Author: Entrepreneurship Workshop Ventureslab
In March 2025, U.S. President Trump signed an executive order announcing the establishment of the "Strategic Bitcoin Reserve," with the U.S. Treasury directly holding and managing these digital assets. This marks the first time a superpower has explicitly included Bitcoin in its sovereign reserve system.
In June 2025, the U.S. Senate passed the "GENIUS Act," establishing a global regulatory framework for stablecoins, allowing for a 1:1 peg of the U.S. dollar to stablecoins, and mandating that the exchanged dollars can only be used to purchase U.S. Treasury bonds.
As early as 2013, an early tech investor, Mai Gang, spread knowledge about Bitcoin and blockchain to young people in several cities in China. He approached the topic from the perspective of monetary history and the global financial landscape, articulating his understanding of Bitcoin and proposing many views that have withstood the test of time, despite the skepticism and astonishment prevalent at the time:
"Bitcoin will go through three stages: individual games, institutional games, and finally national games."
"I suggest the Chinese government hold 20-30% of the global total of Bitcoin as a strategic reserve now (in 2013)."
"In the future, the U.S. dollar will be pegged to cryptocurrencies in some form."
"Several countries, including the U.S., will adopt Bitcoin as one of their national reserve currencies."
At that time, most people were still debating whether Bitcoin was a scam or if it could be used to buy coffee, while Mai Gang had already seen the potential for a game between nations over Bitcoin. This perspective, looking back today, still seems extremely forward-thinking.
In 2025, the U.S. issued an executive order and legislation for digital currency, marking a turning point in the digital currency field. At this important milestone, the editor and Mr. Mai Gang conducted another interview.
Q: Everyone knows your legendary story of investing in Pop Mart, but few know that you were also one of the early promoters of the digital currency industry. Do you have any stories to share with us?
A: In 2007, I co-founded Douyin with Jonathan Lin, and Xu Mingxing quickly became the CTO from a software engineer. In 2012, Mingxing left Douyin to start his own business. Although I was reluctant, I wholeheartedly supported and invested in him. His project at that time was to create a full-chain service platform in the food delivery sector. Although Mingxing is an excellent and well-rounded entrepreneur, I didn't think the food delivery sector was a suitable project for him. Fortunately, we transitioned to the digital currency trading field and co-founded OKCoin (OKX), which aligned with Mingxing's background and strengths. The position and contributions of OKCoin in the digital currency industry, whether in products, marketing, or talent development and internationalization, are well recognized and appreciated in the industry. Xu Mingxing will always be a source of pride for me, even though I have never mentioned these stories to the media.
Q: You are one of the earliest evangelists and knowledge disseminators in the digital currency field. What was your background and motivation at the time?
A: I started promoting Bitcoin to young people in 2013, with the original intention of spreading knowledge about international finance and monetary history. I consider myself quite academic because I studied macroeconomics in my undergraduate program. The basic knowledge of monetary banking, even in undergraduate courses, is not easily understood by the general public. I simply shared what I understood and grasped, and expressed my predictions and beliefs about the future. Indeed, many young people benefited from this, and over a decade later, I received WeChat messages from people I had never met, thanking me for enlightening them with knowledge back then.
Bitcoin Price Chart (2012-2025)
Q: However, this industry is also full of controversies and even illegal activities. What is your view on this?
A: The origin of digital currency is technological innovation, which will certainly outpace regulation, just like today's AI explosion has a profound impact on society, but the regulation of the AI field also needs time to improve. In 2018, there was a wave of ICOs. At first, I seriously read several white papers, hoping for another blockchain innovation, but I quickly concluded that if I wasn't a fool, then I was sitting across from a scammer. I indeed saw the chaos in this industry, and many people were involved. **I once again began giving multiple public speeches titled "ICO has nothing to do with Bitcoin, the core issue is the lack of regulatory oversight," warning the public about the risks. Whether they are post-90s or post-70s, we have no differences in the face of our shared values and common bottom line; we are all law-abiding citizens with moral conscience.
