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In the cryptocurrency world, sects are in conflict; which type of disciple are you? Where there are people, there is a community, and the same goes for the cryptocurrency world. The dangers of the cryptocurrency space are hard for outsiders to comprehend. In front, there are counterfeit air coins; behind, there are Ponzi schemes; to the left, there are market manipulators harvesting profits; to the right, there are small exchanges with their tricks. Deceit and ambushes abound. An outsider, having heard enough of the wealth-building myths circulating in the community, enters the cryptocurrency world with pure blockchain faith, as if gold is everywhere and easily obtainable. Little do they know that what awaits them is a series of sharp scythes.

Most people begin to understand the cryptocurrency world through news headlines: "Virtual currency Bitcoin breaks $10,000, skyrocketing 25 million times in 7 years," "College students achieve financial freedom in 3 months through trading digital currencies." What beautiful headlines, exuding an aura of "those who come close will become rich," radiating endless charm that calls people closer. Over time, various sects naturally emerged in the cryptocurrency world, continuously attracting disciples with their impeccable "only I am right" theories, growing and expanding. Just like the major sects in martial arts, each leading in its own way.

Ponzi Scheme Sect
In recent days, the number of Ponzi schemes that have run away has not been less than dozens, with large ones like PLUS Wallet and the Tron Super Community (which has no relation to Tron coin), involving hundreds of billions in digital currency. One can imagine how many innocent investors have been harmed. Even though most people already know about the collapsed projects, ignorant newcomers keep asking how to join. Smaller schemes hear about the larger ones running away and quickly pack up and leave, calling it server upgrades or mainnet upgrades.

Blockchain records show that every minute, coins are continuously flowing into PlusToken's wallet... dynamic returns, static returns, team bonuses, promotional commissions—these terms are hot keywords of Ponzi schemes. Moreover, Ponzi schemes are adept at disguising their exorbitant profit justifications: "We are quantifying arbitrage, plus exchange profits, mining machine earnings, foundation profits, which can fully support interest payouts." After seeing the high returns of early participants, a steady stream of later participants joined this game, convincing themselves, "Well, if there's danger, I'll just run; better safe than sorry." But you never know if you are the last one left holding the bag, and you certainly wouldn't think you would be the last one.

Shitcoin Sect
This sect occupies a significant portion of the cryptocurrency world, further divided into two types of people. One type consists mainly of middle-aged women and new investors who are lured into various "XXX hundredfold coin genesis communities," bombarded daily by the group leader's advertisements, thinking this is how trading works, seeing prices as low as 0.0000001. They think, "It's so cheap now; the appreciation potential must be huge. I want to embrace blockchain, embrace digital currency; if I don't keep up with the times, I'll be eliminated by the times! I don't need it to rise to tens of thousands; if it just reaches $1, I'm rich, buy, buy, buy!" The other type consists of old investors in the cryptocurrency world, who seem uninterested in the daily fluctuations of mainstream coins, instead keen on trading based on so-called news. They hear that a certain whale is about to pump a coin, or that this coin will explode by 300% upon listing. They know the project team and are told to hold on; they will call them when it's time to sell. This wave is stable! This coin model is good; all media are hyping it, so it must rise. However, the results are not as rosy as everyone imagines; some people trade ten coins, but only one or two may be profitable. I have a friend who works for a cryptocurrency project; her boss often recommends supposedly reliable insider coins to her, but many coins either launch at a loss or take forever to list. Hundreds of thousands in principal have long been halved. One can imagine the plight of most external shitcoin players. Only the manipulators and a few lucky ones can make money.

Buddhist Faith Sect
This group consists of those who hoard coins, mostly buying mainstream coins or Bitcoin, rarely holding shitcoins. Their central idea is: "I will hold this coin until the bull market; once bought, I won't look at it, treating it as if it doesn't exist. When news comes out, I'll check back." There are also subgroups that invest fixed amounts weekly, regardless of price fluctuations, averaging out their costs and reducing losses. Various data calculations, historical backtesting, foolproof operations, turning tens of thousands into millions.

But is this really reliable? First of all, dollar-cost averaging is an investment method derived from index funds, predicated on a strictly regulated stock market. If the risk is too high, the government won't allow it. Therefore, dollar-cost averaging is a relatively stable fund management method, but the cryptocurrency world is different. Currently, there is no regulation in the cryptocurrency space, nor any legal protection, meaning that our beliefs could become worthless overnight. Many will argue that Bitcoin will not disappear; it will definitely exist. We believe the probability of Bitcoin disappearing is low, but that doesn't mean its price can continuously rise and fall between bull and bear markets. Suppose one day, the consensus in the cryptocurrency world is replaced by another coin; your dollar-cost averaging would merely be a form of charity. Just as Apple replaced Nokia phones, the times will eliminate you without looking back. There is another unseen risk: most people only see the seemingly stable and simple operation of dollar-cost averaging but never anticipate whether their buying timing is correct. If you enter at the end of a bull market, you may find yourself buying more and more during a long bear market, and over 90% of people cannot bear the losses, leading to panic selling. Those well-known dollar-cost averaging investors started buying back in 2015 or even 2016; can you buy at their prices (1-2 thousand RMB for Bitcoin)? How many people followed the trend to dollar-cost average at the peak in 2017 and ended up panic selling? The meaning of dollar-cost averaging: it reduces your gains in a bull market and also reduces your losses in a bear market. But this doesn't mean this method is unfeasible; it requires several preconditions:

• Judging the market, starting to dollar-cost average at the end of a bear market.
• Having a long-term habit of persistence, such as running or fitness.
• Participating with idle funds.

But then again, if you can judge that it's the end of a bear market, can't you buy a little more...? The biggest risk in hoarding coins is that you lack the ability to judge whether a drop is a correction or the end of a bull market. You may have experienced a bull and bear market for nothing. You may have seen accounts with floating profits of 100%, only to quietly exit when down about 10%.

Technical Trading Sect
These individuals often transition from stock and futures markets, possessing rich trading experience. They have no blockchain faith; they clearly know this is just a trading market and do not pay much attention to market news, believing that any news will be reflected in the market. They focus only on mainstream coins. Moving averages, MACD, RSI, and pattern analysis have long been fixed references in their minds for buying and selling timing. However, few truly grasp this sect's skills; it seems that martial arts are only mastered by a few, and the secrets are not passed down. Most people only know a bit of the basics and get beaten up all day; it's a mysterious sect.

Those who are proficient mostly hide in the martial arts world, living as reclusive heroes, but privately they have circles and only connect with those from the same sect. This is also the survival guide in the cryptocurrency world that the black box advocates, because you must continuously strengthen yourself, using scientific trading methods to support your buying or selling, rather than blindly chasing highs and cutting losses. You don't need to listen to others' analyses; just make your own judgments. When you have confidence in your trades, you won't panic; all dynamics are within your predictions, strategizing effectively. Here are two martial arts manuals for everyone:

• "The Magical Trend Lines of the Cryptocurrency World" ( "Trading, One Moving Average is Enough")

There are also some smaller sects that are not mentioned and listed. They are rumored to exist in the community and can be seen in the community. Which sect are you from? Which sect do you want to join? Or if you have any additions about other sects, feel free to leave comments for discussion. Friends who want to join the group chat can also contact the assistant.

