In the past two weeks, from Zhongshan in Guangdong to Bangkok in Thailand and then to Silicon Valley, Guo Hongcai, a cornerstone investor in blockchain, has been actively seeking high-quality blockchain projects both domestically and internationally. His journey across the Pacific Ocean has brought him into contact with various blockchain initiatives, particularly those highlighted by Silicon Valley's leading figures. These interactions have sparked interest among well-known Chinese blockchain investors, who are planning to invest in an additional 1,000 projects in 2018. Guo Hongcai, known as "Bao Erye" in the industry, once shared on his social media that "keep going, don't be jealous."
Meanwhile, Chinese blockchain projects have also gained attention from industry leaders like Chen Hao, founder of Cloud, who attended the January meeting of the North American Blockchain Association (NABA) in Silicon Valley. At a Beijing conference, his partner Han Feng and friend Xu Xiaoping engaged in a seven-question debate on blockchain topics.
On January 25th, Da Hongfei, CEO of the NEO project, flew from snowy Shanghai to San Francisco to begin preparations for the first NEO DevCon, aiming to attract more developers to support the platform.
The next day, at 10 am, the HT token package was launched for the third time. In a large internet company office in Xi'erqi, Lin Ping opened the Fire Co. website, and within 32 seconds, 28.65 million credits were sold out.
This is the most active blockchain market globally. Despite the previous ICO crackdown, projects like Thunder Chain and Renren ICO faced setbacks. However, under the blockchain umbrella, the nearly solidified Chinese internet sector is returning to an era where uncertainty can still lead to opportunities. Ant Financial Technology Lab announced the launch of blockchain technology; Baidu Finance introduced an ABS product using blockchain technology. Over the past one and a half months, companies like 360, Jingdong, Wanda, Meitu, and Storm have intensively entered the blockchain space, covering areas such as cloud services, food traceability, content, and gaming.
Professor Zhang Shoujun from Stanford University believes that blockchain creates a consensus system, enabling people to gain trust and new collaboration opportunities. In this system, centralized platforms are replaced by peer-to-peer blocks, allowing communities to define game rules through transparent algorithms.
With concerns about opportunities, beliefs, envy, greed, and adventure, more Chinese grassroots individuals, elites, and capital are entering the blockchain space. They firmly believe that "if your goal is just right, everything will come to you and return your correctness." This quote from Jesse Livermore reflects the Wall Street era of "uncertainty is possible."
**Capital Flurry: Investment, Investment, Speculation**
For a long time, many blockchain concepts have remained theoretical, but capital is rushing in. The rise of digital currency has fueled this wave of investment. "Don't invest, light station, called endorsement," Guo Hongcai told Tencent Shenwang, describing the prevalent investment business in the circle, where celebrities help promote projects and issue digital currencies for listing.
In the currency circle, this business involves two forms of payment: tokens and French currency. Startups often prefer to give tokens. Bao Erye was the first to engage in this business, later expanding into the VC circle. Celebrity investors like Xue Manzi helped bring the currency into the public eye.
After the ICO ban, the "investment banking business" became low-key. Now, Bao Erye has shifted from "investment banking" to cornerstone investment: investing in private shares of blockchain projects and corresponding tokens. After securing investor funds, the project party needs to operate token issuance on exchanges.
On September 4 last year, the central bank and seven ministries issued a notice to prevent risks from token financing, ending the ICO chaos. Most insiders told Shennet that after the 9.4 announcement, exchange thresholds significantly increased, limiting the role of platforms.
"The exchanges are all clearly marked," Bao Erye said, emphasizing the need for institutional investment based on the project's own value. This transition is not simple, as there remains a vague business between "investment" and "investment business."
JACK used to play a sensitive role between offline projects and online speculative groups, acquiring shares from the project side and spreading them to WeChat groups for private disposal. He revealed that many endorsers intentionally blur their relationship with the project side, misleading retail investors.
"Some projects are obviously not reliable, yet well-known institutions appear on the white paper," JACK said, suggesting that these institutions may not have invested money, merely acquiescing to the project's token distribution.
