In 2009, he lost 100,000 on his first entrepreneurial venture;

In 2013, he became the CEO of the world's largest Bitcoin exchange;

In 2022, he cashed out $1 billion, achieving a perfect conclusion.

He is the founder of Huobi - Li Lin, who turned the tide against the wind and made himself the 'Godfather of Crypto'.

From a teenager in Hengyang to a top student at Tsinghua.

Born in Hengyang, Hunan in 1982, Li Lin came from an average family with a sick mother, and he took care of his younger brother from an early age. Living in a boarding school during middle school, he had only 200 to 300 yuan for living expenses each month, so he had to budget carefully.

But he has always been a top student, especially strong in math, often winning awards in math competitions.

In 2000, he scored over 640 points in the college entrance examination and was admitted to the automation program at Tongji University.

During university, he started forums and building websites, sharing resources while making extra money for companies, basically achieving economic independence.

Getting admitted to Tsinghua, joining Oracle, then resigning to start a business.

In 2005, after graduating with a bachelor's degree, he studied for four months and was admitted to Tsinghua for graduate studies, further broadening his horizons.

After graduating, he joined a big company, Oracle, with an annual salary of over 100,000 - but he got bored quickly.

At the end of 2008, he resigned and started his first venture, a social website 'Friendship Network', focusing on the concept of 'resource mutual promotion'.

The results were too advanced and disconnected from reality; the website flopped in less than a year, losing 100,000.

Refusing to give up, he launched 'Group Buying Navigation' for his second venture.

In 2010, he saw group buying take off and immediately started 'Renren Zhe' - helping users compare prices for group purchases.

It started generating income right after launch, user growth exploded, and advertisers actively approached him.

The project also received angel investment, making it the second in the industry at one point.

During the day, he wrote code, at night he handled customer service, working until dawn every day.

But the group buying trend faded too quickly, and project growth stagnated; he decisively realized: this path won't go far.

On his third venture, he made Huobi the number one globally.

In 2011, at a class reunion, he first heard about Bitcoin, when it was less than 100 yuan.

The more he researched, the more he realized that domestic trading platforms were too poor, often lagging and inaccessible.

At the end of 2012, he decided to go all in on the Bitcoin exchange.

In September 2013, Huobi went live, launching the killer feature of 'no transaction fee'!

User numbers skyrocketed and trading volume surged, catching competitors off guard.

He also invested heavily in servers and risk control systems to ensure the platform's extreme stability.

Three months after launch, Huobi broke into the top three in the country.

In 2014, securing investments from Zhen Fund and Sequoia Capital, he went all out!

Regulatory crackdown is coming, perfect exit.

In 2021, China tightened policies on virtual currency trading.

Li Lin quickly adjusted, selling Huobi shares to Baiyu Capital, completely withdrawing from the management.

Huobi's headquarters moved to the Caribbean, continuing its global expansion.

He was only 39 that year, already achieving success in both family and wealth.

Looking back, from starting up and losing money to the peak of the crypto world, he experienced three cycles of transition.

The key to his success was not luck, but choice:

Identifying pain points, he focused on high-barrier, hardcore businesses;

Using 'no transaction fee' to penetrate the market;

Prioritizing technology and risk control, he did not follow the trend of speculative concepts;

Faced with regulatory changes, he acted quickly and decisively.

Many people ask: Is Li Lin the most successful entrepreneur in the crypto world?

Perhaps not the only one, but certainly the most stable and execution-oriented type of person.