Li Xiaolai's seven-year agreement: from raising 4.2 billion USD for EOS to Bullish's IPO on the New York Stock Exchange.

Since Li Xiaolai's prophecy of "Looking at EOS in seven years" in 2017, we have witnessed the divergence of Block.one and the self-rescue of the community, ultimately splitting into two completely different development paths: one led by the community, the Vaulta (formerly EOS) network; and the other, the Bullish exchange created by Block.one, which is about to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. This is a story about the cruelty of capital. (Previous context: EOS has officially been renamed Vaulta, announcing a strategic transformation towards Web3 banking and bank consulting groups) (Background supplement: Why did Tether stop minting USDT on the EOS and Algorand chains?) In 2017, early blockchain investor Li Xiaolai in China claimed to be the "Bitcoin billionaire" and spoke to countless followers, saying: "Look at EOS in seven years." This statement acted like a curse that spans cycles, injecting infinite imagination into the soon-to-be-born blockchain project that cost $4.2 billion. Seven years is enough time for a technological revolution, and even more so in the blockchain world, where everything can change drastically. Those investors who were ignited by this statement back then probably could not foresee how the script would unfold seven years later. The initial promises have vanished, former allies are in court, and an entity named EOS, dubbed the "Ethereum killer," eventually gave birth to a financial giant, Bullish, that is about to ring the bell on the New York Stock Exchange. This is not just a simple story of product birth; it is a blockchain fable about ambition, capital, betrayal, and rebirth. It begins with the common pain points in the crypto world but leads to two entirely different endings. Regarding the community's self-redemption, on the other side is the glamorous turnaround of capital. Looking back today, seven years later, we see not only the rise and fall of the project but also a microcosm of the entire crypto industry torn between ideals and reality. The Origin of EOS Let's turn back the clock to 2017, when the world of blockchain was at an exciting yet maddening crossroads. Ethereum, like a dazzling new star, opened up infinite possibilities for decentralized applications (dApp) with its revolutionary "smart contracts" feature. However, beneath this new star's brilliance, shadows began to emerge. It was like trying to squeeze onto the only highway to the city center during peak hours; Ethereum was that road, and all dApps were the cars on it. As more and more vehicles flooded in, the road became congested, and transaction confirmation times stretched from minutes to several hours, while the "toll fee" skyrocketed, sometimes even exceeding the value of the transaction itself. Developers were deterred, and ordinary users complained. This unexpected side effect was dubbed "Scalability Gridlock" by crypto users at the time, which choked the throat of large-scale blockchain applications. The high costs were evident; many startup ideas failed due to the inability to bear the exorbitant network fees, leading to extremely poor user experiences, keeping blockchain confined to a circle of hackers and speculators. The whole industry was calling for a hero, someone who could break this shackles and lead everyone onto the broad road of opportunity - the "Ethereum killer." At this moment, a mysterious company registered in the Cayman Islands, Block.one, stepped onto the stage with a grand roadmap. Their solution, named EOS.IO, promised to create a brand new blockchain operating system. It was like claiming to build a super highway with 128 lanes, capable of accommodating millions of users, with transactions completed almost instantaneously. It sounded a bit exaggerated, but at the time, it indeed felt like it was instant; the most enticing part was that it was completely free for users. This promise precisely hit every pain point in the crypto world at that time. The Massive Fundraising of EOS To build this dream "super highway," Block.one orchestrated an unprecedented fundraising spectacle in cryptocurrency history. They did not opt for traditional venture capital but initiated a year-long ICO. From June 2017 to June 2018, thanks to its grand vision and Li Xiaolai's influential promotion in the Chinese market, EOS raised an astonishing $4.2 billion from global investors. This amount of money was enough to make any dream come true. However, when the EOS mainnet went live in June 2018, the fog did not lift; instead, it thickened. The community soon faced its "darkest hour." First, the highly anticipated DPoS consensus mechanism, which was supposed to exemplify efficient governance, quickly evolved into a game for the wealthy. Voting rights became highly concentrated in the hands of a few large investors and exchanges, and bribery scandals plagued the system, turning the ideal of decentralization into empty rhetoric. The resource model that was supposed to be "free" turned into a disaster; when the network became slightly busy, users had to stake a huge amount of EOS tokens to gain transaction prioritization, completely halting ordinary users' transactions. The EOS highway, upon completion, fell into a bizarre paralysis. But the most fatal blow came from the project's founder, Block.one itself. They held $4.2 billion but did not invest the promised $1 billion into ecological construction. Instead, they hoarded this money like a squirrel, turning it into the company's own "winter reserves." $2.2 billion was used to purchase stable US Treasury bonds, and they quietly accumulated over 160,000 Bitcoins, becoming one of the largest holders of Bitcoin in the world. Community members watched in disbelief as the funds meant for building their home were used to solidify the financial fortress of the founding company and incubate a social platform, Voice, that had nothing to do with EOS. It felt like going next door to Old Wang's house naked; it was a blatant betrayal. The EOS community felt like homeowners who had been swindled out of their life savings, watching as the developers took the money to build a more luxurious private villa next door, while their own homes became abandoned buildings. In the depths of despair, a "key question" began to brew and ferment within the community. This question did not come from the founding team but from the community itself, posed by those who later became leaders of the EOS Network Foundation, such as Yves La Rose: "What if our goal is not to wait for charity but to reclaim sovereignty? What if we are the true owners of EOS?" The EOS Community Uprising This disruptive question ignited the spark of resistance within the EOS community. The spark of inspiration did not arise from the mind of some genius but emerged from the collective awakening of countless disappointed individuals in forums and Telegram groups. They realized they could no longer rely on the emotionally distant founding company to save them. A clear and bold core concept was born: the community launched a "Fork Rebellion" to achieve self-redemption. It was as if a colony abandoned by its motherland decided to stop paying taxes and declared the establishment of its own independent government. This "independent government" was the EOS Network Foundation, established in August 2021. It had no lavish office or the substantial capital of Block.one; its initial prototype was merely a shadow cabinet composed of community leaders and developers, yet their actions were swift as lightning. The decisive lightning moment occurred in December 2021. Under the coordination of ENF, EOS's super nodes reached a consensus and voted to freeze Block...