Cryptocurrency Mining Tycoon Wu Jihan: From Peking University Prodigy to Blockchain Legend

From translating the Bitcoin whitepaper as the 'Chinese Evangelist' to controlling global computing power as the 'King of Miners', Wu Jihan has used his sharp insights as a psychology prodigy from Peking University to write the history of China's blockchain rise over the past decade.

In 2011, 25-year-old Wu Jihan stumbled upon the Bitcoin whitepaper, and after a sleepless night, he invested 100,000 yuan into Bitcoin, which was only priced at 10 dollars at the time. He dedicated himself to translating the whitepaper, bringing the concept of Bitcoin into the Chinese world for the first time, and co-founded the blockchain media '8btc', becoming one of China's earliest Bitcoin evangelists.

In 2013, the skyrocketing price of Bitcoin created a demand for mining machines. Wu Jihan partnered with Zhan Ketuan to develop the Antminer S1 in a residential house, capturing 75% of the global market share within six months. The Antminer S9 launched in 2016 became the benchmark for energy efficiency, leading to the rise of Bitmain, and he was revered as the 'Mining Tycoon'.

In 2017, Wu Jihan led the Bitcoin fork to introduce BCH, triggering a 'Hash War', and deeply engaged in the underlying protocol battles of cryptocurrencies. After Bitmain's IPO struggles in 2018 and parting ways with Zhan Ketuan, he took the mining pool business to incubate Bit Deer, living and eating with workers at the mining sites, humorously stating that he 'learned to fix mining machines'.

In 2019, he founded Matrixport, pioneering the 'safety cushion' model for crypto asset management, managing assets exceeding 10 billion dollars, and promoting compliance in crypto finance. Now, Bit Deer has gone public on Nasdaq, and he has proposed the 'AI + DeFi' strategy, targeting the future of distributed finance.

From translating the whitepaper to computing power hegemony, Wu Jihan's decade reflects the transformation of blockchain from a geek experiment to a new force in global finance, becoming a vivid footnote in the rise of China's blockchain.