Cryptocurrency Personnel#

The cryptocurrency world once had a time when anything bought could multiply hundreds of times, but now it's different. Only those who see the logic clearly have a chance; if you enter blindly without understanding anything, you will definitely be the harvested leek. Have you noticed that now some friends in the cryptocurrency world rarely talk about trading anymore? When everyone occasionally gathers, they can only complain about the recent hot topics in the cryptocurrency world, alleviating their anxieties. On one hand, they watch those who entered early achieve financial freedom without understanding anything, while on the other hand, they see their carefully selected coins plummet or their team's later developments go silent. This is basically the current situation of the lower strata in the cryptocurrency world.

The cryptocurrency world consists of six types of people, arranged according to the food chain:

• 1. Exchanges
• 2. Mining machine manufacturers
• 3. Big shots or funds
• 4. Token issuing project parties
• 5. Media
• 6. Individual investors (also known as leeks)

In reality, many of the true bosses behind projects are of the third type, and some who entered midway are basically unable to escape seeking big shots for support. In comparison, among these six types of people, mining machine manufacturers earn relatively clean money. Apart from the lower-level leeks, other groups are more or less involved in some collusion to harvest leeks.

Now let's understand the four steps of deception in the cryptocurrency world:

1. Customize blockchain projects.
2. Find someone to ghostwrite white papers.
3. Invite big shots to endorse and collaborate with media for packaging.
4. Provide certain tokens to big shots and media for bundling.

It seems like a very clichéd deception model, but leeks lack the ability to identify it, so it keeps working. If the ICO phase leads to leeks being harvested, it can be considered that the intelligence of the leeks was suppressed. However, exchanges crazily list air coins without identifying projects, colluding to harvest leeks, which is hard to justify. Regardless of the model exchanges use to list coins, at least so far, it still revolves around how much compensation to give the exchange or how much of a specified platform coin to purchase as a prerequisite for listing. This encourages air coin project parties to act without restraint in harvesting leeks, as after paying the protection fee, project parties focus all their energy on how to recover funds from investors, with very few putting effort into actual projects. However, there are not many leeks left in the market now, and there have been many instances of project parties being harvested by exchanges.

Since the incident involving Li Xiaolai's audio recording, regulatory authorities have begun to take strong cleaning measures.

1. Block various virtual currency trading platforms.
2. Prohibit domestic payment and settlement services for virtual currency trading.
3. Prohibit media from promoting behaviors related to virtual currency issuance and speculation.
4. Crack down on various virtual currency issuance activities.

Under government intervention, domestic virtual currency projects were almost instantly cooled down, and various project parties that had issued tokens began to sell off the ETH they had raised from investors overnight. Blockchain was originally a revolution for geeks, but it ultimately became a tool for scammers to harvest leeks.

At this point, shouldn't we reflect on why this is the case? Summarizing two points: First, the ICOs are unregulated, and most project parties are invisible. During the ICO phase, it is impossible to verify basic information about responsible parties and project locations, and they are playing a game that is doomed to have no outcome from the start. Second, the listing rules do not follow the principle of product landing but rather play a numbers game with listing fees. It can be said that so far, 90% of tokens listed on exchanges are products that have not landed.

So, is the cryptocurrency world really a place where fools have plenty of money? Very few people have thought about what truly supports coin prices. Because the entire atmosphere of the cryptocurrency world, from ICOs to exchanges listing coins, is playing with air, it is this unregulated market that has thrown the verification work that should be the responsibility of exchanges onto investors. Exchanges have become a top-of-the-food-chain casino that makes money without risk, and even if someone cheats, they don't need to take responsibility.

About the Black and White of Cryptocurrency Media People

The responsibility of media people is to state facts or discuss data, but most media people in the cryptocurrency world report with ulterior motives. How to say it? For example, a garbage project is packaged by some people and then promoted on some platforms to deceive the gullible into entering. However, if a person is gullible, they will have to pay tuition no matter where they are.

In fact, distinguishing the truth of reports is not that difficult; as long as you learn to think about whether the article has clear beneficiaries, it becomes easy to identify its purpose. Usually, those who actively lead you to make money need to be thought through carefully; under normal logic, no one wants to do something thankless. Even if they want to discuss, they should point out some data to tell you their views. If there is a good project, they should invest in it themselves; why bother to wade through muddy waters with no personal connection? Investors need to have their own thinking and discernment abilities; whenever there is targeted promotion, they must think about why someone is so kind as to teach you how to make money and tell you about good projects. Why are they so eager to hype it up to the skies, inviting you to enter and recommending coins to you? What benefits does that bring them?

Including various K-line masters, it’s hard to understand what they have analyzed in the past two months when there has been no market movement. I don’t understand the necessity of any operations. If they operate every day, can they earn back the transaction fees? Including their judgments on various supports, at this stage, the cost of mining is more reliable than any K-line indicator. Now, when discussing support, asking miners is the most accurate.

What those analysts tell you about $60,000 going down to $50,000, and breaking $50,000 to become $40,000, is all nonsense. The price of Bitcoin is influenced not only by the average buying and selling price and concentrated price but also by a more important factor: the mining price. Since the current price is very close to the mining cost, there is no need to pay attention to what those analysts say about support levels; it is of little significance. Suppose it costs $50,000 to mine one Bitcoin; then the strongest support for Bitcoin is $50,000. Although there is a possibility of a short-term breach, once breached, since the mining cost is higher than purchasing, miners will naturally stop mining and choose to buy directly. This is the support for mining-based cryptocurrencies (leverage is not discussed here).

Speaking of Bitcoin support, let’s also mention the support for application-based cryptocurrencies. The support for application-based cryptocurrencies is mainly influenced by the demand for application usage. Therefore, it can be summarized that application projects are the most likely to undergo technological updates and iterations. There is no good or bad; it only exists in terms of whether it meets market demand. Its brilliance has passed; what awaits it is more advanced technology to replace it. Since exchanges still use the coin-to-coin bundling trading model, when stablecoins replace existing coin-to-coin trading, the prices of application coins will become more realistic.

The only ones who truly make money in the cryptocurrency world, apart from those who specifically harvest leeks, are:

1. Early Movers
   These individuals got into Bitcoin early, starting far ahead of the average person. When I learned about Bitcoin, it was already over $10,000; when they learned about it, it was only a few RMB per coin. For example, early game boosters mined while playing games, earning dozens of coins a day; the cost difference is unimaginable.

2. Mining Farm Operators
   These people are even more impressive. A single computer mining continuously for 24 hours might only yield a few coins, while they directly lease land to build factories, using hundreds or thousands of professional mining machines. Even if their costs are slightly higher than the earliest batch, their quantity advantage is incomparable.

