Li Xiaolai may be the most well-known Bitcoin player in China. This guy who calls himself a "Bitcoin fanatic" entered this field more than two years ago. He not only quickly accumulated wealth, but also established a good personal brand and a fund Bitfund that invests in entrepreneurs in the Bitcoin industry. On the afternoon of June 29, Li Xiaolai attended the Bitcoin Salon held by PingWest and gave a speech. The following is the transcript of his speech:
Two years ago, I would never have imagined that there would be such a place, with so many people paying attention to Bitcoin. Today, there are so many people, which really surprises me. First of all, I declare that I am a die-hard Bitcoin fan. I repeat, I was a die-hard Bitcoin fan two years ago. (Applause)
This is what I discovered recently. Whenever there is any controversy, I will first say "I am a die-hard fan", and then I don't have to say anything else. It is quite worry-free. The second thing is that I think the Chinese people are the calmest people in the world. I was very uneasy down there just now, but when I saw that everyone was very calm, I became very calm. A few days ago, something very uneasy happened in the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. Later, I found that the Chinese people were still very calm, which I admire very much. The third thing I want to clarify is that I have never initiated a Bitcoin fund. No, my fund is called "Bit Fund". There is a big difference in one word, just like Lei Feng and Rest, there is a big difference.
Since I am a die-hard fan, let’s start by talking about what die-hard fans should think:
I have been in the Bitcoin world for two years. These two years have been lonely in a sense. I have never mentioned Bitcoin to anyone around me, but for various reasons, I know I should do so, so I have always publicly held a large number of Bitcoins on my blog. Everyone knows, and it is very funny to say that people around you will never read your blog, you know? Then one day they suddenly said, Xiaolai, I heard that you are a Bitcoin expert? ! I didn’t know what the word "expert" meant, and I still don’t know it. Then they blamed me and said, "Why didn’t you tell me earlier?"
Actually, to this day, I rarely explain to people who don't understand Bitcoin why it is reasonable. I think it's too difficult. Many people often say, "Wow! We are the ones who use Bitcoin," "Bitcoin is great!" "You should use Bitcoin!" I often tell them that this is unnecessary. Have you ever heard of anyone promoting gold? "Dude, gold is great!" Have you ever heard of anyone promoting the Internet? "Dude, you can't do without the Internet!" I think this is the case. Anyway, this thing is pretty good. You can use it if you want. If you don't want to use it, then don't use it. I like it, so I use it.
So I rarely talk to people. Sometimes I am forced to do so. For example, I was invited to a very famous institution in our country, where my good friend is a partner. They asked me to tell them about it. Two years ago, I went to give a talk. There were 20 people sitting in the audience, who were said to be the smartest brains on the planet. I talked for half an hour, but no one responded. They looked at me like a madman. Two years later, one day, it was said that Bitcoin exceeded $100, and they collapsed again. It was said that they found another group of people with higher levels. They asked me to tell them about it. I said that I didn’t understand it last time, but I could understand it this time. This time, everyone was professional. Well, I went and talked for an hour. Looking at the confused faces in the audience, I was desperate again. I really don’t want to talk. So today I come here to declare that I am a brain-dead fan, an absolute brain-dead fan. Don’t ask me other questions.
The Bitcoin world is definitely another real world. This is really very important. It has a lot of meanings. I will only pick one thing for you. Have you ever thought about it? Before the emergence of Bitcoin, how do you imagine a world without counterfeit money? You don’t have money, but you print it out and then spend it. Do you hate counterfeit money? You don’t hate it. As an ordinary person, you can’t reach counterfeit money at ordinary times, but you don’t know that there is another kind of counterfeit money in this world. Legal counterfeit money is currency issuance. You print it out without my consent, and I can’t tell the difference. I take it to the bank and say it’s real. In a sense, in the history of human beings, in the process of our continuous evolution, our power as the people is very small and weak. We are really at the mercy of others. But today, something suddenly appeared. After we carefully examined it, wow! There is no counterfeit money!
