peak. In this cycle, there have been no projects with widespread participation on the main chain, and the price has not exceeded historical highs. Its locked value is still at the level of 2021.

Ethereum was once the preferred smart contract platform, but now the blockchain infrastructure is relatively complete, offering more choices, and Ethereum is no longer the only option. In this cycle, other public chains have developed their own ecological features. Leading layer two networks have also achieved success.

Vitalik's decentralization is a good thing for the industry, indicating that the industry has matured and is no longer dominated by a single platform. More up-and-coming players can participate in the competition, stimulating a richer ecosystem. With the establishment of a diversified ecosystem, Ethereum's importance in the industry will inevitably decline.

Vitalik once stated in an interview, "My life is about being a bridge for all things." Since 2015, the Ethereum Foundation has funded more than its internal operating expenses. These grants connect more teams and promote the development of various projects in the crypto market. Whether it is Ethereum itself or what Vitalik has done, it lays the foundation for encryption.

Ethereum and Vitalik himself should not bear the confusion and anger of people regarding the lack of innovation in the entire industry.

"If you examine your inner self, you will also find things worth fighting for." Vitalik, who knows what he should strive for, will surely set off again after a brief disappointment.

In the crypto community, those who feel confused and angry, after questioning their own hearts, will also make a choice: to stay and be a "builder," creating new things in the desolation, or to leave and rush to the next opportunity, continuing to be a shrewd "speculator."