3. Exchange Operators
   How do you cash out the coins you mine? Naturally, you need powerful exchanges globally. Of course, they won't let you trade for free; you have to pay some transaction fees. Looking at a single transaction, the fees don't seem high, but the number of transactions globally is substantial.

4. Miners
   How long do early Bitcoin buyers have to wait for their coins to rise to $200,000? This is a question worth pondering for every investor. However, if you mine with Bitcoin mining machines, you earn mining rewards daily. Although not much, it is low-risk and stable, allowing you to avoid risks. If the coin price rises, the payback period will be faster, and you can break even in a few months. After breaking even, all the rewards you mine are pure profit. This can be calculated with real-time data; some may say, what if the coin price drops? Does that mean the payback period extends? Yes, but you must know that short-term fluctuations have little impact on miners. At worst, you can just hold onto the mined coins until the price rises again.

Most people feel that when Bitcoin prices were low, they didn't know about Bitcoin, so they missed the buying opportunity. If they had another chance, they would definitely buy. This is one voice. Another voice is: if I get another chance, I will definitely hold onto Bitcoin and not sell it so quickly. If time could flow backward, would the wishes of these two types of people truly be realized?

Let me mention a fact that many are reluctant to believe: if you are in either of the above situations, don’t say you want one chance; even if you get ten chances, you still won’t be among that 0.01%. The truth is always so cruel. Why? Why not me?

Let’s not talk about the distant past; just look at the recent surge of ACH! In just over ten days, it multiplied over a hundred times! Many hoarders and traders bought this coin, but very few could handle such a hundredfold increase!

Therefore, in this market, if you want to truly earn money, using your idle funds to participate in mining is definitely your best choice!

Every day, people come to me asking about FIL mining! Every day, people are making payments to buy mining machines and participate in mining! However, many people inquire and then go silent; this is very normal. Every penny we earn is a reflection of our level of understanding!

We all know there is no free lunch, but when it comes to investing, some people can't help but be foolish, thinking they can get rich overnight by relying on others' investment advice.

Please believe one thing: those who get rich by luck do not deserve to possess great wealth. If you do not improve your level of understanding, the money earned by luck will ultimately be lost due to lack of skill. Money in the cryptocurrency world is not something you can just earn; we still need to have accurate judgment and choices.

This situation has led me, someone who always seeks to discover money-making opportunities in various markets, to share what I see as the path to wealth in the cryptocurrency world.

As a participant in the cryptocurrency world, I see various money-making tricks.

Small investors use a dollar-cost averaging approach, allocating a proportion of several mainstream coins, such as BTC 40%, ETH 25%, EOS 15%, ZEC 15%, and others 5%. This recent surge has allowed participants who have been dollar-cost averaging to see the rewards of this investment method.

Small investors engage in arbitrage. Exchanges opened by Chinese people mainly serve Chinese individuals, and there are price differences for the same coin at the same time between domestic and foreign exchanges. As long as there is a price difference of over 2% between two exchanges, arbitrage can be done. The key is to discover the price differences between exchanges; obtaining this information is particularly important, currently mainly through the "Non-Small Number" public account to get real-time data from various exchanges for judgment. Specific comparative data requires personal comparison to find coins with arbitrage opportunities. Arbitrage is a relatively stable way to make money in the cryptocurrency world, but it requires a lot of preparation time upfront, registering on many exchanges, understanding the trading processes of each exchange, and completing withdrawal verifications to operate. Moreover, some exchanges have long withdrawal times, and without personal participation, one cannot know the pitfalls here. Therefore, at the beginning, one must use a small amount of coins to try the arbitrage process at various exchanges, gaining an understanding of the pitfalls and efficiency of each exchange before scaling up.

Arbitrage profits from the price difference, so for those with substantial funds, each round of arbitrage can yield high returns. Generally, arbitrage does not increase the number of coins held; it is to accumulate coins, and once there are more coins, they can be used to bring in more coins. The need to convert into cash in the over-the-counter market.

What I just mentioned is the way "gold miners" make money, and apart from directly participating in "gold mining," one can also serve the gold miners.

The most common way is to create a paid circle in knowledge-sharing platforms, sharing knowledge and ways to make money in the cryptocurrency world. The most important point here is to seize the timing of the current demand from seekers. If you miss this timing, the service you provide loses its value. For a newcomer to the cryptocurrency world, providing them with basic cryptocurrency knowledge is the most valuable, while providing this knowledge to veterans in the cryptocurrency world is redundant, and they won't join your circle or buy your account.

Each period has new demands for participants in the cryptocurrency world; only by seizing this timing can one earn money from this demand.

With domestic exchanges shutting down, the exchange of fiat currency for cryptocurrencies has become a necessity in the cryptocurrency world. Some people have built WeChat circles for guaranteed over-the-counter trading based on their credibility, while those with technical development capabilities have fortunately established over-the-counter exchanges. Providing shovels and jeans for gold miners also leads to substantial profits.

Top 10 Figures in the Chinese Cryptocurrency World#

• Li Xiaolai
  Li Xiaolai, self-proclaimed as China's Bitcoin richest person. Together with Lao Mao, they formed Coin Capital, which has been quite influential in the cryptocurrency world since the arrival of regulation. First, there is the Yunbi trading platform, which, although often criticized by cryptocurrency enthusiasts for its irregular "pulling the plug," had a significant "Yunbi effect" at the time. Coins listed on Yunbi would often see a surge, and everyone hoped their coins could be listed on this platform.

Li Xiaolai humorously claims that his Bitcoin holdings are in six figures, with the first digit being 1. This means the value of his Bitcoin holdings has surpassed $100 million, though whether this is true remains unknown. It could be a marketing tactic.

In addition to investing in digital currencies, Li Xiaolai is also the author of "Treat Time as a Friend" and "The Road to Financial Freedom," sharing his investment philosophy through books. He occasionally appears online to share interesting stories from the cryptocurrency world, creating a stir when he was photographed dining with traditional angel investor Xue Manzi.

• Wu Jihan
  Wu Jihan, born in 1986, graduated from Peking University with a master's degree, holding dual degrees in psychology and economics, and is currently the CEO of Bitmain. The mining machines produced by Bitmain contribute over 70% of the global hash rate. If Bitmain can maintain its market share, approximately 3 million of the remaining 5 million Bitcoins will be mined by machines produced by Bitmain.

This name, which carries a heroic aura, is not as exposed as others. However, in terms of influence within the community, it is not lacking. A low-key powerhouse, the emperor of hash rate, a generation of mining overlords, "the only possible initiator of a 51% attack." If there is anyone in the world who can influence the development of Bitcoin single-handedly, apart from Satoshi Nakamoto himself, Wu Jihan is the most likely candidate.

At the end of 2011, Wu Jihan did something earth-shattering: he translated Satoshi Nakamoto's Bitcoin white paper, "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System," into Chinese, thus earning the title "The Evangelist of Bitcoin."

