Preface: What are we talking about when we discuss RWA?
In 2024-2025, the RWA sector is heating up. Wall Street giants like BlackRock are issuing tokenized U.S. Treasury funds, and tokenized stocks of Tesla and Apple are appearing on platforms like Kraken and Solana. Especially in Hong Kong, which is actively embracing Web3, everything from real estate income rights to GCL-Poly’s photovoltaic power stations to Longxin Technology's charging piles seems to be moving from concept to reality.
We are excited that RWA can activate real assets, lower financing thresholds, and improve liquidity. But does all of this sound somewhat familiar?
As early as 2012, a Chinese developer named 'Friedcat' had already fully practiced all of this, even more thoroughly, more RWA, and more 'Web3' than today's model.
1. The Birth of a Legend
'Friedcat,' whose real name is Jiang Xinyu, is a legendary name. He was admitted to the Youth Class of the University of Science and Technology of China at the age of 15, later visiting Yale University, and is a top genius. In 2011, he keenly captured the potential of Bitcoin and was active on the international Bitcoin forum (bitcintalk) under the ID 'friedcat.' He did not merely theorize. At a critical juncture when Bitcoin mining shifted from CPU/GPU to specialized equipment, his team was the first to achieve mass production of ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit) miners, known as the 'first generation chip miners,' at one point controlling a significant amount of the global Bitcoin network's computing power.
The crypto world in 2012 was a 'wild west.' Bitcoin prices were sluggish, the community was small, there was no VC investment, and no regulation. Trust was entirely based on individual reputations in forums.
Friedcat faced a real problem: mass-producing ASIC miners required a large sum of money, but the doors of traditional finance were closed to him. His investors could only be those geeks who believed in Bitcoin's future. Thus, a financial experiment destined to be recorded in history began.
2. The First RWA Issuance Program in History
To raise funds, Friedcat did not seek venture capital but instead designed an astonishing first RWA issuance program in history.
The core of this program is to tokenize a profitable company in the real world through blockchain technology, achieving an innovative model for financing, dividends, and trading. Below is a detailed analysis of its specific structure and mechanisms.
1. Real Assets: A Solid Value Foundation
The underlying asset of the project is Bitfountain Information Technology Co., Ltd. This is a legally registered entity in Shenzhen, with core value derived from its ability to continuously generate cash flow from its business, including an ASIC miner production line, computing power owned by the mining farm, and anticipated future earnings from these businesses. This forms the cornerstone of the entire model, ensuring that the 'stocks' issued have clear, profitable real-world assets (RWA) as support.
2. Issuance Platform: A Decentralized Choice
This issuance chose to take place on GLBSE (Global Bitcoin Stock Exchange). This was an early virtual stock platform fully built on the Bitcoin network. Its biggest feature was decentralization, as the entire issuance and trading process completely bypassed traditional brokers and stock exchanges, providing a brand new and efficient channel for the global circulation of assets.
3. Issuance Details: Bitcoin-based Equity Financing
The name of this issuance's stock is AsicMiner, with each share representing partial ownership of Bitfountain. Its issuance structure is similar to a typical equity financing:
Total Shares: 400,000
Public Offering: 41% of shares (approximately 163,000 shares)
Issuance Price: 0.1 BTC/share
What sets this design apart is that it did not use any national fiat currency but directly utilized Bitcoin (BTC) as the unit for fundraising and valuation.
4. Two Core Mechanisms: The Soul of the Model
The most striking innovation of this program is reflected in its two core mechanisms:
1) Automated On-Chain Dividends: This is the soul of the entire model. The company promises to weekly distribute its profits (in BTC) obtained from mining and selling mining machines directly and automatically to each shareholder's Bitcoin wallet address according to their shareholding ratio. This mechanism perfectly embodies the idea that 'code is law,' as the entire dividend process does not require trust in any third-party financial institution, achieving direct settlement and clearing on the blockchain, efficiently, transparently, and immutably.
