Huobi's HECO, Laptop mining, Maotai's hiccup, Zhihu's IPO

Just a bit of weekend laugh mixed with crypto insights

Hi, I’m Shuyao Kong 孔姝尧. Da bing is my weekly rumination of worthwhile news happening in China’s crypto ecosystem.

If culture is capable of anything, then it is finding that which unites us all.

And in case you want more cross-culturalism, read my last column on Vitalik’s epic journey in China

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Huobi’s HECO, Copycat of the Copycat

Dare not to sleep while mining on Ethereum; Dare not to go to the bathroom while mining on HECO

While many western crypto community have criticized Binance’s Binance Smart Chain(BSC)’s souless nature and despiteful copycating, it is Huobi’s HECO chain that has ignited even more wrath among China’s crypto community, as many complain funds getting drained within hours of liquidity mining.

What’s HECO’s playbook?

• No white paper, yellow paper, light paper, or whatever paper

• Fake audit report (you can buy them cheap)

• “Anonymous team” that might be operating multiple projects at the same time

• Massive shill on Crypto Wechat

• Average project last about … well the time you need to go to the bathroom!

What does this playbook mean?

Let’s go back to the OG: Clay Christensen’s Disruption Thoery. Binance and Huobi are serving an underserved market, aka folks who cannot afford to ape in on Ethereum. Where can they go instead? BSC and HECO fill in the void, but it doesn’t mean that the Chinese retails buy in to what BSC and HECO stand for. On the contrary, many know that these centralized chains are just a phase that will pass.

Hope they pass once you come back from the bathroom.

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Laptop mining

Do you work in crypto if you don’t mine on your laptop, at home?

This past week, I had the honor of joining a WeChat group where 500 people discuss buying laptops to mine crypto. The number of people who go on Taobao, China’s largest e-commerce platform, and shop the suitable laptops, exploded.

But not all mining activity has gone as well smooth as laptop mining. One of the largest mining province - Inner Mogolia - announced that it plans to halt all new and existing bitcoin mining projects by end of April, because bitcoin mining is failing the state from achieving the central government’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality in 2060. I guess China does care about its sustainability promise, unlike many other.

Consequence? Many mining farms are now forced to move to Sichuan province where abundant hydroelectricity has already industrialized crypomining. And for those who have resources abroad, moving to places such as Texas where cheap and stable electricity becomes increasingly attractive.

Mining industry’s Journey to the West continues.

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Maotai’s Rough Landing

Age 18; Death Reason: All In

It has less than a month since I introduced Maotai’s astronomical rise. Like Elon’s rocket that went up and came down, Maotai also had a rough landing post Chinese New Year. Market is correcting all over the the world, trembling by the upcoming inflation in the US. But Chinese stock market might remain calmer than the rest.

Why? As the Chinese government continues to print money and suppress real state speculation, which is traditionally where money went, the stock market is left as a fertile ground for yield-generation. And who will benefit from the newly printed money given most tech stocks choose to IPO either in the US or Hong Kong?

Well, our good old friend Maotai might stage a quick comeback.

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Zhihu’s IPO

Zhihu, the Chinese equivalent of Quora, filed for an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. Compared to Quara, Zhihu looks more like a social media platform where influencers write movie reviews, fiction, or even diaries.

Yes, you can still get your questions answered, but there’s more to it.

This is another example where China cloned a western business model but somehow localized it and made a better product.

Oh, and why are we talking about Zhihu in a crypto newsletter?

Question on Zhihu: How do people brag about wealth? You know You know :)