After strict regulation, JACK stopped engaging in "investment generation," transferring related business overseas. Using accumulated contacts and channels, he began focusing on a larger business—third-party incubation.
Previously, major trading platforms like Currency Security and Fire Coins set up their own incubators, supporting projects on their exchanges, but issues of fairness persisted. Bao Erye believes good projects do not need to enter any exchange incubator, as those from incubators face challenges in gaining approval from other exchanges.
"Currently, the incubation model by exchanges is gradually losing market," according to Bao Erye, noting that the competitive environment led exchanges to focus on incubators, but now they are gradually giving up such businesses.
The position of exchanges appears neutral. The official currency of Tencent mentioned that the pass rate of online projects is less than 1/100, following an anonymous review mechanism, avoiding "relationship households." Cai Kailong, Chief Strategy Officer of Firecoin.com, revealed that Firecoin has already issued a reputation score called Smartchain, which is neutral.
The limitations of exchanges provide opportunities for people like Jack. "It will be a story, a channel, a channel, a person, and a currency," Jack feels that there is no threshold for an incubator, with limited technical requirements, and it is important to understand the "rules."
Jack has a pile of projects in his hand, and his new prey has been made since the media. He wants to use blockchain from media articles to make a sound for his project or pull the author to write a manuscript and create a white paper. Jack said that most project parties only want to give money when looking for the media, not giving cash "empty gloves."
A good story is the first step. Jack refers to foreign blockchain project types, selects existing products in the country, identifies companies with business overlap, and actively discusses some projects with story prospects.
There are many types of blockchain projects abroad. According to CB Insights, from 2014 to the end of the third quarter of 2017, the main business of 134 blockchain startups with over $500,000 in funding was distributed in asset management, financial services, wallet, lending, payment, trade, crowdfunding, gaming, forecasting markets, social, points, insurance, internet of things, computing storage, and underlying infrastructure. These have become the blueprint for Jack's projects.
Jack's most important thing is that the project can package stories related to the blockchain, and the technology is generally packaged as "smart contract on Ethereum" to be close to the blockchain. He knows that even if the project does not actually use blockchain technology, there will still be a leek in the secondary market.
"Your ultimate goal is to send the project to the platform and then make a high market value, isn't it?" Jack said.
Faced with such problems, Ben, the head of another third-party incubator, gave a different response. "If you think of the incubator as a word of mouth and a brand, you have to be practical."
Compared to Jack's coin ring, Ben is a traditional VC-infected group, and he hopes that his blockchain project incubator can become a "small but fine" representative. Similar to Jack, Ben also thinks that the project can find incubators, the technical requirements are not too high, "but this is not to say that the incubator is all air."
He is gradually establishing his own quantitative system, whether it is market analysis, market value management, channel distribution or even private placement. One of Ben's principles in the discovery and takeover of the project is that the initial project does have user accumulation and actual needs, and it is impossible to build a scene out of thin air.
Ben found that many of the projects that came to the door were not of the right quality. "Looking at such a project is a waste of time." For this type of air project, he will fight back directly and no longer earn this fee.
"There are a few projects that have been trusted by friends. I will take a serious look. When I talk to the project side, I will also privately raise some of them." Ben thinks that incubators are also "investing people." For reliable projects, more resources and energy will be invested in PR, on the currency and in the later market value management.
Like many third-party incubators, Ben believes that traditional VCs can't be played in the blockchain, and LP has too many restrictions. Ben told Shennet that many bleaching funds cannot enter through VC. "Of course, some VCs also set up a Capital Fund in private, and do it alone."
Globally, traditional investment vehicles are not lacking. CB Insights counts the world's top 10 blockchain investment VC institutions (2012-2017), of which DCG (Digital Currency Group) took the top 100 investment in 75 blockchain companies, followed by Blockchain Capital and Pantera Capital, in the form of equity investments and ICO.
