Staged Trust--Switzerland in 2014, the Dawn of Virtual Currency

Staged Trust--Switzerland in 2014, the Dawn of Virtual Currency

In the spring of 2014, a group of young people gathered in the quiet town of Zug, Switzerland, to envision the future of virtual currency. This is the story of the founding years of Ethereum. One of the most symbolic scenes was a tense exchange between Vitalik Buterin, then 19, and Ming Zhang (Ming Tian), a finance graduate.

Vitalik eagerly draws the workings of the protocol on a whiteboard and talks quickly about the future. However, he was wearing a T-shirt and jeans, and his hair was rumpled. Minh told him, "No one will give you any money if you don't do this. No one will give you money as it is. Put on a tie and get your office in order. It was as if he was ordering him to dress up as an actor for the business arena.

Vitalik reluctantly put on his leather shoes and stood on the "stage" prepared for him. In 2014, the virtual currency industry was suffering from an extreme lack of confidence due to the collapse of Mt. No one would invest large sums of money in the vision of an unknown young man. That is why "staging trust" was required.

The intersection of the free spirit of open source and the realism of capitalist society. This brief exchange symbolized the first step of Ethereum's journey from a mere technological experiment to a global financial infrastructure.

There was a seemingly analog but essential element of "social trust" to be built through guise. While the core of virtual currency lies in the code, its fate also depends on how people look and behave. Such irony and reality intersected in this memorable act.