Recently, I saw someone discuss the origin story of Ethereum, and suddenly I remembered the legendary tale of V神. Honestly, this story is more fantastical than most startup biographies.

Do you remember the exhibition in Hangzhou in 2014? A young Russian guy generously handed out 5,000 ETH, and at the time, almost everyone thought he was a scammer. Ironically, those 5,000 coins given away for free eventually skyrocketed to $150 million. That guy is now famously known as V神 (Vitalik Buterin).

But V神’s story is far more than that. His inspiration actually came from a very relatable experience. Between the ages of 13 and 16, he was obsessed with World of Warcraft, especially loving the Warlock class. Until one day, Blizzard updated the game and removed his favorite skill. This seemingly trivial event made V神 profoundly realize the essence of centralized systems—where all players are at a disadvantage. It was this epiphany that led him later to discover Bitcoin and then create Ethereum.

At the end of 2013, V神 published the groundbreaking paper “Ethereum: A Next-Generation Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform.” The release of the paper immediately caused a sensation in the Bitcoin community, which was rare at the time. But ironically, when V神 came to China in May 2014 to promote the project, some people still called him a scammer face-to-face. This is the harsh reality V神 had to face—no matter how great the vision, skepticism always exists.

In July 2014, Ethereum officially launched its crowdfunding, raising 31,000 BTC. That number was already astonishing at the time, but no one could predict how far this project would go.

What happened afterward is well known. In 2016, The DAO was hacked, and 3.6 million ETH were stolen, plunging the community into crisis. V神 and the Ethereum Foundation decided to hard fork to recover the losses, a decision that sparked controversy but also created ETC as a branch. Interestingly, ETC later attracted many followers, proving the power of decentralization.

The bull market in 2017 changed everything. GPU prices soared to absurd levels, ICO projects flooded in, and almost every new project chose to issue tokens on Ethereum. The madness of that period is hard to believe in retrospect. It wasn’t until September 2017, when regulatory policies were introduced, that the frenzy gradually subsided.

The black swan event in March 2020 caused ETH to plummet from $1,500 to $87, and many people gave up. But it was also during this low point that the DeFi ecosystem began to explode. In 2020, DeFi locked assets exceeded $10 billion, growing over 20-fold. Projects like YFI surged by thousands or even tens of thousands of times, all built on the Ethereum network.

The 2021 bull run saw Ethereum’s price soar to $4,850, a 16k-fold increase from its initial price. Concepts like NFTs and virtual land also exploded in popularity. But more importantly, V神 and his team completed the transition from PoW to PoS—a major technological milestone.

The subsequent wave of yield farming made more people realize the value of participating in testnets of new projects. Airdrops worth millions or even tens of millions of dollars attracted countless participants, most of whom used Ethereum as the foundation. This once again proved how correct V神’s original vision was.

Today, Ethereum faces challenges like network congestion and high Gas fees. The rise of Layer 2 solutions has become an inevitable trend. Competitors like ARB, OP, STRK are vying for this space, but regardless of who ultimately wins, Ethereum’s position as the base layer seems already solidified.

Looking at V神’s story, you’ll find that the most successful innovations often stem from deep reflection on real-world problems. He wasn’t knocked down by the loss of his skills but instead saw the systemic issues. This kind of insight is true wealth. Ethereum’s journey to today is not just a technological victory but also the result of an idealist’s persistence. If you haven’t been paying attention to Ethereum’s development, now is a great time to start.