Web3 Experiment of Idealists: From an Idea to a Community of Hundreds of Thousands of Users

In the development history of the Chinese internet, there exists a unique entity—V2EX. It is not a product created by a commercial giant, nor does it have overwhelming marketing promotions. In fact, it has remained uncommercialized for over a decade, yet it has become a spiritual home for programmers and designers.

The founder of this community has a legendary story: in 2011, he mined a complete Bitcoin using a gaming computer and then auctioned it off on a forum for 60 yuan. Today, as the price of Bitcoin approaches 120,000 USD, that post has become a "famous spot" on V2EX, with people checking in every time Bitcoin hits a new high.

From an idea to a community of hundreds of thousands of users, from selling Bitcoin for 60 yuan to now, this is a story about persistence, ideals, and how to find a balance between commercialization and original intentions.

In this episode, the friends from OKX converse with the guest: V2EX forum founder Livid @Livid, interviewer: Mercy @Mercy_okx, welcome everyone to follow along～

Chapter One: The Green by the Sandbox—The Persistence of Idealists

Mercy: V2EX is well-known among programmers. Why did you initially create this platform? How did you find a balance between idealism and commercialization?

In fact, V2EX is not a typical commercial project. Many programmers have various ideas, and I think it initially was just an idea in my head. I sat in front of my computer, wrote this program, and put it on the internet so that everyone could access it through a domain name.

Later, due to various coincidences, it became a place for many programmers and designers to communicate online, and it has existed for over ten years. V2EX is not a project where I wrote a long business plan with specific goals for certain years. It was something I thought of one day, created, and put online for everyone to access. Coincidentally, many people liked it, and it naturally grew.

The most interesting aspect of its growth is the network effect. Initially, it was just a program I wrote, but when the second person, the third person, and more people joined—now there are hundreds of thousands of users—various complex connections and fun interactions occur among them. Every new person who joins the network makes the entire network more interesting.

So my current thought is to hope it can continue to exist in a simple way. The essence of all businesses is that the money received is greater than the money spent. As long as you understand this basic principle, this thing can continue to exist.

Mercy: Many programmers likely have similar ideas and have written code to implement them. Why has only V2EX succeeded over the years? What do you think makes it unique?

I think it relates to the product form. Although V2EX is not as large as Facebook, it is also a social network in nature. If there are only a few people here, it won't grow, but once it attracts enough people from a certain field, it enters a growth state and can eventually attract almost everyone in that field.

When it reaches a critical mass, it becomes a very unique existence. Because at that point, going to other types of websites won't provide the same experience.

For example, many discussions on V2EX are about specific technical issues. Many times, if you ask a question, someone else has likely already solved it. If you ask accurately enough, you might get a very precise answer from a real person, not an AI-generated response, often within just a few replies.

This experience makes everyone feel that they can find useful information here, and perhaps the knowledge they have can also help others. This positive network effect gives it a necessary existence.

If I were making a game, no matter how fun it is, once you figure out all the rules, you won't play it anymore. But this is different; it is a social network where all interactions are with real people, and real people will always provide you with unexpected things—most of the time good, sometimes bad, but they are real interactions. So it won't be like a game where you stop playing once you find all the rules.

Mercy: I noticed you are very active on the forum and reply frequently. Why have you maintained such a high level of community engagement until now?

We have recently launched many new features, which are actually significant changes. During the deployment of these changes, I was quite nervous because I didn't want any operational errors.

Whenever there are major changes, I generally check for new user feedback and any issues that need to be resolved as long as I am awake. There will definitely be problems; it's impossible for there not to be, so I hope to see and resolve them as soon as possible. Once everything is resolved, I feel more comfortable.

Chapter Two: The Illusion of Transparency—The Dual Identity of Developer and Product Manager

Mercy: What is the difference between a developer and a product manager? It sounds like you are both a developer and a product manager. What are the differences between these two roles?

I personally have never gone through the complete process of designing something as a product manager. I have always been a visual thinker; when I think about something, I first imagine what it looks like, and then I consider what code needs to be written and what image resources are needed to make it happen, and then I go ahead and create it.

I think there can often be communication issues between product managers and programmers, which is a common human problem known as "illusion of transparency."

For example, when a product manager designs something, they are very clear about what it is, but sometimes they might think, "I've explained it so clearly, why don't you understand?" In reality, the communication process is very difficult. You need to genuinely assume that the other person knows nothing about what you are talking about and then explain it to them very patiently.

Similarly, on the programmer's side, they might have other tasks to complete before implementing something. At that point, they might already have a full schedule, and when someone asks them, "Can you help me with something else?" they might be internally screaming, thinking, "I already have a full plate; don't you know that?"

Everyone has things they think others should know, but in reality, others really don't know. I think this might be the essence of the communication problems we often encounter.

Mercy: It’s a bit like a game of telephone; by the time it gets from the first person to the fifth person, the fifth person's message is completely different from the first person's.

Yes, communication is a difficult thing. So in the process of doing my own work, I generally work alone. I might communicate with our designer a bit, but the whole process is basically me completing everything from start to finish.

