Vitalik Buterin receives a branded condom from the GraphDex hedgehog mascot at Token2049 Singapore, September 2024.
Video shows Buterin bowing to the hedgehog immediately after
The clip sat dormant for over a year. Then the product launched – and everything changed. In a space where Vitalik Buterin is treated as something between a philosopher-king and a meme, a moment of him bowing to a hedgehog mascot is not a small thing.
It is the kind of image that crypto Twitter cannot ignore, doesn’t want to ignore, and will share without being asked. The bow was brief, yet the reaction to it lasted longer. Within two hours of GraphDex going live, the platform registered 5,800 users across its web app and Telegram mini-app.