Domestic VC institutions are more low-key. In fact, many project parties are very cautious about the influx of VC capital. VC invests in projects in the form of funds, often get 10% - 15% of the project tokens, undoubtedly become one of the biggest bookmakers, after the project on the currency, such dealer behavior can affect the price trend of the token. VC naturally relies on exit to benefit, this group is sensitive to price, and it is easy to create a new price bubble. The last one is the currency of the secondary market. Many industry insiders told Shenwang that some VCs did not sign a lock-coin agreement after they got the currency, and they could trade directly in the secondary market. Many new VCs are still excited. Seeing that the price of coins rises by 7-10 times, they will be eager to arbitrage. It is still more traditional.
But in any case, the fierce competition between capitals has already started around those "Xiangxiang" projects.
In the past two months, Zhang Lei’s project has become such a fragrant, and the relevant agenda has been placed after the Spring Festival. "Hanging a 'free sign' is a bit unbearable."
Zhang Lei is the founder of YeeCall. He is mainly engaged in cross-border communication, and 30 million registered users are mainly immigrants. His YEE eco blockchain project is based on such a user base. Earlier, he sold his own snack technology to his old boss Baidu.
From the perspective of future development, Zhang Lei is more interested in industrial capital. He is communicating with Tsinghua's industrial capital, including discussing with the Tsinghua Entrepreneurs Association the world's first digital mergers and acquisitions. Zhang Lei believes that industrial capital can make the blockchain quickly landed in the industry, and money is not a problem for the project itself.
"A lot of people don't look at technology, we are actually very sad." Zhang Lei is most confident in Yee's white paper, which details the core technical content. Zhang Lei said that before 2016, the blockchain was mostly research-based, and the enterprises with demand were also outsourcing development. After the ICO chaos, many speculators in the currency circle had a wealth effect.
Also hope that the industry will return to the technology, as well as the founder of the NEO project, Da Hongfei. People in the circle used to call the 80s "Da Shu". At present, NEO is widely regarded as one of the best public chain projects in Asia.
“Everyone should pay more attention to the technology itself.†Da Hongfei felt that it is necessary to clearly distinguish the relationship between asset bubbles and technology. The more speculative atmosphere in the blockchain market, the more technical teams need to be used as projects. Support, focusing on the basic construction of the project.
Removing the industrial bubble is also an investor's expectation.
“The currency circle and blockchain are interrelated. The best way to curb excessive speculation is to open licenses and develop effective legal management.†Pan Weicheng CEO Chen Weixing told Shenwang. In September last year, the young man who had successfully invested quickly decided to take the pre-A round of financing for the money in just 10 minutes.
Talking about the relationship between the blockchain and the currency market, World Blockchain Foundation Bitcoin ambassador Willson Lee told Tencent Shenzhen that the blockchain and the currency circle are linked. For the blockchain, the token Price is a very important point. “A very real problem is that many people will pay attention to you because the price of the project token has risen. What is embarrassing is that many good project prices may not be able to run out.†Willson Lee admits that the Chinese market is relatively For the blockchain project, in addition to the true value, it is also necessary to pay attention to the market reality of the currency circle market, so that the project's token price is regulated in a reasonable range.
“ The one-size-fits-all policy is unreasonable, and we need the rules.†Bao Erye is looking forward to the supervision rules as soon as possible. Today, industry regulators are the most pressing need for investors and heads of the project.
**Project PK: Elite and speculators race**
When playing billiards once, Zhang Lei suddenly developed an idea to obtain the ID of the breeding pig through the face recognition, and then use the blockchain technology to build the ID of the pig. That is 2016, ICO is still a small story in the geek community, blockchain technology is not related to token (token).
At the turn of the millennium, Zhang Lei entered Huawei and experienced the Internet bubble boom of “unsure is possible†with the attitude of newcomers in the workplace. In 2009, Zhang Lei entered Baidu and was responsible for the mobile search business. Later, Zhang Lei founded Dim Sum Mobile, which was invested by the Innovation Workshop. The company was later acquired by Baidu.