I remember saying a famous quote at that time, "I am not afraid of not understanding, nor am I afraid of pretending to understand; I am afraid of those who understand but pretend not to." The people involved in the chaos may be due to ignorance or greed, but the most despicable are those who intend to commit fraud.
Later, I was fortunate to be elected as a professional committee member of the Asset Management Association of China, and I believe that everyone recognizes my public spirit and sense of responsibility.
**Q: In your interview with *Jia Ban Xin Zhi Dian titled The Years I Was "Abandoned" by the VC Circle, you mentioned the lonely moments of being a Bitcoin evangelist. Some people questioned that it might be due to the industry's span and lack of knowledge, but why didn't financial industry practitioners have your level of understanding at that time?*
A: I was indeed one of the earliest evangelists in the Chinese investment industry to invest in and promote Bitcoin knowledge. I remember attending a forum for alumni of Renmin University one year, where the host asked why it seemed that I was the first to discover and seize the significant opportunity of Bitcoin among the many talented alumni in finance. I candidly admitted that there are many smart scholars in the investment industry who know much more than I do. I genuinely compliment them; I feel I am slower than them, and my knowledge base is not as broad and comprehensive. Fortunately, I am not a poor student, so I used a simple method: for all judgments and decisions, I ask three essential core questions and answer them clearly.
The essence of Bitcoin is actually very simple, but because it spans multiple fields of network, technology, and finance, there may be some difficulty in understanding and cognition. Knowing more has its benefits, but it can also have side effects, which is forgetting what is most essential. When you hear a hundred voices, you need to discern the three most important ones; the rest may be unimportant or even noise. This is the wisdom passed down by ancient Chinese scholars.
In 2013, I was removed from the WeChat groups of two mainstream VC circles for discussing Bitcoin. The members of the group were all well-educated individuals, and I considered my teaching method to be very professional, but some still thought I was selling something. I thought it was a discussion of professional financial knowledge and shared an investment opportunity, but some people regarded it as a scam. At that time, I felt very disappointed because, as social animals, everyone hopes to gain recognition.
Q: The U.S. passed the stablecoin bill this year, and digital currency has officially entered the national game stage you predicted over a decade ago. As an early opinion leader in the industry, what new views and insights do you have?
A: I do not dare to call myself an opinion leader; I am neither capable nor willing to be a public intellectual. However, I am well-educated and have seen the world. The more I travel around the world, the more I believe in China's strength and the pride of being Chinese. Looking back at 2013, when I suggested that China conduct a strategic Bitcoin reserve, it was indeed a correct and forward-looking viewpoint. Currently, the introduction of the U.S. dollar stablecoin bill is another heavyweight tool in the international currency competition. Countries around the world are increasingly concerned about the U.S.'s debt repayment ability, and the issuance of dollar stablecoins provides significant purchasing power for U.S. Treasury bonds, just as I mentioned in my 2013 video. The U.S. excels at turning crises into opportunities and even changing the rules of the game.
Chinese authorities should take immediate action to formulate relevant systems and legislation to promote the issuance of offshore RMB stablecoins. The globalization of the RMB is a significant long-term strategy that concerns the well-being of the Chinese people. The circulation of physical goods made in China around the world is a testament to China's strength, but please remember that currency is also a special and the highest level of commodity, which is basic knowledge taught in undergraduate courses. I believe this is the combination of soft power and hard power.
Conclusion
More than a decade has passed, and Bitcoin has moved from grassroots to mainstream, from "speculation" to regulation. It has not overturned the U.S. dollar but is gradually becoming an undeniable variable in global finance.
Mai Gang's predictions have not all come true, but he pointed out the logical basis for Bitcoin as an "anchoring asset" in the monetary system, which has been gradually validated by reality. His warnings about the U.S. strategic layout are also becoming key clues in financial policy formulation.
He is an investor, observer, and practitioner who made judgments in the early days of digital currency. They may not all be correct, but they are absolutely worth remembering.
"The story of Bitcoin is ultimately a story of wisdom and games between nations."
免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。
