From the Beginning of the Three Heroes to the Steadfastness of the Dual Heroes: How Vitalik and Lubin Changed Encryption

Deng Tong, Golden Finance

Ten years of forging a sword, not just honing it, but also expanding its territory. Ethereum has traversed a decade, evolving from a niche playground for geeks into a bridge connecting blockchain technology with real-world finance. In the ebb and flow of the vast ocean of cryptocurrencies, countless projects rise and fall, but Ethereum has withstood the test of time, becoming increasingly steadfast as a rock, as brilliant as a galaxy.

1. Origin

From a Young Prodigy to Enlightenment

Vitalik may possess that kind of quality—standing in a crowd, people can catch sight of him at a glance. His tall stature, blue eyes that seem a bit melancholic, and the tolerance and gentleness in his calmness…

People have always enjoyed hearing stories of prodigies, and Vitalik’s persona seems to fit this perfectly: he started exploring Excel on the computer at the age of 4; learned programming at 8; began speaking at 9-10; developed video games at 10-11; was introduced to Bitcoin at 17; and created Ethereum at 19… However, today’s Vitalik is already 31 years old, and the halo of the “boy genius” has faded amidst the ten years that Ethereum has journeyed through, transforming into a flame of belief that has never extinguished amidst the rise and fall of the industry.

Before getting involved with Bitcoin, Vitalik was once infatuated with World of Warcraft. Starting in 2007, he transformed into a warlock and traversed the continent of Azeroth, enjoying the game immensely. However, three years later, Blizzard updated the game and removed the “Life Drain” skill. Vitalik was very dissatisfied with this and even complained to Blizzard multiple times. However, the complaints did not resolve Vitalik’s grievances, and he eventually deleted the game in anger, questioning centralized systems.

By the age of 17, Bitcoin had completely changed the life of this “game boy”. For Vitalik, encountering Bitcoin was perhaps more like a Zen moment of enlightenment—an instant “seeing the true nature”. Bitcoin seemed to align more with his worldview: no centralized institutions, no borders, complete freedom… From then on, Vitalik began writing articles for the “Bitcoin Weekly” and received 5 BTC for each article. That same year, Vitalik co-founded the “Bitcoin Magazine” with Mihai Alisie. As a founder, he tirelessly wrote and thought, and the integration of his extensive reflections and writings gave him a deeper understanding of the development of cryptographic technology, laying a solid foundation for the subsequent creation of Ethereum.

Ethereum born at the North American Bitcoin Conference

Ethereum was born from a chance collision of inspiration at an industry gathering. In January 2014, the North American Bitcoin Conference was held in Miami, where attendees gathered in a villa to more comprehensively conceive of the “decentralized computer” described by Vitalik. It was at this time that the Ethereum triumvirate—Vitalik Buterin, the proposer of Ethereum’s core ideas, Joseph Lubin, the co-founder of Ethereum, and Gavin Wood, the Chief Technology Officer of Ethereum—came together.

In the following months, the founders collectively built the conceptual framework of Ethereum, proposed the idea of raising funds, and defined the future operational trajectory of this “world computer.”

Unlike Vitalik, who achieved success at a young age, Lubin seems to be better described by the phrase “late bloomer.” Born in 1964, Lubin appears more like a “parent” who can manage this team. When he met Vitalik, Lubin was already 49 years old, but their meeting resembled that of Bo Ya and Zi Qi—Lubin had publicly stated, “Vitalik’s paper is the best paper I have ever read.” In this startup team, Lubin is clearly playing the role of a “strategic visionary”: building the organizational structure of Ethereum, seeking partners, raising funds, coordinating activities… and believes that Ethereum cannot rely solely on blockchain, but must also have a vast ecosystem. The keen intuition of this visionary laid a solid foundation for Ethereum to grow into a trillion-dollar ecosystem in the future.

Wood may be the core developer with the most “ordinary” background among the three: his PhD seems to have destined him to make outstanding contributions to the technical development of Ethereum. Born in the UK in 1980, Wood holds a PhD in computer science, focusing on the development of smart contracts, writing the “Ethereum Yellow Paper,” outlining the technical architecture of the Ethereum protocol and virtual machine, and developing the Solidity programming language…

The inspiration collision generated by the “three heroes” of Ethereum after the Bitcoin conference not only brought Ethereum into existence but also rewrote the development process of the crypto world, opening a new chapter in the crypto space.

2. Fate Disperses

Unbridgeable Divide: Commercial Interests VS Public Interests

Ethereum initially had eight founders, who quickly divided into two camps: one aimed to turn Ethereum into a profit-driven enterprise, while the other wanted to continue operating Ethereum as a non-profit organization.

There seems to be an insurmountable gap between Vitalik and Lubin on this issue. Vitalik wants to maintain the non-profit nature of Ethereum, while Lubin tends to want to turn Ethereum into a business. An industry insider once accurately pointed out the contradiction between Lubin and Vitalik: “Lubin’s interests do not entirely align with Vitalik’s, as he is more like a financial type pursuing commercial interests. Vitalik is a visionary who is pursuing the public good.”