Of course, it has many other meanings. I just randomly mention one of them and you can understand it, right? But this point is really important. So in a sense, I am very surprised that people call Bitcoin "virtual currency". This is wrong. What is virtual currency? This is real currency. It is currency. Everyone here, take out the 100 yuan in your pocket and look at it, touch it, that is also virtual currency. Do you understand? So like me, don't talk about virtual currency anymore. It is currency. Don't argue with me. This is what brainless fans are like (laughs).
As you can see, this is a picture about evolution. We are in this branch. In fact, it is no different from here. It is just an accident of evolution. In a sense, humans are the species at the top of the food chain on the earth. , why can we get to this day? Many scholars have repeatedly studied and finally came to a desperate conclusion, which is pure luck. Do you understand? But this is really fun, you know why it’s fun? When Bitcoin first appeared, when I came into contact with Bitcoin, I didn’t even think it would get to where it is today. I just thought, Wow! so cool. Then I had a slightly different thought than the people around me, Wow! This is a very good social experiment, but I make a clear distinction. If I participate in this experiment and the experiment fails, it is not that I have failed, but that the experiment has failed, right? In fact, practitioners have been doing this kind of thing forever. If one experiment fails, let’s do the next one. So many people today are wondering, if there is another new virtual currency, won’t it be finished? I feel very strange. Once it’s over, it’s over. It’s nothing great. Let’s do another one. That’s progress. Each of us is participating. In fact, in a sense, we are standing here in the Bitcoin world (the source of evolution). We have no way of knowing what will happen in the future. Whether we will become the world’s We don’t know the species that stand at the top of the food chain. Once upon a time, the dinosaurs were old and powerful, but when the climate changed, they became useless. As for when Bitcoin was abolished, even if I am a brainless fan, I have to be honest. Said, I don’t know.
But there is something very important behind this. Think about it carefully. In the process of human development, we were so weak and at a loss. We didn't dare to believe in anything. At the beginning, we believed in everything, supernatural powers, burning incense and worshiping Buddha. Later, people gradually began to wake up. Some smart people in the crowd told you that what you said was wrong and what I said was more right. In the end, everyone began to believe in the only God. As you know, there are many religions on the earth. There are a few "only gods". It's ridiculous, but in that world they believe in the only God. Later, we made progress again and found that this was wrong, so we began to believe in all kinds of authority. Then we began to enter the society we long for, the rule of law society. Of course, the luck of different races on the earth is different. Some people are born in the United States, so they are very happy, and some people are not born in the United States by accident, so they are very unhappy. OK, we are still struggling.
However, when Bitcoin appeared, I felt like this when I saw it, "Wow! We don't even need laws." This is so cool, all it takes is math. So there's a reason why I'm a die-hard fan. I've always believed, and I've repeatedly emphasized, that when the same thing is there, people see something different. As for what he sees, it depends entirely on his past knowledge accumulation and his level of thinking, that's all. So many arguments are unnecessary.
Let's get into the most important part right away. If you are interested in Bitcoin today, I believe you are thinking the same thing as I did two years ago: how can I participate in this thing? There are many ways to participate in this thing. For example, the mother of a good friend of mine participated by asking my friend for 1 Bitcoin, storing it in her own wallet, and telling everyone she met that she had Bitcoin! Very good, this is also a way to participate. But more people think, and I believe you think the same as me, "How can I get more?"
Here I would like to explain what President Zhao said just now. I wanted to explain to him that there is nothing wrong with everyone treating Bitcoin as a collectible. Have you ever thought about this? Do you know why there is nothing wrong? All those who hoard coins are actually contributing to the community. His coins are not circulated, which means that the coins obtained by the rest of the people have increased in value. Then there is another risk of hoarding coins. What if they lose them while hoarding? It is possible, and then his contribution will be greater. People who are imprisoned by traditional knowledge will never understand that there is only one Bitcoin in the world. Do you know that they don’t understand mathematics? Clap hard!
