In Putian, Fujian, China, there stands a massive, unfinished circular structure that eerily resembles Apple Park in Silicon Valley. But this isn’t a tech giant’s HQ — it was meant to be the world’s largest supercomputing data center, nicknamed the “Bitcoin Building.” 🏗️💻
👉 Planned investment: 26 billion RMB
👉 Construction area: 170,000+ sqm
👉 Goal: A futuristic hub for thousands of mining machines, offices, commercial spaces, and exhibitions.
The design was inspired by Fujian’s earthen buildings, with eco-friendly touches like solar rooftops and rainwater recycling 🌱⚡ — a bold vision of a crypto-powered future city.
But today? The dream lies in ruins, abandoned and overgrown with weeds. 🌾
Why did it fail?
1️⃣ Showpiece over substance – flashy design, poor practicality.
2️⃣ Remote location – no industrial ecosystem around it.
3️⃣ Broken capital chain – funding relied on loans and private financing.
4️⃣ Policy shock – China’s ban on crypto mining killed the core business model.
👤 The man behind it: Lin Qingxing, a former fur trader turned crypto whale, reportedly once held 100,000+ BTC. His ambition? To transform digital fortune into a real-world tech empire.
Instead, the “Bitcoin Building” stands as a cautionary tale of overreach, policy risk, and the dangers of tying massive infrastructure to an unstable business model. ⚠️