The conflict between the two erupted completely in 2014. In June 2014, members of the Ethereum core team discussed signing a document that would turn Ethereum into a profit-oriented company. Vitalik, full of idealism, insisted that Ethereum should continue to operate as a non-profit organization, hoping to change the rules of the real world through blockchain technology, breaking the monopoly of centralized power and achieving equality for all in the face of technology. However, Lubin leaned more towards exploring the commercial value of Ethereum, hoping to drive the construction of the Ethereum ecosystem through capital and achieve larger-scale practical applications.

After the meeting, Vitalik announced that Ethereum would operate as a non-profit foundation. Due to differing philosophies, Lubin officially left Ethereum in November 2014 and founded ConsenSys in the same month, marking the formal departure of Lubin, one of the key figures in the Ethereum Foundation.

Controversial Resignation: Funding Shortage or Budget Cuts

There has been much speculation about the reasons behind Wood’s departure. Most people guessed that Wood was forced to leave due to funding shortages at the Ethereum Foundation. However, the real reason for Wood’s departure seems to be directly related to Executive Director Ming Chan. After taking office, this executive director began to cut the budget, resulting in insufficient funds for the ETHDEV project led by Wood. This directly led to Wood leaving Ethereum at the end of 2015.

After leaving Ethereum, Wood quickly created Parity Technologies and developed the Parity Ethereum client, allowing users to efficiently access Ethereum nodes. In 2016, Wood built the Polkadot project, and four years later, the Polkadot mainnet was officially launched, causing a wave of attention in the crypto world.

At this point, the three giants of Ethereum have gone their separate ways, leaving only Vitalik still committed to the original dream. That young boy who resolutely deleted the Warcraft game continues to remain silent and introspective in the world of idealism. He has completely completed the transformation from “chasing outward” to “reflecting inward,” allowing Ethereum to remain clear and pure as it is today, with a serene state.

Three, Reunion

Ethereum that Changes the World

Lubin once commented on Vitalik: “Vitalik really doesn’t care about material things at all; he just wants to change the world.” Now, Ethereum has been running smoothly for ten years, and it has indeed become a game changer in the crypto world.

In July 2015, when Ethereum officially launched, it aimed to become a “decentralized computing platform that surpasses Bitcoin.” This vision has continually fueled Ethereum, leading to one iteration after another of narrative evolution in the cryptocurrency industry.

The first carnival welcomed by the crypto world was the initial coin offering boom in 2017, which directly rewrote the narrative logic of Ethereum - any project could issue tokens based on Ethereum.

In 2018, the initial coin offering bubble burst, leading to the token values of countless projects collapsing to zero and disappearing. Ethereum shifted towards a period of technological deepening: the Constantinople upgrade reduced block rewards, and the Istanbul update optimized the Gas fee structure. Network congestion and scalability became concerns for developers. How to enhance smart contract performance and how to break through zero-knowledge proof technology became important issues that needed to be discussed after the dreams of getting rich faded.

After two years of dormancy, Ethereum once again led the “DeFi Summer” in 2020. Decentralized finance projects built on Ethereum, such as Uniswap and Aave, emerged prominently. Ethereum aims to cover areas lacking traditional financial penetration and rescue financial deserts with decentralized technology. It is this ideal of financial accessibility that drives the accelerated layout of multifunctional wallets, including OKX Wallet. As one of the world’s leading decentralized wallets, OKX Wallet not only connects multi-chain asset management, DApp interaction, and NFT cross-chain transactions but also provides a low-threshold one-stop Web3 entry for financially marginalized users.

Then, in 2021, there was a massive explosion of NFTs, and artworks suddenly became the new favorites in the crypto market. CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club became wildly popular across the internet, and Beeple’s digital artwork “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” was sold for 69 million dollars. The narrative of digital ownership once again made the capital market re-recognize Ethereum, which led a financial revolution of digital civilization that year.

In September 2022, Ethereum “The Merge” transitioned from PoW to PoS, putting an end to the long-criticized energy consumption issues of Ethereum. The Ethereum Merge proved that blockchain technology can find a balance among “decentralization, security, and sustainability.”

In July 2024, Ethereum ETFs entered the public eye, marking a perfect link between Ethereum and traditional finance - traditional financial giants are continuously increasing their acceptance of crypto assets. The successful applications for Ethereum spot ETFs by eight asset management firms, including BlackRock’s iShares, Grayscale, Franklin Templeton, VanEck, Bitwise, 21Shares, Fidelity, and Invesco, have lowered the investment threshold for ordinary investors in cryptocurrency assets and promoted the process of cryptocurrency compliance. This holds significant importance for the future development of the entire Ethereum ecosystem and the blockchain industry as a whole.

