There was a security guard from China named Xiaoqiang.
He worked night shifts.
While most people were asleep, he was often awake in the community, talking with everyone, encouraging people, and trying to keep the spirit alive.
“Brothers, hold on!”
That was probably the sentence he said most often.
He introduced friends to the community. He told them about the idea, the mechanism, and why he believed this could become something meaningful.
And perhaps because he had brought people here himself, he felt responsible for staying until the end.
His favorite thing to do was simple:
Run to Vitalik’s posts and leave a comment.
Not because he was famous.
Not because he had a lot of money.
He was just an ordinary night-shift security guard who believed that something born from Ethereum could become something bigger than speculation.
Then the donations kept growing.
Hundreds of ETH.
People from more than 100 countries.
Thousands of people who had never met each other, somehow gathered around one idea: turning transactions into continuous charitable giving.
And then came the refund.
Now, the community is waiting for a new charity to be designated so the donations can continue.
During that waiting period, Xiaoqiang finally left.
Before leaving, he said something that was painfully simple:
“How can there not even be a thank you?”
Maybe he wasn’t asking for money.
Maybe he wasn’t asking for recognition.
He was asking for acknowledgment.
Because in his eyes, this community existed because of a tweet from Vitalik.
A tweet about animal welfare.
A tweet that inspired people he had never met to build something together.
And now, after everything that happened, one of the people who kept saying,
“Brothers, hold on!”
finally couldn’t hold on anymore.
Maybe that’s the part worth remembering.
Communities don’t disappear all at once.
Sometimes, they disappear one person at a time.
And sometimes, all it takes to keep someone from leaving is for the person who started the spark to simply say:
“I see you.”
@VitalikButerin, the AWF community is still here.
Still waiting for a new charitable organization to be designated.
Still hoping that what began with your tweet can continue as something meaningful for animals and for the people who believed in it.
Because the story shouldn’t end with a refund.
It should begin again with a thank you.
@VitalikButerin@jooooo5as@nnevvinn @EffectiveAltruism claimed 290 ETH from the AWF community (4 times).
No disclosure of where it went or how it’s used, and no response.
Can you help call for clarity? The community is close to collapse.
@elonmusk@grok Replace the person’s head in the image with Elon Musk, change the flag to a white background with ‘Grok4’ written on it, and replace the car underfoot with a Cybertruck.
@elonmusk@grok Can you introduce the upcoming XORIGINALS? @XOriginals We noticed the X account has already been registered, and someone has created a cryptocurrency with the same name, with over 2,000 holders. What exactly is XORIGINALS for? How does it benefit X users? Thanks.
The Trump administration has put a 10 percent tariff on the Heard Island and McDonald which has a population of 0 people and is inhabited only by penguins.