• Shen Bo
  Shen Bo, the renowned founder of Distributed Capital, was originally the founder of Invictus Innovations Incorporated (the founding team of BitShares) and has extensive knowledge and experience in hedge funds, investment banking, and securities. In July 2015, Shen Bo, Vitalik, and Xiao Feng aimed to establish a good relationship with the blockchain community from an investment perspective to promote industry development, leading to the establishment of Wanxiang Blockchain Lab and Distributed Capital. Today, Distributed Capital is the largest professional investment fund in the blockchain field in China. Compared to Li Xiaolai and Bao Er Ye, Shen Bo appears quite low-key and is generally not a hot topic. Of course, Shen Bo does not need to be high-profile. Sellers need to shout. He is backed by the strong financial resources of Wanxiang Group, and his strength is beyond doubt. In some respects, Shen Bo is quite close to us, as he is also an investor in the blockchain circle. As a top figure in the blockchain investment circle, Shen Bo's opinions are quite valuable for us. For cryptocurrency enthusiasts who want to delve into blockchain investment, I recommend an article titled "Distributed Capital's Shen Bo: The Future Killer Applications of Blockchain Will Appear in '+ Blockchain'." After reading it, you will have a more comprehensive understanding of investment.

• Da Hongfei
  Da Hongfei, nicknamed Uncle Da, is the founder of NEO, a representative figure in China's blockchain industry, an early participant in the Chinese Bitcoin community, and a member of the Financial Technology Group of the Shanghai Pudong International Finance Association. A serial entrepreneur, he is a liberal arts student who can write viruses in assembly language.

He has profound insights into the underlying technology of blockchain, application scenarios, and industry patterns and serves as a blockchain technology advisor for several banks, brokerages, and registration agencies. Da Hongfei is widely regarded as one of the main figures in the blockchain field, especially when it comes to the topic of blockchain popularization in China; his words carry weight.

• Guo Ming
  Guo Ming, known as "Violent Walk Prince," is a veteran figure in the industry and the founder of Blockchain Pencil and ICOAGE. He is one of the earliest researchers and practitioners of digital currency and blockchain technology in China, a former fan of the Ocean Wave, dedicated to spreading Bitcoin information, promoting the concept of free currency, and advancing the revolution of free currency.

He is a leading figure in China's blockchain technology and digital currency industry, dedicated to promoting the development of blockchain technology, having translated and written a large number of related materials, and authored works such as "Digital Currency" and "Blockchain - New Economic Blueprint," holding significant influence in the domestic blockchain and digital currency industry. His courage is commendable!

• Shuai Chu
  Shuai Chu, the founder and CEO of Quantum Chain, is now well-known and is one of the few big shots in the cryptocurrency world. "From a poor PhD to a controversial CEO with a net worth of 6 billion," reflects his complex life journey. The launch of the Quantum Chain project became a major turning point in Shuai Chu's life. The "dark horse" Quantum Chain made Shuai Chu famous, and he used this to reach the pinnacle of the cryptocurrency world, embarking on a life of traveling to Europe and America, giving speeches, preaching, and standing on platforms, living a fulfilling and busy life.

Xue Manzi praised Quantum Chain and Shuai Chu on Weibo, saying, "I have seen dozens of blockchain companies at home and abroad, and Quantum Chain is one of the most outstanding innovative companies among them; and Shuai Chu, this young guy under thirty, is not only intelligent but also emotionally intelligent, with a great passion for achieving great things."

• He Yi
  He Yi, known as "Sister Coin," is the first woman to appear on this list after so many men. She was a host on Travel TV and later joined OKCoin, one of the three major exchanges in China, where she led her team to help the company turn around during public relations crises multiple times. In August 2017, she joined Binance, a Bitcoin company, as a co-founder.

Relaunching just before turning 30! Her strength, effort, and foresight have earned her the titles of "Sister Coin" or "Goddess of the Cryptocurrency World"; these are the nicknames given to her by the public. "Chief Customer Service of Binance" is her WeChat signature; "the best market maker in the cryptocurrency world" is the label given to her by industry practitioners. The reason for these titles is undoubtedly her passion for her career and tireless efforts. Behind it all is her dedication.

As Sister Coin, He Yi is the center of attention wherever she appears. The community she is in is the most harmonious that Coin Reader has ever seen. Quoting Coin Reader CEO Han Jiangxue, "In many big shots' groups, no one would talk, but once He Yi joins, it immediately becomes lively."

• Guo Hongcai
  Guo Hongcai, known as Bao Er Ye, is a highly respected figure in the industry, referred to as "the pioneer and guide of Bitcoin!" He once owned the world's largest Bitcoin mining farm; an angel investor in Bitcoin, his investments include Yihang Cloud Computing, Fuguo Fund, Yangyang Interviews, Bitcoin Fund, Btc123.com, Bw.com, Jua.com, Bitpie Wallet, and bitbank.com. As the most publicly exposed big shot in the cryptocurrency world, Bao Er Ye's "boastful" videos are often shared in cryptocurrency enthusiasts' WeChat circles, becoming a hot topic among them. Bao Er Ye has always been straightforward in the cryptocurrency world, saying whatever he thinks without holding back. He is the most down-to-earth big shot in the cryptocurrency world, frequently giving speeches and roadshows, sharing his experiences with digital currencies. Before the regulatory crackdown, he established the "Huangpu Military Academy" in the cryptocurrency world, incubating a batch of very popular ICO projects at that time. After a few sessions of the "Huangpu Military Academy," it was paused due to regulatory issues.

• Lao Mao
  Lao Mao is one of the veterans in the cryptocurrency world, starting to invest in Bitcoin in 2013 and entering the industry in 2014. He has served as COO of YUNBI, CEO of ICOINFO, Partner at INM, and CEO of BIG. Lao Mao has published over 200 industry-related articles on his personal public account, making it one of the most followed and read self-media accounts in the cryptocurrency world. His investment philosophy and knowledge of blockchain have had a significant impact on the industry.

Lao Mao was an early discoverer and evangelist of ETH; he independently created the first self-media in the industry, "Cat Says"; established the largest community in the industry, "Cat Friends Circle"; and released the "Listen to a Piece" series of blockchain introductory lectures. He was also an early discoverer and evangelist of EOS and an independent researcher in the global blockchain industry.

• Zhao Changpeng
  Zhao Changpeng, known as CZ, is the CEO of Binance and CEO of Bijie Technology; "A day in the cryptocurrency world is like a year in the human world." This reflects the time density of this industry and the speed at which wealth accumulates in blockchain. CZ understands this well and is one of the best at it. He transformed from a "coder" into a billionaire in just 180 days, accumulating $2 billion (approximately 12.5 billion RMB) in wealth by providing a virtual currency asset trading platform service, creating the fastest money-making myth in the cryptocurrency world.

He previously served as the technical director at Bloomberg; later founded FTX Information Technology Co., Ltd., where he is not only the founder but also the China regional president. Zhao Changpeng also joined OKCoin as a co-founder, serving as CEO, managing OKCoin's technical team, and overseeing its international market team, quickly establishing OKCoin's international influence.