Real communication happens after I finish my work and go live; there will definitely be things I hadn't thought of before, so user feedback is particularly important to me. Users will tell me things I really hadn't considered or mistakes I made.

Mercy: You seem to value this community and communication with users very much. Over the course of more than ten years, have there been any memorable experiences?

There are too many, but if I had to summarize, I think it’s the effect of time. More than ten years ago, when I first started this, I was just like many users, a young person in my twenties, some of whom might still have been in school.

At that time, the issues we discussed included school-related problems, relationship issues with boyfriends and girlfriends, and job-seeking problems. Then, by 2020, many people were starting their own businesses, discussing issues related to starting a business or hiring, and product development.

As time passed, I now see more and more discussions about how to raise children or how to get along with a partner's parents. These topics were not as prevalent over a decade ago, though it could also be because I am now paying attention to these issues, so I notice them more.

In this process, I have found many people who registered accounts over a decade ago and have watched them start new ventures, which then grew significantly.

I remember one particularly early user who even donated to support us in this endeavor. His ID was Beenhero, and he was one of our earliest users back in 2010. I later learned that he went on to create a project called imToken.

Over the course of more than ten years, seeing many things and people grow from zero to their current state, the growth and changes of each individual in this process give me a particularly unforgettable feeling.

Chapter Three: The 60 Yuan Bitcoin—A Legendary Beginning

Mercy: How did you first get into blockchain? Was it because someone was discussing it on the forum?

Definitely. I remember that back in 2011, people here started discussing Bitcoin-related topics. At that time, I began mining Bitcoin using my gaming computer.

I remember it was June 2011, and my gaming computer could mine a complete Bitcoin in about two nights. After I mined a complete Bitcoin, I did something: I said, "Okay, I have mined a complete Bitcoin, and now I will start an auction on the forum. The highest bidder can get this Bitcoin."

Later, a bunch of forum users participated in the auction, and in the end, that complete Bitcoin was sold for 60 yuan, haha. That post is still there, and over the years, I often receive replies on that post, all saying "checking in."

Mercy: Has it become a famous spot?

Yes, it is a spot. Every time Bitcoin hits a new high, people go back to that post and say things like, "Wow, Bitcoin is 10,000 USD," "Bitcoin is 50,000," "Bitcoin is over 100,000," "Bitcoin is too expensive," and that post now has hundreds of replies.

Mercy: Have you mined Bitcoin again or bought back any Bitcoin?

There have been many things I've done since then. For example, a fun experiment we just did is that we now have our own token, so we created a liquidity pool for V2EX and Bitcoin on Solana.

I actually use it as a sort of fixed deposit, meaning that every so often, I put our own token and Bitcoin—Bitcoin on Solana—into this liquidity pool.

So if one day this liquidity pool becomes large enough, our token, which is currently priced in relation to Solana, might, in the future, if this new Bitcoin-based liquidity pool is comparable in size to the Solana pool, have its price be half related to Solana and the other half related to Bitcoin. I think that would be quite interesting.

Mercy: It sounds like a grand vision, or rather an experiment, similar to the experiment Satoshi Nakamoto conducted when he created Bitcoin.

Chapter Four: Choosing Solana—The Philosophy of "It Just Works"

Mercy: Why did you choose to launch the V2EX token on Solana?

We have been thinking about this for many years, and for various reasons, we only decided to do it in 2025. In a sense, this is quite late, but I believe that our previous experiences shaped the way we approached this.

Before we initiated this recent series of operations, we had actually tried many products on Ethereum. We built a lot of things on Ethereum, but I think the gas fees on the Ethereum mainnet, as anyone who has used it knows, are quite terrifying and not very user-friendly, including Vitalik himself having written an article discussing the gas fees on the Ethereum mainnet.

Then Layer 2 solutions emerged, but after using many Layer 2 products, I felt that Layer 2 might not be a solution; it could be a new problem.

Mercy: A new problem?

Yes, it could be part of a new problem, not a solution.

With Solana, you just install a wallet, like OKX wallet, and you can start using it directly. You don’t need to think about which chain your money is on, you don’t need to worry about whether the cross-chain website you are using is reliable, and you don’t have to wonder why your money hasn’t arrived after several minutes of cross-chain processing.

Moreover, most of the time, the gas fees on Solana are approximately zero. I feel it embodies the "It just works" philosophy, requiring little explanation.

Mercy: What discussions about blockchain are there on the V2EX website?

Actually, discussions about blockchain or Web3 have always existed on our site, but I noticed that while many people previously discussed Bitcoin and Ethereum, there has indeed been relatively less discussion about Solana.

However, after we made such significant changes, I observed something really interesting. Since most of our users are programmers, Solana represents a new programming interface for them. Once they have this new programming interface, they start thinking about what they can do with it.

This is a very fun thing; every week, every day, I can see users creating new things based on Solana or the V2EX token.

For example, they created a Next.js template that allows you to integrate the V2EX token into your own website, saving a lot of work.

