To The Moon

Today, let’s dive deep into the legendary story of Ethereum’s rise. 

Back in 2014, a young college dropout with a cat-themed backpack crossed oceans to China. With a serious expression, he declared, “I have a project that will be worth a thousand times more in the future.” The room fell awkwardly silent. This seemingly nerdy guy didn’t know how to break the ice, so he boldly promised to give everyone at the conference 5,000 Ethereum tokens. The crowd smiled politely, declined the offer, and some even whispered, “Is this kid a scammer?” before walking away. Fast forward ten years, and that project is now worth over $500 billion. Those 5,000 Ethereum tokens? They’re valued at over 1.5 billion RMB (about $210 million USD) today. 

That young man was none other than Vitalik Buterin, later known as V God. Even as a kid, Vitalik was a prodigy. While his peers played with building blocks, he was crafting virtual kingdoms in Excel and learning seven languages. A math whiz and computer geek, his favorite game was World of Warcraft. But when Blizzard nerfed his beloved “Life Siphon” skill with a patch, 16-year-old Vitalik fired off angry emails, only to get cold, corporate replies: “Sorry, it’s for game balance.” Most people would’ve just cursed and moved on, but Vitalik? He quit the game in rebellion, planting a seed in his mind: one day, he’d build a system where no one could tamper with the data.In 2011, Vitalik’s father, a computer engineer, introduced him to Bitcoin’s decentralized payment concept. Vitalik was hooked. He started writing articles and translating, spending 10-20 hours a week spreading the word about Bitcoin for a measly few coins—worth just tens of dollars back then. He co-founded Bitcoin Magazine, earning early credibility. But he soon realized Bitcoin was too limited, like a calculator stuck on addition and subtraction. He proposed building apps on Bitcoin, but the community shot him down. Undeterred, Vitalik decided to go his own way.At 19, he dropped out of the University of Waterloo, went all-in on blockchain, and wrote the Ethereum whitepaper in 2013. 

He introduced a groundbreaking idea: smart contracts—self-executing programs on the blockchain that don’t need banks or lawyers. The concept spread like wildfire in the Bitcoin community. Developers from around the world dropped everything—some quit jobs, others sold houses—to join this bespectacled, Russian-accented kid in building a new blockchain world. Ethereum was born, with Vitalik as its visionary and seven co-founders driving its early growth. Gavin Wood, who later founded Polkadot, created the Solidity programming language and wrote Ethereum’s core code. 

Joseph Lubin, an angel investor and ConsenSys founder, brought Ethereum to enterprises. Charles Hoskinson handled community operations but later parted ways with Vitalik over disagreements, going on to create Cardano, a $100 billion “Ethereum killer.” But Ethereum’s story was just beginning. It wasn’t until 2020 that Ethereum hit the mainstream, thanks to the explosion of decentralized finance (DeFi). 

People realized you could borrow, lend, and trade on Ethereum without banks. Protocols like Uniswap and Aave popped up like mushrooms after rain, and within months, DeFi’s total value locked soared from under $1 billion to $100 billion. In 2021, NFTs—those quirky digital images—took the world by storm. Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs sold for millions, with celebrities like Jay Chou, JJ Lin, and even NBA’s Stephen Curry flaunting their NFT avatars. Even Li-Ning, a Chinese sportswear brand, jumped on the Bored Ape trend. Ethereum became the heart of pop culture.But it wasn’t all smooth sailing.

In 2015, Vitalik visited Shanghai, then the blockchain capital of the world, to raise funds. Still a nobody in the Chinese crypto scene, he faced cold shoulders and skepticism. At one point, Huobi’s Du Jun dismissed him as a potential scammer. Investors ignored him, and Vitalik was relegated to the corner in group photos. But Shen Bo from Distributed Capital believed in him, offering support and even letting Vitalik crash at his place for a month. Another key figure, Dr. Xiao Feng of Wanxiang Holdings, became Vitalik’s greatest ally. When Ethereum’s funds were nearly depleted, Xiao donated $500,000 through Wanxiang Blockchain Lab, saving Ethereum and enabling its mainnet launch in 2015.Then came a major crisis in 2016. The DAO, an early on-chain venture fund, raised $150 million in Ethereum via an ICO, becoming the world’s largest crowdfunding project. Ethereum’s price skyrocketed from $1 to $20. But hackers exploited a contract vulnerability, stealing 3.6 million ETH—worth over $50 million. 

The community faced a dilemma: roll back the blockchain to recover the funds or uphold decentralization’s “code is law” principle. The debate split the community. Those favoring recovery created today’s Ethereum, while purists formed Ethereum Classic. Despite the drama, Ethereum survived.From 2017 to 2018, the ICO craze put Ethereum back in the spotlight. Projects raised millions with just a whitepaper and a big-name endorsement, with some tokens soaring hundreds or thousands of times. Even bizarre projects like “Tender Model Coin” promised “one coin, one villa” or “one coin, one model.” Ethereum’s price surged from $10 to a peak of $2,000, marking its first true bull market. But the chain struggled with congestion and sky-high fees—$10 transfers costing $50 in gas—earning it the nickname “noble chain” (or “wallet-draining chain”).Ethereum responded with upgrades: Istanbul and Berlin (2019-2020) improved performance and lowered fees; London (2021) introduced fee burning, making ETH deflationary; Paris (2022) switched from energy-intensive mining (PoW) to staking (PoS); and Cancun (2024) added sharding for scalability. Despite these advances, Ethereum remained the “eternal second fiddle” to Bitcoin.

From 2023 to 2024, Bitcoin stole the show with its spot ETF approval, drawing Wall Street’s capital and pushing its market dominance above 65%. Ethereum lagged, with slow price growth and frequent foundation sell-offs sparking accusations of market manipulation. Fans even jokingly begged Vitalik, “Stop dating, start pumping the price!” But Ethereum’s struggles had deeper roots: Bitcoin’s capital siphoning, Layer 2 networks like Optimism and Base diluting mainnet value, and fierce competition from faster chains like Solana, which offered seamless user experiences compared to Ethereum’s clunky cross-chain transactions and high fees.

Then, on July 17, 2025, a game-changer hit: the U.S. Congress passed the Stablecoin Bill. Ethereum roared to life, soaring from $1,500 to a new high of $4,900 in weeks. Why? Most stablecoins—like USDT and USDC—run on Ethereum, and the bill legitimized them, making Ethereum the go-to settlement network for digital dollars. Simultaneously, real-world asset (RWA) tokenization exploded, digitizing bonds, gold, real estate, and stocks on Ethereum for trading and collateral. Ethereum wasn’t just crypto—it became the backbone of global finance, rivaling Bitcoin’s “digital gold” as the “operating system of future finance.”Looking ahead, Ethereum’s ecosystem mirrors the early internet—confusing at first but soon indispensable. Imagine salaries paid in stablecoins with instant, fee-free cross-border settlement, loans backed by digital assets, or social media posts turning into wealth—all running on Ethereum. 

So, what’s the investment potential? Stablecoins are key. From $90 billion in 2022 to $280 billion now, they’re projected to hit $1.6 trillion by 2030, with Ethereum hosting half. If stablecoin growth surges, we could see $10,000 ETH. Protocols tied to stablecoins—like Aave and Curve—are also promising, with some already delivering 4x returns for early investors. Focus on market leaders for stability and opportunity.

@TigerPM  @TigerObserver  @Daily_Discussion  @Tiger_comments  @TigerStars