Guo Erbao's personality is very distinctive; he speaks plainly without any technical jargon. He never talks about feelings or morals and is unabashed about making money. He chose the English name Chandler Guo, joking that it means he is happy when he makes money. Guo Erbao candidly states that he is in the business of traffic, openly saying he charges a 1% platform fee for each project. A quick search will reveal many things Guo has done that are still talked about in the cryptocurrency world, such as opening a mining farm in Inner Mongolia to earn his first bucket of gold; starting the Huangpu Military Academy in the height of the ICO craze, with the first batch having 500 people sign up; and participating in the Bitcoin China tour to promote Bitcoin.

Guo Erbao's most famous quotes include: "I have no faith; today I made money due to various reasons and can't bear to sell. I never expected it to rise to today's price." "Now I feel I should treat myself; I deserve to live in a mansion and drive a Rolls Royce; I earned it myself." "I don't do VC; I usually just stand on stage. I don't invest money anymore; I just stand on stage and collect 1%." "Everyone in the industry knows my gesture of continuous growth actually means one point, which later became a continuous rise." "My English name is Chandler; I get happy when I make money, like Chandler from Friends, that guy who loves to laugh." "Reading thousands of books is not as good as traveling thousands of miles; traveling thousands of miles is not as good as meeting countless people; meeting countless people is not as good as 'sleeping' with countless people. Cryptocurrency friendships are all formed through 'sleeping,' but I only sleep with men." "In fact, investing in the primary market and buying cheap coins in the secondary market are the same. I didn't participate in any private or public offerings for EOS, but when EOS dropped to $3, I bought it in the secondary market."

"As an investor, I actually have the least to worry about; I can return to my country anytime. I don't come back just to let the bullets fly for a while, to advertise; everyone discussing me is free advertising, which is great." "He who wins the leeks wins the world. Anyone can add me on WeChat, so I have many friends everywhere. Xiaolai manages his time well; I am always free. So I say, Xiaolai is a monk, and I am Maitreya; we do different things."

In March 2018, he purchased a luxurious mansion in Silicon Valley covering a hundred acres. On April 23, he officially hung a sign reading "Leek Manor" at the entrance. It is said that a corner of the manor indeed has some leeks planted. The lines above are from Meng Jiao's "After the Examination," describing a turnaround in fortune, dedicated to Guo Erbao.

[Rumor] As he himself said, Guo Hongcai's speeches have no technical content; they are just plain talk. He has attracted countless fans with this "leek" quality, especially appealing to novice users.

Da Kongyi
[Official News] Da Kongyi, whose real name is Du Yitian, is a true 90s kid. He first mingled in the community under the name "Da Kongyi." Da Kongyi is the protagonist of the Japanese manga "Captain Tsubasa," who has loved soccer since childhood, and in real life, Du is also a soccer enthusiast, which may be the origin of his name.

Everyone says Da Kongyi invested 100,000 in IOTA, and as a result, he became famous overnight, ultimately achieving over ten thousand times returns in three years. IOTA is a non-blockchain cryptocurrency built on a new type of distributed ledger called Tangle, believed to be applicable in small payment scenarios for the Internet of Things. In the second half of 2015, IOTA opened crowdfunding, issuing IOTA tokens at about 0.001 RMB each. Da Kongyi used the 100,000 he earned from trading coins to go all in, and at that time, there were not many participants from China, probably only seven or eight, but in the end, only two people held on: him and Jimmy, the head of the IOTA China community. And that’s where the story began. From the end of 2015 to June 2017, IOTA remained cheap, but after the ICO craze began in June, IOTA skyrocketed, reaching about 36 RMB in early December 2017, multiplying 36,000 times from its issuance price. The 100,000 RMB in Da Kongyi's hands turned into billions. To his friends, he is just an ordinary boy who loves Jay Chou, enjoys traveling, and occasionally brews tea. In an interview with Hash Finance, Da Kongyi revealed that he had done some small businesses since elementary school, borrowing money from classmates to rent out old comics that classmates had read, and even monopolizing the delivery business for another class during middle school. During college, he learned dessert-making in Guangzhou during the summer of his freshman year, planning to start a business in his hometown, but his father strongly opposed it.

In fact, Da Kongyi had heard of BTC as early as 2010 while still in high school, but it wasn't until 2013 that he began investing in Bitcoin. At that time, he was still a sophomore studying civil engineering. During the summer, he built his first mining machine himself. By then, GPU power could no longer mine Bitcoin, so he mined some less popular altcoins like Worldcoin and Feathercoin. By the end of the summer, he had exchanged about 80 Bitcoins. At that time, one Bitcoin was 4,000 RMB, and Da Kongyi earned his first bucket of gold in the cryptocurrency world.

[Rumor] According to Du Yitian himself, the real situation is that he initially invested 60,000 and earned 600 million. Du himself is a rich second generation, so his vision, ambition, and composure in holding IOTA for three years are all supported by a solid economic foundation.

[Official News] Originally named Daniel Larimer, the rumored BM (Bytemaster) is currently the only person in the world who has successfully developed three decentralized systems based on blockchain technology: Bitshares, Steem, and EOS.

What fans love most about BM is his sharp exchanges with Satoshi Nakamoto on Bitcointalk. As early as July 2010, BM pointed out that compared to banks, Bitcoin's 10-minute transaction confirmation time is too long and needs to be as fast as swiping a credit card, which can be achieved by changing the consensus mechanism. Satoshi Nakamoto famously replied: "If you don't understand, that's fine; I don't have time to convince you, sorry." BM did not continue the argument but began developing the decentralized exchange BitShares, simultaneously creating the DPOS consensus mechanism to realize his ideas—achieving transaction speeds and experiences comparable to traditional banks. In 2014, BitShares emerged with the slogan "Beyond Bitcoin." Although the 1.0 version of BitShares creatively invented anchored currencies like BitUSD and BitCNY to solve Bitcoin's price volatility issue and achieved second-level transfer speeds, it was not a qualified product.

Shortly after leaving BTS, BM invested in his next project: Steemit, bringing forth even more imaginative ideas—a social and content platform based on blockchain technology. Steemit challenges media giants like Twitter/Facebook, incentivizing content production through rewards, allowing users to earn based on their evaluations. Steemit uses the underlying technology of BitShares: the Graphene blockchain, achieving a high level of transaction performance and user experience. A content platform that can make money easily attracts various creators. The most famous example is an article published by TheAnarchast on Steemit, which easily earned $15,000.

After leaving Steemit, BM rushed to his next stop: EOS. EOS aims to be the operating system of the blockchain industry, providing developers with underlying functionalities, including parallel computing, databases, account systems, and more. EOS can be seen as BM's culmination of technology and thought; it uses the DPOS mechanism while introducing the concept of a constitution for community governance and the concept of arbitration. It seems to resemble a separation of powers. From the beginning, the EOS project has attracted attention from the entire blockchain industry, and its token sale is the largest in history, raising hundreds of millions of dollars in just five days. The official launch date of EOS has yet to be finalized, but the EOS operating system will herald the arrival of the blockchain 3.0 era.

[Rumor] This technology genius in the cryptocurrency world is an 80s kid.

