On Tuesday (November 12), Bitcoin soared to $89,465, setting a new historical high. Chinese on-chain analyst Ai Yi exposed that the address of 'the first person in the Chinese cryptocurrency circle' Cat, who had been dormant for four years, transferred out all 206.34 Bitcoin, worth $18.12 million.
According to monitoring by Ai Yi, Cat's address 1BnkE...yxFey, dormant for four years, transferred 206.34 Bitcoin, worth $18.12 million, to 15286...bjYma today (Tuesday) at noon; currently, the Bitcoin in that address has been completely emptied.
According to market analysis, in 2012, when Bitcoin was still little known in China, Cat had already carved out a territory in the field of virtual currency. In 2013, he rode a roller coaster with belief and strength, bringing enormous wealth and passionate shouts to himself and many others. But by the end of 2014, he mysteriously disappeared, leaving no trace. His disappearance is shrouded in suspicion and is referred to by insiders as 'one of the top ten unsolved mysteries in the cryptocurrency circle.'
It is reported that Cat's real name is Jiang Xinyu, born in 1986 in Shaoyang, Hunan. In 2001, Jiang Xinyu, who graduated from Shaoyang No. 1 Middle School, was admitted to the youth class of the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei with a national ranking of 11 (another version says he was the 11th in all of Hunan).
In 2009, 23-year-old Jiang Xinyu obtained a master's degree in computer science with a thesis (constructing a secure threading mechanism using formal methods) and entered the doctoral program of the Computer Science Department at the University of Science and Technology of China-Yale High-Trust Software Research Center. In 2011, he visited Yale University, and it was during the summer of that year that Cat encountered Bitcoin and began to study it.
On January 16, 2012, Jiang Xinyu registered an ID as 'friedcat' on the Bitcoin forum Bitcointalk.
It is precisely for this reason that the Chinese cryptocurrency circle gave him the nickname 'Cat', thus creating a classic figure in the Chinese market.
In July 2012, Cat posted a fundraising message on the forum, claiming that he had the ability to develop ASIC mining machine chips and manufacture mining machines to mine, but he needed funds, with a target of 1 million RMB.
In a post titled 'ASICMINER: Entering the Future of ASIC Mining by Inventing It', Cat introduced the ASIC mining machine project and responded to external doubts.
His partner Fan Dawei registered Bitfountain Information Technology Co., Ltd. in Shenzhen. Subsequently, Cat successfully conducted crowdfunding on the GLBSE exchange, with the stock named ASICMiner, which later became the name of Cat's mining machines.
Cat divided the company's shares into 400,000 shares, selling 41% externally while holding 59% for himself. The success of Cat's crowdfunding benefited from the trust of insiders, which was also due to his active presence before the crowdfunding rather than suddenly appearing in the forum to raise money. It was this trust that made Cat's later disappearance even more difficult to accept.
The ASICMiner project attracted significant attention within the global Bitcoin circle. Among the domestic investors who invested in this project at that time were Wu Jihan, who later became a mining tycoon, and internet writer 'Crazy Little Strong'. Their unwavering confidence in Cat's team's abilities represented the voice of many investors. The foresight of Wu Jihan and others was later proven to be correct.
At its peak, Bitfountain even caused panic and attacks in the cryptocurrency circle due to its overwhelming hashrate. Cat then distributed part of its hashrate, maintaining it at 20%, which calmed the fears of everyone. However, good times do not last forever. This passionate period did not last long.
In the field of cryptocurrency mining, research and development technology is key to maintaining a leading position. Cat encountered difficulties in the development of the second-generation chip, while market competition had doubled compared to the past. In addition to the main competitor Pumpkin Zhang, there were also new emerging competitors, including Wu Jihan. Wu Jihan was once a shareholder of Bitfountain and wanted to join Cat's team, but Fan Dawei disagreed. Later, he recruited Zhan Ketuan as a technical partner, and the two co-founded AntMiner, becoming one of Cat's strong competitors.
By October 2013, the hashrate of the Cat Mining Machine had dropped from initially accounting for 42% of the entire network to 4%. People began to continuously sell off their Cat stocks, leading to a sharp drop in stock prices, followed by setbacks.
In January 2014, the third-generation chip launched by Cat encountered problems in design and packaging, resulting in insufficient heat resistance and prone to explosion, causing new products to stagnate in sales. Although the Tube mining machine was launched again in August of the same year, the profits were not high, making it difficult to compensate for previous losses. Cat's career fell into trouble.
Then, Cat's last hope was shattered. In September 2014, through a middleman named 'Chong Ge' who had previously sold mining machines, Cat met a Fujian businessman named Lin QX (pseudonym). The two agreed and signed a contract to invest in Huai'an, where there are abundant electricity resources, building a mining farm covering an area of 2,000 square meters, placing 7,000 to 8,000 mining machines.
However, due to various conflicts of interest, the two parties could not cooperate and had to breach the contract. According to the previously signed agreement, Cat had to pay the other party 80 million as a penalty for breach of contract.
In October 2014, Cat got married.
At the end of 2014, Cat suddenly went missing.
Cat's family, team members, etc., could not contact him. Cat's family reported him missing on January 25, 2015, but there has been no news for years; this day was designated as Cat's official missing date.
On the bitcointalk forum, Cat's last login was at 4:03 PM Beijing time on January 25, 2015.
On the morning of January 23, Cat held a two-day auction for mining machines and announced its end at 8:03 AM on January 25. Since the time used by the forum is Greenwich Mean Time, adding 8 hours gives Beijing time.
On February 28, 2015, Bitfountain stopped distributing dividends.
On March 11, Fan Dawei, under pressure from various parties, issued a formal announcement regarding Cat's disappearance as a co-founder of Bitfountain on the bitcointalk forum but stated that the company would continue to operate.
However, the investors who came to defend their rights found that the Bitfountain office was already empty.
Inside the glass door of Room 1317, East Building, Shenzhen Coast Plaza, it was empty. According to company employee Wang Song's recollection, the Cat team had already planned to give up on Huai'an and prepare to go to Sweden to find a factory. They had already arranged their passports and tickets, but before leaving, they couldn't find Cat.
To date, Cat's disappearance remains a topic of much discussion, but the unexpected awakening of his wallet address has rekindled heated discussions within the Chinese community.
