To this day, most people have heard of Bitcoin. But if we go back about ten years, there were not many people in China who knew about Bitcoin. So, who were the people that had early contact with Bitcoin and were involved in trading?

I personally believe that the early cryptocurrency community in China mainly consisted of these three types of people.

One type is professionals from the internet industry, those working in IT. Bitcoin is an internet application, and many of those who first encountered digital currency were internet professionals. For example, Li Lin from Huobi previously worked on a group buying website, Xu Mingxing was the CTO of Douyin, and Zhao Changpeng, Zhao Dong, and Shen Tuqing are all IT guys. Later, Chang Jia, who created Baibite, was a science fiction writer. I myself first learned about Bitcoin from (Computer News).

It is worth mentioning that around 2014 and 2015, the domestic Bitcoin community had some overlap with the domain name community. For example, Du Jun from Jinse Finance was also a master in domain names. At that time, I was also in some WeChat groups related to domain names where I met some prominent figures who later became important in the cryptocurrency space.

The second category is financial practitioners. Due to the dramatic rise and fall of Bitcoin prices, which have huge volatility, it is very suitable for financial trading arbitrage, and it caught the attention of financial professionals in the country very early on.

The earliest mention of incorporating Bitcoin into the national strategic reserves in 2013 was made by Mai Gang, a senior figure in the investment circle. Wu Jihan was previously a venture capital analyst and investment manager, and after getting involved with Bitcoin in May 2011, his financial background helped him understand Bitcoin. Lou Jiyue had worked in an investment bank. Xiao Feng is a financial big shot. Besides these prominent figures, some unknown individuals also entered the cryptocurrency space purely due to stock trading and futures trading.

I learned about Ripple because in 2014, I bought a magazine for stock trading (stock market dynamic analysis) that featured a columnist named Mr. Wolong, who had profound insights into wave theory. After reading his article mentioning Ripple, I bought Ripple on Taobao.

The third category includes some groups engaging in funding schemes and pyramid schemes domestically. Russian Sergey Mavrodi set up a 3M funding scheme using Bitcoin for deposits.

This project greatly promoted the understanding and application of Bitcoin among certain groups in the country. Some individuals who later became big shots in the cryptocurrency world had dabbled in projects like the 3M type earlier. In the micro-business groups of 2015, some people later entered the cryptocurrency space. After some micro-business projects struggled to sell products, founders led their teams into the cryptocurrency world.

Interestingly, people from different backgrounds mostly choose the development path that suits themselves after getting involved in the cryptocurrency world. For those in IT, many later worked at exchanges, wallets, or platforms. Those in finance turned to become VCs in the cryptocurrency space. People from stock trading or micro-business groups launched projects or acted as agents.

I personally feel that if I could take a time machine back over a decade, most people would still find it relatively difficult to access Bitcoin, let alone actively learn related knowledge and be able to buy and hold Bitcoin. People like Teacher Li Xiaolai, who got involved with Bitcoin in 2011 and tried mining, are truly rare.

The experience of connecting with Bitcoin has given me an important insight in life: to maintain a sense of curiosity, pay more attention, and explore new things. The opportunities that can truly make you wealthy often come from fields you have never encountered before. Of course, more importantly, you need to discern which are opportunities and which are traps, and be able to try within your risk tolerance.