OKX Blockchain 60 Lectures | Episode 42: The Rise of Mining Circle (Part 2) - Mining Machine Battle

Hello everyone, I'm Xiao K Jun. Today we're going to talk about: "The Rise of Mining Circle (Part 2) - Mining Machine Battle."

In our last lesson, we mentioned that the initial rise of the mining circle cannot be separated from two people: one is Pumpkin Zhang—Zhang Nan Geng, and the other is Roasted Cat—Jiang Xinyu. If Zhang Nan Geng opened an era, then Roasted Cat was the one who pushed this era to its climax.

The story still begins from early 2012. Roasted Cat, originally named Jiang Xinyu, could be described as the "other people's child" in his parents' words from a young age. During his student days, he was admitted to the Special Class for the Gifted Young at the University of Science and Technology of China with excellent results from Shaoyang No. 1 Middle School in Hunan. In 2009, he obtained a master's degree from the University of Science and Technology of China. By 2012, Roasted Cat was already pursuing a PhD in computer science at Yale University.

By chance, Roasted Cat came into contact with Bitcoin and was deeply attracted by the decentralized idea in Satoshi Nakamoto's paper. So in early 2012, Jiang Xinyu applied for an account on the Bitcoin forum, using "friedcat" as his ID, to exchange his ideals and views with geeks around the world. Over time, "friedcat"—Roasted Cat became Jiang Xinyu's code name.

I don't know if it was a coincidence, but in June of the same year, the news that American Butterfly Labs was going to develop ASIC mining machines not only changed Zhang Nan Geng's fate, but also changed Roasted Cat's fate. Even more coincidentally, they made the same choice—to develop ASIC mining machines to prevent the upcoming monopoly of the Bitcoin network. However, Zhang Nan Geng chose to drop out and start a business, while Roasted Cat chose to suspend his studies and return to China to start a business. Perhaps because they both had a touch of chivalry and passion in their bones, they both achieved greater versions of themselves in the future.

After returning to China, Roasted Cat quickly registered the Bitquan company, with the English name Bitfountain. To raise the budget for mass production of mining machines, he drew on the corporate "IPO" listing model and issued virtual shares of his company in exchange for Bitcoin, thereby raising funds and laying the foundation for the mass production of mining machines.

After half a year of research, in early 2013, Roasted Cat became the second person after Zhang Nan Geng to successfully develop an ASIC mining machine, named the Roasted Cat mining machine. Thereafter, Roasted Cat quickly achieved mass production of mining machines, used some of the mass-produced mining machines himself, built the world's first professional mining farm, achieved规模化 of mining, and thus opened the door to the golden age of the mining circle.

With Roasted Cat's success, 2013 was destined to be a year of fierce competition in the mining circle. Funds began to eye the mining machine business one after another, and a large number of mining machine brands appeared: Shen Yu, Ant, Zeus, Western Data, etc. At that time, every few months, the mining machines on the market would undergo a generation update, and a game of mining machine battle began.

But ironically, Butterfly Labs, which initially announced it would develop ASIC mining machines, missed the entire era because it failed to successfully develop them. Instead, the teenager who dreamed of slaying the dragon ultimately became the dragon himself. Roasted Cat won the victory in this battle game. At its peak, Roasted Cat mining machines controlled about 40% of the entire network's hashrate, and Roasted Cat company's virtual shares surged from the initial 0.1 Bitcoin to 5 Bitcoin.

Thus, the mining circle became Roasted Cat's world. Roasted Cat ascended the throne as king, becoming the first "mining tyrant" in history, opening a golden age belonging to the mining circle.

Special thanks to Teacher Jiang Zhuoer for his help and guidance with this episode.

Sina Weibo: @江卓尔_莱比特矿池

– END –

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