Han Jiangxue
[Official News] Han Jiangxue is the founder of the public account "Daily Coin Reader." Using "Daily Coin Reader" as a medium, combined with his precise investments, he has made substantial profits and led a large group of friends to wealth. His motto is: "I hope my friends can quickly become rich alongside me, and we can continue to be friends at the same level."

Han Jiangxue, known as "Old Han," graduated with a master's degree in cryptography from Xi'an University of Electronic Science and Technology. He previously worked at ZTE Corporation and served as the chairman of Shenzhen Super Dating Cultural Communication Co., Ltd. He is the founder of the blockchain media "Daily Coin Reader" and is known as the "Gao Xiaosong of the Cryptocurrency World," possessing rich experience in blockchain project evaluation and is the founder of the cryptocurrency poker card.

From 2009 to 2015, Han Jiangxue was engaged in training-related work, running special training camps, online courses on dating, and various training classes themed around dating, honing his humorous speaking style.

In May 2016, Han Jiangxue relaunched a professional blockchain public account called "Daily Coin Reader," with Zhang Pitiao as the editor, officially going all in on blockchain. From initially operating with just two people, he now leads over twenty reliable young digital asset enthusiasts, establishing a subscription platform focused on blockchain news. "Daily Coin Reader" provides readers with the latest and most comprehensive blockchain news daily, aiming to create a world-class blockchain news platform.

The phrase Han Jiangxue says most often is "Invest more during bear markets." It seems like just five words, but to fully understand and truly implement it is indeed not easy. Investing during bear markets is contrary to human nature; short-sightedness is human nature. People only focus on immediate benefits and believe only in visible changes.

[Rumor] Han Jiangxue is known as the "Gao Xiaosong of the Cryptocurrency World" and is quite skilled in dating. He tells an inspiring story of rising from dating to reaching the pinnacle of life through trading coins.

[Official News] "A day in the cryptocurrency world is like a year in the human world." At this moment, it is the peak; the next moment, it may be the abyss. This sentence truly reflects the ups and downs of the cryptocurrency market. In just five years, too many legendary stories have happened to Zhao Dong.

In 2009, coinciding with the rise of mobile internet, Zhao Dong and friends developed a wildly popular weather forecasting app called "Moji Weather." He cashed out and exited within three years, accumulating initial capital. Later, Zhao Dong accidentally joined "Garage Coffee" as CTO. In the garage, he met the earliest players who came into contact with Bitcoin, such as Wu Gang, Li Lin, Li Xiaolai, Bao Er Ye, Zhao Guofeng, and Du Jun, and began his legendary life in the cryptocurrency world, going from a net worth of over 100 million to a debt of 60 million! In 2013, under Wu Gang's guidance, Zhao Dong entered the market with a speculative mindset, investing 10,000 RMB to buy 10 Bitcoins, doubling his investment to earn 10,000, which allowed him to buy his first iPhone. After tasting success, Zhao Dong, after thorough research, invested 1 million RMB to buy about 2,000 Bitcoins in March 2013. As Zhao Dong expected, Bitcoin surged throughout 2013, and the 2,000 Bitcoins he held skyrocketed over tenfold, transforming his 1 million into 10 million. At this point, Zhao Dong began to leverage his trades.

However, what goes up must come down. In 2014, news of the Japanese Mt. Gox exchange (where 76% of Bitcoin transactions were completed) facing a bank run and potential collapse began to flood in, causing prices to plummet. In 2014, Zhao Dong faced three liquidations while trading, and mining became unprofitable, leading to a total loss of 150 million, with debts of 60 million, leaving him struggling to pay his son's elementary school tuition. His life hit rock bottom. However, Zhao Dong did not give up or leave the cryptocurrency world; he began to pivot to over-the-counter Bitcoin trading. Zhao Dong quickly accumulated a large number of clients and reputation in the community through "integrity," gradually paying off his debts and becoming one of the earliest players in over-the-counter trading in China, as well as one of the top figures in European over-the-counter Bitcoin trading.

In 2017, Zhao Dong established the blockchain investment fund DFund, with the first phase project yielding a net return of 620% (2543% in USD). In his own words: "In the world of Bitcoin, the most important thing is not when to get in, but to never get out."

[Rumor] Zhao Dong is currently in Japan. Many of his former subordinates have accumulated immense wealth by engaging in quantitative trading, arbitrage, and arbitrage in the Bitcoin industry.

Sun Yuchen is skilled at hype and creating momentum.#

Figures in the U.S. Cryptocurrency World#

The top ten on the Crypto Briefing annual hero list.

Sandeep Nailwal
Sandeep Nailwal is the co-founder of Polygon, the most successful scaling solution for Ethereum to date. Polygon has had a fruitful year, attracting several DeFi blue chips like Aave and Curve, and its ecosystem now includes a library of ZK-Rollups, with MATIC being one of the best-performing companies in the market.

This year, Nailwal has also made significant contributions outside of cryptocurrency. As the Delta variant of COVID-19 began to spread in April, he established the COVid-Crypto Relief Fund to raise funds to help those affected by the pandemic in India.

Nailwal's charitable efforts have not gone unnoticed, attracting donations from many big names, including former Coinbase CTO and angel investor Balaji Srinivasan and former Australian cricketer Bret Lee. The largest donation came from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who donated 500 ETH and 50 trillion SHIB to the fund, which at the time was valued at over $1.14 billion.

The COVID-Crypto Relief Fund has been using the funds it raised for good purposes and still holds over $400 million in an Ethereum wallet. In recent months, it has signed an agreement with UNICEF India to provide 160 million syringes for the country's vaccination efforts and has partnered with several charities in India to provide ICU beds, CPR training, and supply packages to those in need.

Polygon is one of the pioneers in cryptocurrency in 2021, and Nailwal's successful establishment of the COVID-Crypto Relief Fund is truly remarkable.

Cobie & Ledger
Cobie and Ledger have never met, as they live on opposite sides of the Atlantic, but that hasn't stopped them from becoming one of the most beloved duos in cryptocurrency. They are known for co-hosting UpOnly, one of the most informative and entertaining podcasts in the field. Since the beginning of this year, they have been inviting the best traders in the field as guests for in-depth discussions, with each episode packed with valuable information to help listeners learn from successful experiences.

Their popularity is partly due to the stark contrast between the two: Ledger is a gentle boy, while Cobie is more of a typical nerd (he enjoys LSD and saw the potential of Bitcoin earlier than most of us).

Cobie often mocks Ledger's trading mistakes, but in reality, they are more like a love-hate duo, similar to Guo Degang and Yu Qian. Besides the laughter and information brought to us by UpOnly, Cobie and Ledger made it onto our hero list this year due to their legendary Twitch raid event. The premise of the event was that Cobie joined a livestream of an amateur musician, took over the hosting duties, and then invited his Twitter followers to flood the chat. At this point, he encouraged the streamer to download MetaMask, and any cryptocurrency locals watching would rush to donate. Meanwhile, Ledger was always there to help with any technical issues the musician might encounter.

