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Things with Bitcoin are indeed not that simple.

This decentralized virtual digital currency is a very new concept. Even Xu Liangjie doesn’t understand much about it. The entire model is basically followed by Satoshi Nakamoto, the founder of Bitcoin, on the Bitcoin forum he founded, bitcoin.org. It was discussed and formulated by some enthusiasts together.

It just so happens that Ziweixing International has a moderator-level expert on the Bitcoin forum, Kevin Gay, the product team leader of the cloud computing business virtual machine team. In addition, Wyatt Miller, a senior engineer in the neural network research group of the Institute of Artificial Intelligence, is also an important member of the forum.

Boss Zhou wanted to do something about Bitcoin, so Xu Liangjie invited these two people out.

Today’s Bitcoin is just a gadget in a niche circle and is really not worth mentioning.

For example, the website of the Bitcoin Forum created by Satoshi Nakamoto is bitcoin.org, and the English name for Bitcoin is bitcoin. Logically speaking, bitcoin.com is a better domain name, and the .com suffix is ​​more recognized.

The reason is that the domain name bitcoin.com was registered by a Korean as early as 2000. If you want to buy this domain name, it may cost US$400.

Satoshi Nakamoto seemed to have little money, so he chose the .org suffix.

As you can imagine, the initial stage of Bitcoin as a product was very difficult.

We can only rely on some enthusiasts and science fiction-level technology enthusiasts to rely on their internal drive to do things, sort out the rules and logic of Bitcoin bit by bit, and publish them through forums.

But now the situation has changed!

If a large company like Ziweixing International gets involved, "Bitcoin" can jump into the public eye and attract the attention of hundreds of thousands or millions of developers in an instant.

Then, this virtual currency concept product might really become popular!

Kevin Gay and Wyatt Miller, both young men in their twenties, were very excited and talked about a lot of ideas about Bitcoin and blockchain technology.

Zhou Buqi heard that Bitcoin does not have an official website yet, only a shabby simple forum, and the domain name is still a very niche .org suffix, so he thought that Ziweixing International could buy the name bitcoin.com and turn it into Bitcoin. official website.

Kevin Gay shook his head and explained: "Bitcoin is decentralized and does not have an official website."

Zhou Buqi said with a smile: "There is no official official website in name, but there is an actual official website. Whoever has the largest traffic will be the official website. Among the domain names related to Bitcoin, it is obvious that bitcoin.com is the most in line with the public's psychological expectations. This is enough."

Then, when it comes to Bitpay’s financial products, disagreements arise again.

Kevin Gay believes that if it is a financial product for personal payment, it is a mass product, but Bitcoin is something that a group of people in a niche circle do that outsiders think is crazy.

If Bitpay uses Bitcoin as its entry point, the impression given to the public will be that Bitpay is a product only played by lunatics and enthusiasts. Even if it has public functions, it will be difficult for the public to participate.

After hearing this, Xu Liangjie even said it made sense, "Yes, when you told me some time ago, I felt that there were some problems. In terms of product design, this model does have problems."

Zhou Buqi nodded.

Virtual currency is indeed too risky, and the nature of speculation is very high. It seriously deviates from traditional values ​​and makes it difficult for the public to participate.

If a product uses Bitcoin as its entry point, it will scare away most users early on.

However, Zhou Buqi did not give up, and suggested that Bitpay can be built into a comprehensive trading platform around Bitcoin, which can be used for Bitcoin and cash transactions between people, or between people and merchants. Transactions of Bitcoin and goods between merchants can also be transactions of Bitcoin and industry resources between merchants.

Then, Kevin Gay was appointed as the product manager and Wyatt Miller as the technical director, and an additional 7 employees and a product budget of 200,000 US dollars were provided, allowing them to organize a small team of 9 people. Get this thing done.

After the exchange, Xu Liangjie took Zhou Buqi and went to the office together.

Zhou Buqi said amusedly: "Aren't you very busy?"

Xu Liangjie said: "I am very busy, but I think your side is more important."

"What's wrong?"

"Don't be too blind."

"What's wrong with me?" Zhou Buqi was a little surprised.

Xu Liangjie said: "I think you are too optimistic about Bitcoin, or I am worried that you have invested too much company resources in virtual currencies, leading to a strategically wrong direction."

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "No, it's just a very small project. Even if they build the official website of Bitpay and bitcoin.com, it's just a small business. At most, I will give you an M3 position."

Xu Liangjie said solemnly: "In the past few days, I have studied the concept of Bitcoin carefully. This thing... this thing is too risky. It is decentralized in name, but in fact the nature of centralization is far greater than traditional The centralized industry must be stronger.”

"What's the meaning?"

"That's what you said, transaction! The total number of Bitcoins is only 21 million, and only tens of thousands of them have been mined out now. With those ten high-performance computers at your home working, you can, in a very short time, Be the God of Bitcoin and be the center of the center.”