So I think everyone here may think this way. Let me tell you one thing first. This world is a real world. So in this real world, there is a principle that is infinitely magnified, that is, reputation is priceless. You have all heard that the business world is a world of reputation. In the real world, it seems that some people do not talk about reputation. It doesn't matter. But if you want to make more Bitcoin here, I will tell you that it is very, very simple. The first thing is not to argue with others, promote it to others, make a website yourself, and watch others make an exchange. I also make an exchange. No, it is useless. No one will come if you do it. Let me give you two examples. The Chinese moderator of the Bitcoin forum is called John K. He is now my partner. I have established a good network of contacts because of Bitcoin. This kid handles a guarantee amount of 1 million US dollars every day, every day! How old is he? 19 years old, and he hasn't had his birthday yet. He has been a Bitcoin moderator for two years. During these two years, some people wanted to buy FC, so FC had to ask John K for help. You know, everyone gave money to John K, and FC produced the products and sent them over. John K then gave him the money. John K charged a guarantee fee of 0.7%. This kid is a Chinese from Malaysia. He speaks better English and Chinese than me, and he is about to go to the United States to study.
So, you can not have a website, and you can not have the technology, but if you can somehow establish some kind of connection, making money here is like playing. And once you enter this channel, you will find that you no longer think about making money, because it comes by itself, and you don’t have to think about it. This is really important.
Let me give you another example. This is someone I met recently, Dooglus, a Canadian guy. He recently did something called just-dice. Everyone saw that it was a variant of Satoshi DICE. Let me tell you, Satoshi DICE is the largest listed company in Bitcoin. It is very powerful. Their transaction volume once reached half of the entire Bitcoin. It is a gambling website. Then there are N people. I have counted that there are no less than 1,300 websites imitating Satoshi DICE. You say that the technology is good, but it is useless to do that. No one comes to play because people don’t know who you are. I give you money, what should I do if you cheat me? Just-dice has only been online for seven days. There are already about 14,000 coins invested in his website, which is equivalent to 12 to 13 million RMB. Why? He has influence on the Bitcoin forum. On the third day of his website’s launch, the website suddenly crashed. My buddy didn’t sleep well for three consecutive days. I went to sleep and the website crashed. Everyone panicked! But then someone on the forum stood up and said, "Absolutely not!" Three hours later, the website was up.
You see, there are many such examples, and there are many today. The reason is very simple. I realized this two years ago, so I intentionally established my influence in Bitcoin. I hold it publicly, I acquire a lot, and I say everything I do. This is not something you came up with today. First of all, you have to be an honest person. Honesty is very profitable here. In addition, you have to establish influence. It is worthwhile to spend any time to establish it. Believe me.
The next step is to be down-to-earth. What does it mean to be down-to-earth? Let me tell you a very common sentence, ideas are cheap. You have to know that when Bitcoin comes out, it is absolutely... your brain is blown up. Every angle can make you think for a long time. If a person can figure out everything about Bitcoin within half a year after just starting to get in touch with it, I usually think that this person has a very high IQ, because you not only need to have enough knowledge in various fields, but also have the ability to jump out of this knowledge and throw it away to understand it again. This is terrible. For example, 21 million currency is not enough, what is he thinking? But that is caused by his past knowledge accumulation. Do you understand it this way? So half a year goes by very quickly. You have all kinds of ideas every day, and you think every day, wow! I can do this to make this, I can do that to make that, but I tell you, this is my advice, be down-to-earth, do what you can do. There is a characteristic in this world at this stage, who can make the most money? Those who are able to do this thing from beginning to end can make more money. Do you want to cooperate with others? It's very difficult. I tell you, this is how I invest in teams now. He says he wants to invest in Bitcoin. OK, we have seven partners, and it's all on everyone's shoulders, because Bitcoin is very valuable and difficult to protect in the Bitcoin world. What do you do if someone takes your Bitcoin wallet away? It's just you. If you lose, I'll come after you. Anyway, if it's not you or him, there are three of you? I know who you are. Partnership is so difficult.
