Surely Ethereum isn't a scam or vaporware. It seems to be working really good to me (on the CounterParty test net). 
Vitalik very well might go down as the genius who created Ethereum, let other people use it for free, and then just kept all the fundraiser money.
He doesn't really care. He gets rich and this really cool software he invented is used everywhere. He gets awards. It is all around a big win for him. Just because the people that directly paid for it aren't the people that actually directly profit probably shouldn't worry him much.
Vitalik very well might go down as the genius who created Ethereum, let other people use it for free, and then just kept all the fundraiser money.
He doesn't really care. He gets rich and this really cool software he invented is used everywhere. He gets awards. It is all around a big win for him. Just because the people that directly paid for it aren't the people that actually directly profit probably shouldn't worry him much.