This year, companies represented by Sharplink have been continuously buying Ethereum, which has once again become one of the choices for crypto treasury reserves — this is essentially a strategic bet on the ecological value of Ethereum…

Today, Ethereum is no longer the niche geek world that solely focuses on technological iteration; it has grown into a “value conversion bridge” between crypto assets and traditional finance, supported by technological advancements. Since then, Ethereum has taken ten years to evolve from a purely technical concept written in a white paper into a vast digital ecosystem that accommodates everything. As the helmsman, Vitalik chose not to drift in the commercial sea but to work silently, dismissing the external frenzy surrounding crypto assets. With reverence and respect for technology, he has found a highly inclusive path of iterative upgrades for Ethereum between ideals and reality.

Unchanged Background ConsenSys

If you can’t realize your dreams through Ethereum, then create your own “Ethereum.” Lubin, who left Ethereum, founded ConsenSys—a blockchain and Web3 software company that still uses Ethereum as its foundation, providing products and services.

Several flagship products launched by ConsenSys have made waves. The MetaMask wallet, which was launched in 2016, has become a hit in the industry, facilitating user interaction with Ethereum DApps and serving as a crucial entry point for users into the Ethereum ecosystem. However, as time has passed, other public chains have rapidly risen, revealing the shortcomings of MetaMask: first, MetaMask was initially presented as a browser extension, which primarily catered to PC users, resulting in a poor mobile experience; second, early wallet users needed to switch wallets to trade on public chains like Solana, and it wasn’t until May of this year that MetaMask announced integration with Solana. To provide users with a better product experience, major exchanges have been actively developing internal wallet ecosystems, with wallet products from leading exchanges like OKX and Coinbase standing out. OKX has become the North Star in the exchange wallet space due to its robust product features and technical guarantees. Notably, OKX Wallet has deeply optimized the mobile experience, balancing security and convenience, making it the preferred choice for an increasing number of Web3 users. On the path from technical faith to large-scale implementation in Ethereum, these infrastructure providers that adhere to “long-termism” play an indispensable role; they are not profit seekers in the noise but builders in the depths of quiet waters.

Not just a wallet, Infura launched by ConsenSys provides API services for accessing Ethereum nodes, helping developers quickly deploy DApps; the smart contract auditing service product Diligence not only conducts manual code audits but also offers automated tools to check for common errors and vulnerabilities in smart contracts; the open-source blockchain protocol Quorum provides a viable path for enterprises to build private or consortium chains based on Ethereum…

This year, Lubin has once again seized market attention by serving as the Chairman of the Board at SharpLink Gaming. He is guiding SharpLink onto the path of Ethereum treasury reserves. On May 27, SharpLink announced its Ethereum treasury reserve plan, and on the same day, its stock price surged over 650%. Subsequently, SharpLink launched a staking strategy, using almost all of its Ethereum for staking across major protocols. Currently, SharpLink’s annualized staking yield is about 3% - 4%. Not only is it earning returns through staking, but it is also deeply tied to Ethereum, accelerating the integration between traditional enterprises and the crypto industry.

Currently, the average yield for staking Ethereum is 3%-5%. The increasing likelihood of the Federal Reserve lowering interest rates makes investing through Ethereum staking undoubtedly a wise move. Major exchanges have launched Ethereum staking services to facilitate ordinary users’ participation in staking, such as the staking investment product BETH launched by OKX.

ConsenSys was born out of Ethereum, for Ethereum; Lubin came because of Ethereum, for Ethereum. Due to business dreams, Lubin left Ethereum; because of Ethereum’s dreams, ConsenSys stands majestically at the peak of the crypto mountain. This unspoken understanding can also be seen as a sincere and unique romance belonging to the Ethereum ecosystem.

The brilliance in every beam of light

Many people may not know what the term “ether” actually means—“a hypothetical, invisible medium that permeates the universe and allows light to propagate.” When Vitalik named Ethereum, he might have been hoping that one day Ethereum could become the behind-the-scenes evangelist of the industry, “wherever there is no self, there can be self everywhere.”

From the geek dream boy who wrote the Ethereum white paper at 19 to the humble helmsman at the age of thirty, Vitalik’s growth journey mirrors the narrative iteration of Ethereum. Ethereum has gone through ups and downs, navigating bull and bear cycles, from the Ethereum Three to the Ethereum Two, and amidst all the twists and turns, Lubin continues to contribute to the construction of Ethereum, while Vitalik continues to realize his pure and clear technological ideals.

In ten years, the brilliance will reveal itself. True strength does not lie in whether one can stand in the center of the stage, but in whether one possesses the power to support the entire stage; true ideals do not lie in whether one can always wave the flag and shout, but in whether one can consistently nurture things quietly. Ethereum is now pervasive throughout the entire crypto ecosystem, allowing for countless possibilities to emerge in the crypto world. It may not itself be a beam of light, but within every beam of light, there is its brilliance.