I also saw one of our users in Japan who created a particularly beautiful blog site called Quaily. They launched a new feature that allows users to pay their monthly or quarterly subscription fees using the V2EX token, which is a new functionality for them.

Additionally, we implemented a tipping feature. Since our tipping feature is one-on-one, some users felt, "One-on-one tipping is too tedious; I’ll create a batch tipping tool." So they developed some tools themselves.

As I mentioned earlier, this is a network, so when one person does something, others in the network who are also interested in that will see it and naturally become curious.

Ultimately, from the data perspective, since we launched this token, discussions about building on Solana have been increasing, and they are genuinely thinking of some particularly fun ideas.

For instance, just today, before I started chatting with you, I saw a new post where someone created a smart contract based on the V2EX token and Solana. My understanding is that it is a listing platform where you can list your tokens at your desired price, and if another person thinks your price is acceptable, they can directly send the token to that contract.

This is simply a contract interaction without any fees charged on the protocol. So why did they create this?

This is what I mean by programmers; when they see something, they think of a bunch of ideas and a lot of "what ifs," and then they actually go and create that "what if," especially now with AI, where you just need one night and a couple of cups of coffee to get it done.

Chapter Five: More Than Just a Meme Coin—The Innovative Experiment of the V2EX Token

Mercy: It sounds like you are using V2EX as a lever to connect the community with Web3. What initially motivated you to do this?

Before May of last year, our website was open for public registration, and anyone could register.

But in May of last year, my fellow administrators and I had to deal with a large amount of spam every day, and handling spam is not something you enjoy doing more the more you do it; every time we dealt with it, we thought, "We are wasting our lives."

Later, we made a decision to change the registration method to invite-only, requiring existing users to use copper coins from our previous points system to generate invitation codes for new accounts.

This method was quite effective, reducing spam to nearly zero. However, it also created a new problem: if someone genuinely wanted to join the site but didn’t know anyone with an invitation code, they couldn’t get in.

So in July of this year, I thought, what if we added a wallet to the site, like OKX Wallet, so that our users could bind a blockchain address to their accounts and log in using a wallet plugin?

If new users don’t have an account, they could register on the site by holding our token. This effectively gave the token its first use case: it could be used to register a new account. If this logic holds, then the token's price would have a basic support. After coming up with this idea in early July, I started writing code.

Mercy: What do you think about Pumpfun? What is V2EX's unique utility or innovation for the future?

I actually happened to launch this through Pumpfun, so people might categorize it as a memecoin, but this is how I view the issue—

As long as you fill in a name and submit an image, you can create a token in about five minutes, and the cost is almost zero.

I think this is a particularly impressive innovation on Solana; it has made the mysterious process of issuing tokens as simple as registering a new account or changing a profile picture. Moreover, it has made this a very fair process, where everyone uses the same formula, and the underlying mathematics, bonding curve, and AMM mechanisms are all identical.

Most people who use this method to launch a token end up just pumping and dumping it. However, we are now using this platform to allow our users to hold this token, and we can unlock some of the paid features on the site based on, for example, the amount held.

Additionally, we can elaborate on the tipping feature. Previously, users would see something interesting on the forum and comment, "Thank you," which was a verbal expression. Now that we have a tipping mechanism, users can express their gratitude with real money.

At the same time, we have also implemented a feature where you can include a memo when tipping, and the recipient will receive a message along with your tip. This message is off-chain and will be recorded in our system. For example, if A receives money from B, it can also include information about what A bought from B. This is recorded in our website's system.

Currently, whether you use PayPal or Stripe, the transaction fees are typically between 2% to 5%. However, using blockchain, we can reduce the fees to approximately zero, with almost no loss in between.

Many of our users are independent developers who produce a lot of digital products. If we can create a digital store based on the existing system, I think it would be a very interesting endeavor.

Conclusion: The Web3 Experiment of Idealists

From selling a Bitcoin for 60 yuan in 2011 to issuing the V2EX token in 2025, Livid has witnessed the transformation of the entire internet and blockchain industry over fourteen years. He did not chase trends or rush into commercialization; instead, he has consistently adhered to the original idea—making this community a place that programmers and designers truly need.

The story of V2EX teaches us that truly valuable products are not created through marketing promotions but grow naturally from the real needs of users. When the network effect reaches critical mass, it becomes a unique existence that cannot be easily replaced.

In the wave of Web3, V2EX has chosen a different path. It is genuinely considering how to make blockchain technology serve the community and how to create real use cases for tokens. From registration barriers to the tipping system, from digital stores to liquidity pools, every feature is designed based on the real needs of the community.

As he mentioned in the interview with the golf ball metaphor: when the ball falls into the sand trap, the important thing is not to complain about it being in the sand, but to see that there is a larger green nearby. In the world of Web3, V2EX has found its own green.

This is not just a story about technology and products; it is also a story about persistence and ideals. In this rapidly changing era, being able to stick to something for fourteen years while maintaining one's original intention is, in itself, an incredible achievement.

Perhaps this is the greatest value of V2EX—it proves that idealists can also find their place in the business world and that truly valuable things can exist for a long time.

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