He appears low-key, speaks little, like a calm chess player carving out a bloody path in the fierce competition of O2O. But beneath this calm lies an extremely proud heart.
However, in the heart of this 'fighter' who almost never looks up to his peers, there exists a 'god'-like presence, a peak he frankly admits he can never reach — the anonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto.
Wang Xing believes that creating the Meituan empire may require extreme business insight and strong execution, but creating Bitcoin requires a kind of almost divine inspiration and genius that he does not possess.
What is rarely known is that Wang Xing is actually a supporter of Bitcoin. At the end of 2013, he purchased Bitcoin and stated, "I want to pay tribute to this extraordinarily imaginative creation with practical actions."
This investment brought about nearly a hundredfold return, even surpassing Meituan — it should be noted that Meituan is one of the most successful tech companies in China over the past decade.
In Wang Xing's view, treating Bitcoin merely as a digital currency is a great shortsightedness.
He keenly pointed out: "The matter of Bitcoin is particularly interesting. I believe it should not be regarded merely as an exciting game, but as a game that can change the financial landscape."
He further pointed out its essence: "The political attributes of Bitcoin far exceed its financial attributes." This insight completely distinguishes him from those speculators who only focus on K-line charts. What he sees is not the rise and fall of prices, but a brand new, decentralized power structure's impact on the existing sovereign credit system.
He also predicted: "I can visually see that a new type of person will soon appear on the Forbes list, whose wealth originates not from any industry, but simply from: buying and holding a batch of Bitcoin." This is not only a prediction of its wealth effect but also an acknowledgment of its disruptive nature.
More importantly, Wang Xing once approached Bitcoin from a grand geopolitical perspective, believing that it is a 'heaven-sent opportunity' for China to challenge the dollar's dominance. He thinks that shaking the dollar hegemony within the traditional financial framework is almost impossible, while Bitcoin's brand new, asymmetric path provides a once-in-a-lifetime strategic opportunity for reshaping the landscape.
Looking back at Wang Xing's remarks over the past decade, his stance on Bitcoin is a clever blend of technological idealism and geopolitical vision.