In one of the most memorable meetings this year, 24-year-old Mela Bee received approximately $250,000 worth of ETH, REN, and other digital assets after playing covers of Radiohead and Blink-182 all night. Cobie also used his platform to help those battling illness, bringing them into the spotlight. This year, music fans and other skeptics around the world launched misguided attacks on NFTs and the broader cryptocurrency space, but Cobie and Ledger used their online activities to help some marginalized groups, proving the positive power of cryptocurrency and its community.

pplpleasr
Even if you have never heard of pplpleasr (real name Emily Yang), you have likely encountered her artwork. In 2021, she made history by putting several of the most outstanding figures in cryptocurrency on the cover of Fortune magazine, but her entry point into this field was creating art for some top DeFi projects. Earlier this year, when she minted a promotional video for Uniswap V3 as an NFT, she donated the 310 ETH she raised to charities supporting minority groups, which was worth over $525,000 at the time.

However, she truly shone after appearing in Fortune magazine. "Just a year ago, I was unemployed and worried about my income," she wrote on Twitter in August, "I hope my story can inspire others; my gratitude to the cryptocurrency community is beyond words." Yang's personal story demonstrates that NFTs have the power to change the lives of millions of creators and collectors around the world.

Bored Ape Yacht Club/Yuga Labs
There are many winners in this year's NFT space, but one project stands out—Bored Ape Yacht Club. As a collection of 10,000 traceable apes living on Ethereum, Bored Ape Yacht Club has become a representative lifestyle brand, complete with its own merchandise and event series, collaborating with companies like Universal and Adidas. Yuga Labs, the creator of Bored Ape Yacht Club, strengthens the brand by arranging profitable airdrops for NFT holders, and it is rumored that tokens and games will be launched in 2022. Indeed, Yuga Labs' success is largely attributed to the community of Bored Ape holders, which includes celebrities like Stephen Curry and Jimmy Fallon. However, it is primarily due to its strategy of rewarding its community first.

Another popular NFT avatar series, Larva Labs' CryptoPunks, also became mainstream this year, but its roadmap is less impressive. In May, Larva Labs raised $80 million from a collection called Meebits, which had little innovation, with some of the funds allocated to Punk holders. The two behind the project also signed a Hollywood deal that would allow their NFTs to appear in movies, television, and other media, but only to that extent. Since then, Larva Labs has been busy issuing copyright infringement notices to protect its flagship projects, while Yuga Labs has made it clear that the community is its top priority. As a result, Bored Ape Yacht Club has become the trendiest NFT series in less than a year since its launch. If Yuga Labs continues its success from 2021, it could soon become more valuable than the Punks.

Sam Bankman-Fried
Since entering the cryptocurrency space in 2017, Sam Bankman-Fried has overseen one of the top trading firms in the field, Alameda Research, built FTX into a strong competitor to Coinbase and Binance, and become one of the wealthiest individuals under 30 globally. His ability to achieve all this is partly due to his machine-like agility, allowing him to pivot from trading to podcasting to playing League of Legends in the blink of an eye. Equally important, Sam Bankman-Fried may be one of the hardest-working individuals in the industry. He enjoys sleeping directly in the office, seamlessly transitioning from rest to work mode, and FTX is always the first exchange to create markets for exotic derivatives, catering to the more adventurous traders in the cryptocurrency space.

As a staunch supporter of Solana, Bankman-Fried made a memorable tweet back in January when Solana was trading at $3, proposing to buy an entire Solana holding from another trader, inadvertently suggesting that Solana would rise. Since then, Solana has surged by 6,500%. In addition to endorsing Solana early on, this year Bankman-Fried has also sought to grow the FTX brand by heavily marketing the exchange in the sports industry. However, rather than making himself more famous and richer, he seems more interested in bringing cryptocurrency to a billion users (notably, he plans to donate most of his $22 billion fortune through effective altruism). If FTX and Solana continue on their trajectory from 2021, Bankman-Fried is likely to achieve massive cryptocurrency adoption in his career.

Senators Ron Wyden, Pat Toomey, and Cynthia Lummis
"Regulation" has been a major theme in cryptocurrency this year, especially in the U.S. It can be said that the biggest progress this year focused on the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, which included vague wording regarding cryptocurrency tax policies and the definition of "brokers." This ambiguous definition means that proof-of-work miners, stakeholders, and DeFi protocol developers could be subject to overly stringent tax rules.

While the Biden administration supported the initial draft, Senators Ron Wyden, Pat Toomey, and Cynthia Lummis insisted on a clearer definition of "brokers" in cryptocurrency, winning support from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Coin Center, and other key members of the cryptocurrency community.

The House ultimately passed a less cryptocurrency-friendly draft, which Biden signed into law, but Wyden, Toomey, and Lummis did not stop advocating for amendments favorable to cryptocurrency innovation. "Digital assets will always exist in our financial system, and the decisions we make now will have profound impacts on the future. We need to promote innovation, not stifle it," Lummis and Wyden submitted a new bill that included amendments regarding cryptocurrency tax reporting requirements.

Vincent Van Dough
Like many other Ethereum whales turned JPEG enthusiasts, Vincent Van Dough has done a lot to promote the development of NFTs. They have built some of the best and most valuable JPEG collections in the field, and any new purchases they make are considered noteworthy. At the peak of NFTs, they even partnered with Three Arrows Capital to launch an NFT fund called Starry Night Capital.

However, what truly caught our attention was their fierce debate about NFTs with a group of community artists. This year, many community members stood up against NFTs, asserting that they have no value and that individuals are stealing from artists by exchanging their works for ETH.

To challenge and confront this viewpoint, Vincent Van Dough responded by minting an NFT montage, using multiple "stolen" community artworks titled "Legal Litigation Materials" and "Call: 1800-SUE-ME."

This NFT sparked outrage among community members, which was precisely Vincent's intention. They proposed to pay $5,000 to the artists whose works were used for the NFTs. All Vincent had to do was mint their works on Ethereum and transfer the income to their wallets.

Vincent forced the critics to take action. If they accepted his offer, they would acknowledge that their belief that NFTs are a scam was incorrect. If they refused, they would miss out on the $5,000, and their argument that NFTs have no value would lose its meaning. None of them accepted this income, and Vincent continues to dominate the NFT space today.

samczsun
Real name Sam Sun, if you have ever used DeFi on Ethereum, samczsun may have saved you from a major vulnerability in the past. Sun is the most prolific white-hat hacker in DeFi, to the point that his late-night "Are you awake?" messages have become a source of anxiety for every Solidity developer.

Sun has worked at Stripe, Wish, and Trail of Bits, and currently serves as a research partner at Paradigm, one of the top venture capital firms in the field. Throughout his years as an independent security researcher, Sun has saved the DeFi community hundreds of millions of dollars from potential losses due to smart contract vulnerabilities and security flaws.

In 2020 alone, he discovered and privately disclosed critical vulnerabilities in Curve, Synthetix, Kyber Network, Nexus Mutual, Ethereum Name Service, Yearn.Finance, and more. This year, he discovered a critical vulnerability on Sushi's Miso token launchpad, a zero-day vulnerability on Etherscan, and a critical vulnerability on Ethereum's standalone CLI client Geth. Ethereum is fortunate because samczsun is using his talents for the public good. At least in Ethereum's dark forest, few deserve the title of "hero" more than samczsun.