I will tell you about my own example. You may have read my experience. I bought 2,100 bitcoins at first. I thought this was a great experiment. If this experiment succeeded, I would actually own one ten-thousandth of this country! I was excited just thinking about it. I had goose bumps just thinking about it. Then I spent money to buy 2,100 bitcoins. Then it went up. It went up to the extreme. When I bought the first batch, it was 2 US dollars. After I bought it, I calculated that the average price was 6 US dollars. When I woke up from sleep, it went up by one dollar. When I woke up from sleep, it went up by two dollars. When it went up to 24, I started to be excited. I thought these were all profits. I could use it to buy mining machines. The picture we are looking at now is the largest mining factory in Asia at that time. At that time, there were more than 40 graphics cards in a container. This container was placed in a rural area called Bazhou between Beijing and Tianjin. There were two air conditioners. This is one side.
But in fact, I didn't mine many ores. I only mined about 200 or so. Why? This was not something I could do by myself at the time. I had to entrust someone. He promised to help me take care of this thing, but there was a power outage and he could not get there for a week. Fortunately, I was generous and endured it for a week. He said, "Xiaolai, it's done!" It's done, start mining! Then he returned to Tianjin, and the next day, it was dead again. There was no way, no way at all. I promise you, if you have to rely on others to do this, you will 100% encounter the situation I encountered. So why did I stop making mining machines later? I quickly sold it. I sold it at 10% of the price, and then quickly did one thing. I started to use all the money in my US stock account to buy and sell non-stop. Why? This is something I can do by myself. It depends entirely on me. I don't rely on anyone. I won't tell anyone. I'll just do it.
Of course, that experience was a blessing in disguise for me. Looking back now, this was the cleanest and easiest money I have ever made in my life. It was just a click of the mouse. It was clean. You don’t need to explain it. Do you know why it was clean? It was because I didn’t have to pay taxes. I wanted to pay, too (laughs).
So you must do down-to-earth things and things that are within your ability. Otherwise, you will enlarge your mind and daydream every day. In the eyes of others, you will look like a lunatic, and then you will look even more like a lunatic. It's meaningless.
I hope you understand that this is probably the best learning opportunity I have ever encountered in my life. I never stop learning. I learn whatever I catch and I am happy to learn. As you may know, as an English teacher, I started learning to build websites at the age of 40 last August. At the beginning of this year, I produced a website called "New one", which was very popular. I am such a person. I learn whatever I catch and I am really happy. But this time, Bitcoin really gave me an unimaginable opportunity. Knowledge can be converted into cash so quickly. A lot of knowledge can really be converted into cash quickly. Many people think they are experts in finance. They have been saying that if everyone hoards, speculates, and buys and sells banknotes, then it has no monetary value. I think this idea is missing a knowledge point. Currency itself is also a commodity, and currency is the most essential commodity.
What is the largest market on earth? The financial market, which is bigger than the beef noodle market, right? Every day, people say, "I can't buy beef noodles with my Bitcoin, so why should I buy it?" I think this person's ideal is a stage off, so I won't say anything more. This is the accumulation of knowledge points.
Everyone here speaks very good English. If you don't know a little English and can't understand the papers, it will be very difficult to read them. You can't even browse the forum. This is also a way to monetize knowledge. The most important thing is mathematics. Mathematics is also a way to monetize knowledge. Bakecat's stock is the only stock that is most worth investing in the Bitcoin world. The reason is very, very simple. All other chip manufacturers and managers don't have the brains of Bakecat. They have detailed actuarial models. This is a mathematical problem. With such a bad math brain, you are still mining. Are you kidding? To be honest, this is not a joke, so think about it yourself.
Of course the most important thing is logic. I actually have a very good book about basic logic called "Treat Time as a Friend". A new edition will be released soon. If you have time, you can take a look at it. It may be the most easily monetizable knowledge.