“Intelligent contracts can't be written, and a lot of air coins appear.†In the middle of last year, during the outbreak of the domestic ICO, Zhang Lei served as a technical consultant for several projects. He found that many teams did not implement technology at all. With the intelligent contract of Ethereum, people can program, realize the operation of the program on the chain of Ethereum, and enjoy the characteristics of distributed, decentralized and non-tamperable blockchain technology. Such a program is a Dapp smart contract, similar to the APP program in the blockchain context, and its relationship with Ethereum is similar to the Android mobile phone Android system. A Dapp application project team does not write smart contracts, just as literati who write couplets are illiterate. The ICO bubble last year is evident.
YeeCall was founded in Singapore, and 30 million cross-border communication users are mainly Indian and Pakistani immigrants. In March last year, Ripple, a well-known blockchain project, threw an olive branch and wanted to connect YeeCall to the Ripple system to provide users with a transfer transaction attempt. Similar ideas include YeeCall's partner World Bank, which aims to reduce immigration cross-border transfer fees.
On National Day last year, Zhang Lei closed at home for 7 days and finally decided to use blockchain technology to solve the problem of fair cross-border transfer in many countries, complex people and complex environments. In December last year, Zhang Lei and the team launched a virtual currency transfer wallet, and plans to integrate the wallet into YeeCall in the first quarter of this year.
In the blockchain circle, a project team made a wallet, just as the gymnast completed the conversion of the high difficulty factor, which is objectively proof of technical strength. In addition, YeeCall also occupies two trump cards - 30 million user bases and scenes.
“This scene must be real, not imagined.†Zhang Lei said that immigrant users want to send money home, queue up in the transfer center to fill in the form, paying a high fee is very troublesome. At the same time, many users do not have a bank card, and there is a need for mobile payment.
From the white paper of YEE Ecology, Zhang Lei's team has its own ambitions, starting with the low-end chain YEE-Chain, abstracting the network layer, to the wallet, the game, and then to the ordinary scene Dapp application. “Now it is still done in Ethereum. To be honest, the development of the chain is carried out on a yearly basis.†Zhang Lei said.
As an infrastructure, the development of the underlying public chain requires strength. Although Silicon Valley is in a position to take advantage of such projects, China's voice has not been overwhelmed, and NEO is one of them.
NEO is the representative project of China's current underlying public chain project: a low-level blockchain protocol that automates the management of digital assets using technologies such as blockchain, digital identity, and smart contracts. Its predecessor was a small ant.
Both NEO and Ethereum involve "smart contracts," often mixed with leeks. In fact, the route between the two is completely different. Da Hongfei told Tencent Shenwang that NEO needs smart contract technology, but it is worse than Ethereum. Ethereum uses smart contracts to create standards for the distribution of digital assets, but what is lacking is the digital identity authentication mechanism.
“It’s not suitable to compare NEO to beer. It should be yellow wine.†Talking about the blockchain market where bubbles and beer are in the same place, Dahongfei hopes that NEO can condense value in time and gain recognition from open source enthusiasts and geeks.
In this winter's blockchain tide, other Chinese voices appeared in the bottom blockchain level, such as the returnee technology school Chen Hao and his Yilai cloud.
After completing his studies at Tsinghua University and the University of Illinois, Chen Hao joined the Microsoft Research Operating System Group in 1992. In 2000, Chen Hao designed and developed a set of operating systems, named also to the cloud. After 2017, Chen Hao and Han Feng jointly developed Yilai Cloud into a distributed Internet operating system that combines blockchain technology, that is, also come to Cloud 4.0.
“Petcat this little game, with 5 million cats with independent authentication, was raised on an Ethereum computer, but then there was congestion due to lack of computing power. But if 5 million cats are raised on 5 million mobile phones, This is another matter.†Chen Wei believes that the development of blockchain computers should not be mixed with Dapps development, which is actually not necessarily related.
