I increasingly feel that those truly exceptional individuals possess a powerful ability to derive mental models or, at a fundamental level, the ability to think in terms of first principles. They can abstract a transferable thinking model from a scenario at a high level, and then use this thinking model to connect the past and present, blending Eastern and Western ideas.

This ability relies not just on the accumulation of experience but also on the disassembly and interpretation of structures. They can break down an issue to its core, starting from the most fundamental logic and then reverse-engineering the applicable boundaries. Therefore, chatting with them often gives one the feeling of having one's thoughts opened up.

For instance, recently, I have been analyzing many PIPE deals and have learned a lot about past crypto deals on Wall Street from a liquid partner. He told me that the transition from GBTC to ETFs and now to treasury management actually reflects a deeper macro-financial structural change. As crypto assets gradually become a legitimate and institutional-grade asset class, this evolution has generally gone through three key stages:

- GBTC Stage: As an important channel for institutional investors to initially access Bitcoin, GBTC provided regulated market exposure. However, it lacked a redemption mechanism, leading to a long-term disconnect between price and net asset value. Although this stage laid the groundwork, traditional financial packaging methods were evidently subject to significant structural limitations.

- BTC ETF Stage: Products like BTC ETFs introduced a daily subscription/redemption mechanism, bringing prices closer to net asset value and greatly enhancing liquidity and institutional accessibility. However, due to their passive management nature, they could not capture staking yields, on-chain value creation, and other native mechanisms, leaving a gap between them and the local potential of crypto.

- Corporate Financial Strategy Stage: From MicroStrategy and Metaplanet to the recent SBET we participated in, an increasing number of companies are integrating crypto assets into their financial operations. This stage has transcended passive holdings, beginning to enhance capital efficiency through debt financing, yield reinvestment, and on-chain yields, further driving shareholder returns.

Each step represents a leap in the complexity and institutionalization of crypto financial tools. Only by realizing this historical evolution can one seize the next opportunity for structural change.