The process of participating in Bitcoin is actually the process of knowledge realization. Remember this: it is easier said than done. Let me give you an example. I bought Bitcoin but I just didn't sell it. Do you think it is easy? I didn't sell it at 15 yuan, 20 yuan, 32 yuan, 42 yuan, 260 yuan, and 90 yuan. Is it easy? So I tell you, contrary to your imagination, it is not easy to respect those who dare to save coins. I just said what their contribution is. Why don't they sell it? There are two reasons. The first reason is that my capital is too little. It is completely idle money for me. Even if it disappears now, my life is still my life. I have been living on my royalties for all these years. How much money did so many Bitcoins originate from today? You can’t imagine, 4,600 yuan, a long time before New Oriental went public, they required our teachers... I was in the last batch and I was allocated 2,000 shares and I had to spend 2 yuan per share to buy them, but I didn’t complain and bought them. Two or three days after I bought them, they really went public. So I had a US stock account in a country with economic controls. After it went public, it actually went up, and after it went up, it actually went up to more than 80 US dollars, but I sold it, and after I sold it, I found that it had fallen. Then I bought Apple stock, and later I found that Apple stock was soaring.
It sounds so daunting, but I only made 40,000 or 50,000 dollars. After selling New Oriental shares, I only made 40,000 or 50,000 dollars. Later, I bought Apple shares and made more than 100,000 dollars. Later, I bought Bitcoin, and then it increased many times. But for me, it was very simple to do this. The starting amount was 4,600 yuan. I always told myself that it was 4,600 yuan. But I can tell you that I collapsed about a year ago. Later, I found that I couldn’t keep it with me, so I turned it into a paper wallet and put it somewhere I could never reach. Do you understand? Otherwise, I would have sold it. Why didn’t I sell it when it was 260? It’s really out of reach, so forget it.
So many times it is easier said than done. When you start dealing with people in this world, there will always be people who promise you something. Please be skeptical in your heart and ask if it is really true. This way you can suffer less losses.
The next point is the international perspective. This point is for those who come to the conference today to understand what opportunities Bitcoin has, not just small Bitcoin players. For example, when I am in the investment team, I often ask a question, "Where is your target market?" They say "China", and I basically pass them up. I simply say, please listen carefully, P2P network is the real network, do you understand this sentence? Before P2P appeared, the network was still an analog network, it was still plugged in by the central result, and it was down if the server crashed. It didn't let you see Facebook, and you didn't know that Facebook existed, so the network was not considered a network before that, but P2P appeared, and the real power of the network appeared after P2P appeared, which was unstoppable and unstoppable, so everything related to Bitcoin has been internationalized from the beginning, and must be internationalized, otherwise you will limit yourself. I can only say so much, so in fact, many of my current investment team are abroad. This is the international perspective.
Finally, let me tell you why this incident made me a die-hard fan. In fact, the most fascinating thing in life is to create something out of nothing. There was nothing in this world originally, but you waved your hand and it appeared. Who is doing this? All those who can create something out of nothing are called Creators. We can translate it into "Creator". Of course, you also know that in another context it is called "Creator". Creating something out of nothing is very fascinating, very, very fascinating.
In reality, the actual significance of Bitcoin to everyone here is far greater than the currency value you see. I have a group of big Bitcoin holders, and the slogan is "People who have 10 Bitcoins today will be big holders in the future." You have to hold on for four years and not sell them. Then what? What if you lose all your future coins? Just give it a try (laughs).
Let me tell you another thing. The changes and opportunities it brings us are unprecedented. Why is it unprecedented? I will only tell you one clue. I never thought that I could accumulate wealth at such a speed in my life. I think there are many people in the world who have experienced the same thing as me. Don’t you think this makes you live longer? Have I made it clear? This is no different from your longevity.
Then we look at the world two years ago, and then look at the world two years later. Two years ago, when I entered this world, it was a wasteland. What was there? Nothing. But today is different. We have exchanges, and we even have P2P exchanges that are already visible. We can trade stocks. We even have listed companies here. Then more and more people started to pay attention to it, and more and more people started to use it. You see, the VPN I use today is all purchased with Bitcoin. How convenient it is. No registration is required. It is sent here, and then I start using it. So the world is changing, but no matter how it changes, it is still very primitive, really very primitive, even though it is a new world. So I don’t think we have come a long way. There is still a long way to go. We have only come less than a third of the way. There are still many opportunities to come. I hope that the little sharing I brought to you today, some very simple principles, will be helpful to you. Thank you.