Also, the cloud mainly solves two problems of the existing technology of the blockchain, namely, the upper limit of the main chain computing capability, and the problem of the blockchain technology supporting the user scenario. He told Tencent Shenwang that the computing power of Ethereum applications is running on the chain. Unlike Ethereum, it is also a kind of operating environment based on blockchain technology, and mobile terminals (such as mobile phones). The computational power is orthogonal and can be borrowed to extend the computational power from the chain to different directions.
Partner Han Fengtong graduated from Tsinghua University. He believes that the previous payment methods are centralized, and the user's consumption data is concentrated in the hands of an organization. In the context of blockchain technology, user identity authentication is a more autonomous behavior, and decentralization also ensures that data is returned to the user's rights.
Han Feng is the Secretary General of the Asian Blockchain DACA Association and was previously an angel investor at NEO. On the 23rd, Han Feng and Xu Xiaoping launched a 7-question 7 answer on the issue of bitcoin. The two had a good time, and shortly after the "chat recording WeChat leaking incident" was exposed, Xu Xiaoping also participated in a closed meeting of Yelai.
In the blockchain circle, for projects with strong technical blessings, you can often get a pass-through card that is “reliable to checkâ€. More project choices are deliberately low-key than such projects that are not afraid of spotlights.
“The project has a low probability of being low-key because it doesn't dare to say more, and more than leaks.†Last summer, Chen Chi plunged into the ICO frenzy, smashed the project, pulled the financing, and thought about doing a big job. After the announcement of 94, Chen Chi repurchased the token and waited for the opportunity while avoiding the limelight.
Today, Chen Chi's identity is the head of the incubator studio. The whole job is a team of four people. In general, it is to help some companies that want to enter the blockchain to “ride a carâ€. He told Shennet that many companies don't know how to get the main business to block the blockchain, and he needs a consultant like him to help create a scene.
Many of the ICO project participants have started the "incubator studio". Chen Chi knows the doorway of the trading platform. “Many times, even if you only have a specific actual project, even if it is a mobile app, you can use the currency.†He said that this means that the project scene does not necessarily need the blockchain immediately. Turn.
“The main reason for avoiding risks is to avoid public offerings.†Chen Chi said that after the announcement of 9.4, only private placements were allowed. Of course, there were also many representative investment shares. “Of course, this is the risk of the company itself. The bigger the company, the more it can't afford it.â€
Zhou Hongyi is afraid of such risks. On January 8th, a live broadcast site called Show.One was launched with a token called "Xiu Coin". Hu Zhensheng, the head of Show.One, sent a showcase red envelope in several groups and aired the show candy. The next day, the show currency was launched on OKEX.
On January 16th, 8 days after the introduction of the coin, the former live member of the pepper, Hu Zhensheng, welcomed the current shareholder of the pepper, Zhou Hongyi. In response to questioning Hu Zhensheng’s code of conduct for alleged changes to ICO, Zhou Hongyi accused Hu Zhensheng of issuing a coin in the name of pepper in the circle of friends, saying that “you are controversial about ICO now, and don't want to take the pepper into it.†Hu Zhensheng Weibo said that showone and pepper did not matter, but did not respond to the ICO problem that Zhou Hongjun accused. Shenwang interviewed Hu Zhensheng accordingly, and the other party refused.
Under the stricter policy, the more well-reputed projects, the more concerned about compliance. NEO proactively designed the world's first returnable ICO, when about half of the participants came from overseas. From the ICO deadline on September 7, 2016 to the NEO main online line on October 17, all participants can choose to return the invested bitcoin in full. “15 people returned a total of 50.308 bitcoins. This world-first return mechanism protects the rights of participants.†Da Hongfei said.
**Individual Investor Dilemma: All in or Stand by?**
Faced with the mixed blockchain project and the token market, it is becoming more and more difficult for individual investors to find their way to get rich.
At 10 o'clock on the morning of January 26, Lin Ping stared at the page of the fire coin pro, and madly clicked the mouse. After 32 seconds, 28.65 million credits were snapped up. This is the failure of Lin Ping to snap up the HT card on the third day. Sitting in the comfortable desk of a large Internet company in Xi'erqi, he vomited “I am goingâ€.