2) Around-the-clock global liquidity: AsicMiner stocks can be freely listed and transferred 24/7 on the GLBSE platform. Once a transaction is completed, the ownership of the stocks is immediately transferred, and new shareholders can instantly enjoy future dividend rights. This created a global secondary market for the equity of non-listed companies, providing liquidity far exceeding that of any traditional non-listed equity at the time.
Conclusion: Friedcat did not create a simple project but a complete financial closed loop: investing in equity of real companies using on-chain native assets (BTC), confirming rights through on-chain transparent records (GLBSE), enjoying automatic dividends from on-chain native assets (BTC), and trading freely in the on-chain market (GLBSE).
3. Legal Dissection: Is this really RWA?
From today’s legal and financial perspective, does Friedcat’s AsicMiner stock belong to RWA?
The verdict is: Without a doubt, yes. And it is one of the purest and most original RWA prototypes to date.
Real World Assets: Yes. The stocks are anchored to Bitfountain's mining machines, mining farms, and future cash flows, representing 100% real economic activity.
Tokenization: Yes. Although there was no ERC-20 token standard at that time, the shareholding records on GLBSE served as a primitive, centralized server-recorded 'token,' representing asset ownership and dividend rights.
Connection Between Assets and Tokens: Yes, but extremely fragile. This connection is not based on modern RWA's trust or SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) legal structures, but rather completely relies on the community's 'social contract' regarding Friedcat's personal credibility. People believed he would keep his promises and distribute profits as dividends.
It is fundamentally different from later ICOs: the assets issued in ICOs are mostly 'air coins' without actual asset backing, whereas Friedcat's stocks are backed by real, profit-generating mining machines. This is the core distinction between RWA and purely cryptocurrency.
4. From Ancient Artifacts to Modern Miracles: Friedcat vs. Today’s Hottest RWAs
Friedcat’s innovation was a full ten years ahead of its time. Comparing the pioneering project 'Friedcat AsicMiner' from 2012 with today’s (2024-2025) mainstream global market RWAs (Real World Asset Tokenization) clearly shows a dramatic transformation from a chaotic experiment to an increasingly compliant financial innovation track.
1. Underlying Assets: From Singular to Diverse
The most intuitive difference lies in the breadth of assets. The value support of Friedcat AsicMiner is very singular, limited to the equity and future earnings of a single mining company behind it. In contrast, modern RWAs have extremely rich and diversified asset pools, almost covering any asset with stable cash flow or valuation potential, such as the tokenization of U.S. Treasury bonds promoted by giants like BlackRock, stock equity of companies like Tesla or Apple, income-generating real estate, charging piles and photovoltaic power stations in the new energy sector, and even rare artworks.
2. Technological Carrier: From Centralized Islands to Decentralized Networks
The technological path has also undergone fundamental changes. Friedcat relied on an early centralized platform GLBSE's internal database, meaning that asset issuance and trading were constrained by the survival of this single platform. In contrast, modern RWAs are generally built on open decentralized public chains like Ethereum and Solana, and utilize standardized token protocols such as ERC-20 and ERC-1400. This not only enhances the security and transparency of assets but also lays the foundation for interoperability across different applications.
3. Compliance and Law: From Lawlessness to Compliance as King
Compliance is the most fundamental divide between the two. The Friedcat project was born in a complete 'legal vacuum,' without KYC (Know Your Customer) identification, free from any financial regulation, with almost zero investor protection. Modern RWA, on the other hand, regards compliance as a lifeline. Its issuance and trading strictly adhere to securities laws in various countries, typically requiring the establishment of trusts or SPVs to isolate and hold assets, with licensed institutions responsible for issuance, and all investors must go through stringent KYC and AML reviews.
4. Sources of Risk: From Personal Credit to Systemic Risk
The nature of risks has also changed accordingly. The main risks Friedcat faced were simple yet fatal: first, platform risk, meaning the collapse of the GLBSE exchange; second, personal risk, with the founder 'Friedcat' disappearing directly leading to the project's collapse. In contrast, the risks faced by modern RWAs are more complex and systematic, including technical risks related to smart contract vulnerabilities, compliance risks arising from changes in cross-border regulatory policies, and possible default risks associated with the underlying assets themselves.