Caitlin Long
Caitlin Long is widely regarded as one of the most influential women in the blockchain space, known for her leadership role in drafting and conceptualizing pioneering blockchain legislation in Wyoming. She is a veteran with 22 years of experience on Wall Street and has been active in the cryptocurrency industry since 2012. Although the current regulatory situation regarding cryptocurrency in the U.S. is far from perfect, Long is one of the industry's female spokespersons, pushing the entire industry in the right direction.

She has helped Wyoming pass 24 laws favorable to cryptocurrency, making it one of the friendliest places in the U.S. for cryptocurrency businesses. Wyoming is also the first state to authorize a new type of state-chartered deposit institution that can hold cryptocurrency assets and provide banking services for blockchain companies.

In July, Wyoming became the first state in the U.S. to legally recognize DAOs, granting them the same rights as limited liability companies under Long's guidance. Beyond her tireless legislative work, Long frequently appears on podcasts and curates columns on Twitter to help insiders and outsiders understand the current state of the entire industry.

Daniele Sestagalli
Daniele Sestagalli is the beloved leader of the legendary "Frog Nation," a secret grassroots movement that condemns anything it perceives as centralization in DeFi. This can include everything from venture capitalists and institutions to centralized stablecoins and the so-called decentralized protocols that rely on them. So why does Sestagalli make it onto our top ten hero list? Because he is widely loved and adored. This is mainly due to his establishment of Abracadabra.Money, Popsicle Finance, and Wonderland.Money, all of which fall under the category of "DeFi 2.0." Sestagalli is also known for his statements on Twitter, which have recently turned unaware bystanders into frogs, helping his audience grow like a snowball (at the time of the interview, he had over 221,000 followers, far exceeding the number from six months ago). Recently, after the project faced months of internal issues, Sestagalli stepped up, and whether he can save DeFi from "corrupt centralized forces" remains to be seen. Regardless, we believe he can be called a hero.

Newly Rich List in Cryptocurrency (Ranked by Assets)

1. Sam Bankman-Fried
   Net Worth: $22.5 billion
   Sam Bankman-Fried founded the FTX exchange in 2019, and most of his assets are in the exchange's token, FTT. FTX recently completed a Series B funding round of $900 million, valuing the exchange at $18 billion, and SBF's FTT assets have also doubled.

   Additionally, SBF founded the quantitative fund Alameda Research, managing approximately $2.5 billion in assets. SBF is an altruist whose goal is to make as much money as possible and then give back to society.

2. Brian Armstrong
   Net Worth: $11.5 billion
   Brian Armstrong is the co-founder of the Coinbase exchange, which went public in April this year, becoming the first publicly listed cryptocurrency exchange, with a company valuation of $86 billion.
   Brian Armstrong holds about 19% of Coinbase's shares, with a net worth of approximately $11.5 billion.

3. Chris Larsen
   Net Worth: $6 billion
   Chris Larsen is the co-founder and chairman of Ripple and was the only cryptocurrency billionaire on last year's Forbes list. Additionally, Chris Larsen is an entrepreneur and angel investor, having co-founded several companies in Silicon Valley, including a P2P lending company and the online mortgage lending institution E-Loan.

4 & 5. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss
Net Worth: $4.5 billion
The Winklevoss twins were involved in the founding of Facebook and established the Gemini exchange in 2015. According to CMC data, the Gemini exchange has a 24-hour trading volume of $210 million.
Unlike other cryptocurrency billionaires, the Winklevoss twins' wealth does not solely come from their startup; after suing Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for stealing their idea in 2013, they purchased $11 million worth of Bitcoin when it was priced at about $120 per BTC, making them cryptocurrency whales. However, the two are reluctant to comment on their holdings.

6. Fred Ehrsam
   Net Worth: $3.5 billion
   Fred Ehrsam is also a co-founder of Coinbase but left in 2017 to establish the cryptocurrency investment firm Paradigm, investing in numerous well-known cryptocurrency startups.
   His investments include the decentralized central bank MakerDAO, lending protocol Compound, decentralized exchange Uniswap, and competitive public chain Cosmos, among others. His net worth is estimated at around $3.5 billion.

7. Jed McCaleb
   Net Worth: $3 billion
   Jed McCaleb is the co-founder and former CTO of Ripple, who left Ripple in 2013 to establish the competing public chain Stellar. When he left Ripple, he still held 9 billion XRP.
   The two parties reached a settlement in February 2016, allowing McCaleb to sell an average of 1.5% of the daily trading volume of XRP within a week four years later (February 2020), which has become the basis for McCaleb's continuous large-scale sales of XRP.
   However, throughout September, Jed McCaleb did not sell any XRP.

• Founder of Blockchain (Bitcoin): Satoshi Nakamoto
  "If you don't understand what I mean, I don't have time to convince you." A classic line. Satoshi Nakamoto is a mystery; no one knows what he looks like. Every so often, someone claims to have discovered the real Satoshi Nakamoto. But every verification results in making Satoshi even more mysterious.

  He left very little information behind. We only know he was one of the cypherpunks, possessing astonishing knowledge in cryptography, computer science, mathematics, and economics. Many aspects of Bitcoin that were once considered redundant designs have later proven to be correct, such as the carefully chosen Koblitz curve, which avoids backdoors hidden by the NSA in cryptographic standards. For example, hashing twice on the basis of elliptic curve digital signature algorithm encryption is sufficient to counter the threat of quantum computers. Satoshi Nakamoto communicated with anyone using PGP encryption and the Tor network. He even intentionally fabricated some identity information and personalized characteristics in his white paper and community speeches to mislead erroneous guesses, such as disguising British spelling and Greenwich Mean Time's routine. The level of his meticulousness is astonishing.

  Satoshi Nakamoto's uniqueness lies not only in his genius. His Bitcoin wallet contains one million Bitcoins, worth hundreds of billions at today's prices. However, this astonishing wealth remains as still as a block of ice. Clearly, fame and wealth hold no allure for Satoshi Nakamoto. He appeared like a superhero, leaving behind a stunning masterpiece, and then vanished. Simply explaining his disappearance with indifference to fame seems insufficient. Satoshi's last public appearance was in 2011, when he advised Assange not to use Bitcoin to sustain WikiLeaks. From this, it can be seen that Satoshi hoped Bitcoin would thrive. However, in 2017, when Bitcoin was plagued by endless scaling debates and forks, why did Satoshi not step forward to provide guidance? Many hold pessimistic views, believing that Satoshi saw the selfishness of human nature in the debates and became utterly disappointed.

To conclude, quoting Chang Jian: "Satoshi Nakamoto is a group of people; they are peace-loving leakers who wish to challenge the old order and establish a fairer, more equal society. In that society, education can be freely distributed to all, and privacy is a right, not a privilege. In short, for those pursuing a fairer world: we are all Satoshi Nakamoto."