“I thought about giving her the best romance, sending her a bitcoin.†Lin Ping's enlightenment teacher Wang Cheng did not grab it. No more than Lin Ping’s indignation, Wang Cheng belongs to the group of people who have eaten meat. He thinks that it is not a Chinese-style amaranth in the secondary market, but a "chain amaranth." The chain here is mainly a blockchain.
Since he accidentally met Bitcoin in 2015, he has become a "preacher" - seize every opportunity to promote bitcoin to relatives and friends. “The paradox of the blockchain is like the church’s view of Copernicus’s heliocentric theory. How many people said that I was a pyramid scheme, it’s funny.â€
Today, Wang Cheng is a “mini†investor and has caught up with the private placement of a project. “There are technical coffees, teams to promote, and computing power and platform support. It is a good project.†Wang Cheng said that many of the small leeks around him are 90 years of engineering background, and they are pioneers of “technical beliefsâ€.
At the moment of investment, Wang Cheng was invited to participate in the meeting of the project side and communicate face-to-face with the founders. Well-known entrepreneurs talk about PPT above, and some people will stand up and question. Wang Cheng found that many of the questions were well-educated young people, from BAT, brokers, advertising companies, from technology to products, as well as executive assistants, all aspects of the problem.
Wang Cheng listened, and he hit the word "trust" in his heart.
There are also more eager investors than Wang Cheng, and they are all in the future of their career.
He Mu decided to quit the work of state-owned enterprises and join the project side of his investment. He still has his own job, but the main energy has been tilted to the project, and the part-time reward is the project token. Asked if he is the same as the invisible rich, He Mu puts his hands on it. “The big head must be taken by the project side, and at most it is a great leek.â€
He Mu has a special micro-signal of the speculative coin. The circle of friends is a coin friend. He recently discovered that the circle of friends of this number has become an invisible rich man. The main information is nothing but changing the car, changing the house, and sending the children to the winter camp. He Mu had met a group of friends in Zhuhai in the community. The circle of friends of these people is almost all Macau casinos. Half a month ago, as a new entanglement of the currency circle, Macao, which has little relationship with science and technology, even held a blockchain event with top-level coffee stations.
Part-time workers like He Mu are very common in project parties, third-party incubators, and consultant teams. The young investors hurriedly crossed one leg and the other leg was still in the gate of the original unit.
Female investor Guo Qianqian believes that the part-time job of rewarding the token is the temporary trend of the current blockchain project. In fact, the founders or co-founders of many project parties she knows may not all be in one project, and will take care of the business of other companies in their hands.
Similar to He Mu, Guo Qianqian is also hesitant to do all in the blockchain and join the entrepreneurial tide. She is convinced that the blockchain is disruptive, but does not believe in the blockchain practitioners. There is beer and foam in this industry. Guo Qianqian worried that she didn't drink beer and took a mouthful of foam.
“The people who started to make big investments in the freedom of wealth can be all in, and everyone who cares about them is in Stand by.†She feels that her knowledge and information dividends are being stolen, disclosed, and hesitant. The limit is approaching.
If the young people of big companies in the coming year resign to engage in the blockchain, I am not at all surprised. After all, many amaranth investors are themselves demanding talents in the blockchain industry. “He Mu said, can you succeed, in addition to the choice of work, more luck.â€
Prior to this, Cai Kailong’s chief strategic concept, Cai Kailong, publicly called for talents to join the fire coins at the press conference. According to Shenzhen.com, for some project parties with limited visibility, recruiting people is already a matter of doing things all the time. “Investors in large companies, children of their own relatives, and roommates who have shared rent have not let go,†a young project leader laughed at himself.
This group of unwilling loquats will soon become the first blood in the blockchain. As mentioned at the beginning of this article, under the churn of the blockchain, the nearly solidified Internet market seems to return to the millennium era of “unsure is possibleâ€, but the future is waiting for them, and it is also an uncertain outcome.
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