5. Core Advantages: From Extreme Efficiency to Security and Trust
Ultimately, the core advantages pursued by both reflect the demands of different eras. The charm of the Friedcat model lies in its extreme decentralization philosophy and high efficiency, eliminating all traditional financial intermediaries and minimizing costs. In contrast, the core advantage of modern RWA lies in its security and trust. A complete legal framework provides solid protection for investors, while the authenticity of the assets is audited and endorsed by third-party professional institutions, allowing it to break the barriers and attract mainstream financial institutions and a broader base of conservative investors.
The essence of evolution: We see a clear evolutionary path—from the barbaric growth reliant on 'personal credibility' to compliant development reliant on 'laws and code.' Friedcat proved the technological possibilities, while today’s RWAs are completing the legal and trust infrastructure that was missing back then.
5. Peaks, Collapse, and the Ghost on the Chain: The Conclusion and Enlightenment from Friedcat
Friedcat’s story is like a classic Shakespearean tragedy.
At the beginning, AsicMiner achieved great success, once occupying 42% of the global computing power. Its stock price soared from 0.1 BTC to a peak of 5 BTC, and with continuous BTC dividends, early investors realized over 500 times astonishing returns, creating the first batch of myths in the crypto circle. However, technological iteration is brutal. With the rise of competitors like Bitmain, Friedcat’s second-generation chip development failed, leading to a rapid erosion of market share. At the same time, the closure of the issuance platform GLBSE and internal conflicts within the company compounded the problems. At the end of 2014, after an inspection visit to a mining site, Friedcat mysteriously disappeared and has remained missing ever since, becoming the biggest unsolved case in the crypto circle. His company was left vacant, and investors' stocks ultimately became worthless.
Despite the bittersweet ending, the legacy left by Friedcat is profound:
He proved through practice the feasibility of the 'asset on-chain, on-chain dividends' model, directly inspiring later ICOs, STOs, and today’s RWAs.
His failure starkly revealed the fatal flaws of lacking legal protection and asset custody. Without compliance, even the most brilliant design is just a castle in the air.
To this day, Bitcoin addresses associated with Friedcat still hold massive assets; any slight movement will stir waves in the community. He is like a ghost on the chain, constantly reminding us of this crazy yet enlightening history.
[FAQ] Questions that readers might be most concerned about: Quick Q&A
Q1: How does Friedcat stock identify investors? Is real-name verification required?
A: Not at all. It only recognizes Bitcoin addresses without any KYC (identification) process. Dividends and transactions are conducted anonymously on-chain, technically completely transparent, but legally completely unowned.
Q2: How are dividends specifically operated?
A: Friedcat’s company summarizes mining profits weekly and automatically sends BTC to shareholders' wallet addresses recorded on the GLBSE platform according to their shareholding ratio. There are no banks or intermediaries; it is a peer-to-peer value distribution.
Q3: What is the fundamental difference with ICO?
A: Friedcat stocks are 'equity' backed by cash-flow-generating real assets; ICOs typically issue 'functional tokens' or 'air coins' that are generally not tied to company profits and have no promise of dividends. Friedcat stocks are closer to STOs (Security Token Offerings) and are direct ancestors of RWA.
Q4: What happened to the investors later?
A: Early investors made a fortune through dividends and selling stocks at high prices. However, later investors, as well as those who still held shares when the project collapsed, lost almost all their assets due to Friedcat's disappearance and the platform's closure, with no way to reclaim them.
Conclusion: Standing on the shoulders of history, where will RWA head?
Looking back at Friedcat’s story, we can’t help but sigh; history always spirals upward through repetition.
Friedcat was a lonely pioneer who, with his genius concepts and tragic end, prefigured everything about RWA: immense potential and fatal risks. He proved that merely having decentralized technology is not enough; it needs to be combined with real-world legal frameworks and trust mechanisms to be sustainable.
Today, when licensed institutions in Hong Kong issue compliant real estate RWA products, and Wall Street giants move U.S. Treasury bonds onto the blockchain, they are standing on the path paved by Friedcat with code and credibility 12 years ago.
BTH BTC PEPE