"Oh, the bookmaker in the trading market!"

Zhou Buqi understood what he meant.

Xu Liangjie said: "If you buy a lot, the price of Bitcoin will rise rapidly in a short period of time. If you sell a lot, the price of Bitcoin will plummet in a short period of time. There is no reason to say, In this virtual world, there are no market rules at all, the banker is God, which is 10,000 times more terrifying than the stock market!"

In the stock market, there are also situations where market makers operate.

Usually one institution or several institutions join forces to acquire a large number of stocks in a short period of time, and the stock price rises. When the stock price rises and retail investors enter the market, they begin to sell a large amount of stocks and retail investors take over.

In the end, the banker made a huge profit and left the market, while retail investors took over at a high position and suffered huge losses.

But there is a bottom line for trading in the stock market.

Behind the stocks are real companies, and the companies have real market values. In other words, no matter how low the price of a stock is, it cannot be too low; no matter how high the price is, it cannot be too high. This is supported by the company's true value and performance, and the market maker can only operate within a limited range and moderately.

However, virtual currency is different.

There is no basis behind this thing!

If you want to raise the price, you can raise it without any upper limit. If you want to suppress prices, you can suppress them without any lower limit.

It all depends on the dealer’s wishes.

The dealer is God.

After hundreds of years of development, the stock market has developed a very sound and complete management system. In a healthy stock market, retail investors almost no longer exist, and institutions operate among themselves, mainly relying on the company's performance to reflect the stock price.

The currency market is different. It is a new thing and there are a lot of retail investors. After entering the market, it is easy to be bloodbathed by the bankers. Fortunately, many timid retail investors don't use leverage and just pretend to be dead after being locked up. When the price rebounds significantly, they will sell again. However, many bold retail investors are increasing leverage in order to pursue the opportunity of getting rich. This can be very disastrous and can lead to bankruptcy in an instant.

From a traditional economic perspective, the gameplay of virtual currency is indeed very similar to the model of a Ponzi scheme.

Zhou Buqi has no interest in exploring the various economic logics and industrial changes brought about by the technological revolution. It is impossible for him to explain it thoroughly with his shallow economics level.

His focus is in another direction.

Zhou Buqi smiled and said: "You are right, so what the company needs to do is to build a trading platform for virtual currencies, rather than investing in digital currencies. Investing in Bitcoin is my personal behavior."

Xu Liangjie said: "But you are too focused on this direction. It has been more than half a month in a row. You haven't gone anywhere. You have stayed in Silicon Valley to study virtual currencies."

Zhou Buqi nodded, "I'm not studying virtual currency."

"what is that?"

“Blockchain!”

"Um?"

Xu Liangjie frowned slightly.

Blockchain is a new concept proposed by Satoshi Nakamoto around Bitcoin. It is highly sought after in small circles. Xu Liangjie obviously does not have a deep understanding of it.

Zhou Buqi said: "Didn't Kevin just say that blockchain technology is decentralized and has a series of irreplaceable technical advantages of the centralized model, such as openness, transparency, and individual autonomy. Especially The most important point is that the non-tamperable nature of information can bring about fundamental changes to some current industries with many drawbacks."

"Give some examples?"

Xu Liangjie took a deep breath and looked at Boss Zhou with extremely complicated eyes. He considers himself a technical expert, and his understanding of technology is much better than that of his big boss who is a technical novice.

At this moment, I have mixed feelings in my heart.

No way?

Even if you don’t fully understand the technical concept of blockchain, you can directly move from the technical layer to the application layer? Do you have too many genius attributes? !

Zhou Buqi said: "For example, in the financial field, it is not just decentralized virtual currencies, but also centralized digital currencies issued by the central bank. All transactions are recorded in their entirety and cannot be modified, which once and for all solves the problem of money laundering and money laundering of cash currencies. The current state of black money.”

Xu Liangjie took a deep breath, "Yes."

Zhou Buqi continued: "Another example is the judicial field. Using blockchain technology to display information about some cases can enhance the tamper-proofness of judicial information and the transparency and supervisory nature of judicial procedures, which will help promote judicial Public trust.”

"Another example is the protection of intellectual property rights. For example, if I take a photo, I can use blockchain technology to confirm the uniqueness of the copyright. Anyone and institutions around the world who want to use my photos need to go to this blockchain platform. Go up and pay to download, and leave a digital record. This means that all external users of photos that are not recorded are pirated and will be involved in legal disputes."

"I understand……"

Xu Liangjie was greatly shocked in his heart.

He got it.

It turns out that Boss Zhou is not interested in Bitcoin, but wants to lead Ziweixing to explore the field of blockchain technology starting with Bitcoin.

This is a truly convincing strategic direction that uses technology to change the world's attributes.