Li Shuo | The disappearance of miners, the rise of the world

Miner Lao Li’s WeChat notes are still (500T, Shanxi has electricity). There was a time when I could get a call at two in the middle of the night: "Hey, why is my machine offline?" I don’t know when, his circle of friends started to post furniture advertisements, he told me: "When the market was good, I was too greedy, thinking that I had electricity, I borrowed money from friends to buy machines. I lost more than 700,000. Later, the electricity was checked and I almost went to jail. Now I can only go back to my old business, and I haven’t paid off my debts yet." How can I say that 500T of computing power was considered a small rich miner two years ago. At least I had some money to invest. Today, two years later, the skyrocketing computing power and difficulty, and the strict inspection of the black power resource channels have almost made these miners quit mining. And some of them may not have survived the double blow of mining accidents and bear markets. These bankrupt miners are victims of the good business of mining.

Another miner, Lao Qi, is a big miner with a computing power of nearly 10P in 2017. He is a shrewd businessman who made tens of millions of dollars by speculating on mining machines. He knows when to quit. He is a typical local business owner, so shrewd that no one else can gain any advantage. He likes to call to discuss the market, which can take one or two hours. After Lao Qi invested all his money in a mining machine, he told me: "I will retire after this deal." Unexpectedly, he really succeeded because of this batch of machines, and sold all the machines at the highest price. He has not called me for more than a year.

Everyone knows that Sichuan, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia have a lot of electricity resources, and they are all intensive large-scale professional mining farms. Few people pay attention to another group of small miners, who are concentrated in Hebei, Tianjin, Heilongjiang, Shandong and Shanxi. There are from three to five machines to hundreds of machines. We are more likely to see this group of miners in social news, and almost all of them are linked to "electricity theft". Often when you see a miner's machine suddenly disconnected in the background, the call is almost always related to power inspection. Now this part of miners is also very rare, and the contribution ratio of large customers and retail investors to computing power in the mining pool has reached 7:3. However, retail miners do not contribute less profit than large customers, because large miners have full bargaining power with mining pools. The competition in mining pools is so fierce that if you can't reach an agreement on the price with one company, there will always be competitors willing to offer a low price. The absolute number of retail miners is increasing, but the proportion of computing power is decreasing. In a world where "computing power is power", we can't just talk about business rules or just follow market choices. But unfortunately, these small miners are eliminated by the market and commercial development.

Our industry is very fragmented. The top masters divided their own spheres of influence in the early days and have been expanding them. In all small circles, the early arena was centered on individuals. In our mining circle, no matter how many latecomers come in with enough food and grass, they can never shake the individual status of the early masters. For example, if you compare the boss of TSMC and Pumpkin Zhang, who do you think is the "orthodox martial arts"?

However, the top masters in martial arts novels do not seem to be very keen on fighting in the martial arts world. Most of the East Evil, West Poison, South Emperor, North Beggar, and Central Divine Power written by Jin Yong focus on self-improvement. Huang Lao Xie and Ouyang Feng are both obsessed with the Nine Yin Manual, the South Emperor is trapped by love, Hong Qigong is a loner, and only Wang Chongyang has a bit of the family and country feelings of a great hero. These top masters are crushing for ordinary sects. In The Legend of the Condor Heroes, the growth background of the masters is the chaotic times of the Song and Jin Dynasties. The pattern of the sects fighting is too small, and there is no need for verbal disputes. But once the power is big enough, it will lead to political struggles. Otherwise, why would the young prince of the Jin Kingdom try his best to squeeze into the Central Plains martial arts world. Murong Fu is proficient in martial arts in the world, and bears the name of the Southern Murong and the Northern Qiao Feng. But in terms of martial arts cultivation, status in the martial arts world, and even personality, he is far behind Qiao Feng. So this name is half of the face of Murong Fu's ancestors. Whether Murong Fu hates Qiao Feng or not is not clearly stated in the original novel, but Murong Fu has lost his mind and resorted to any means to restore his country. He is very annoyed that there are far fewer people willing to follow him to realize the great cause of restoring his country than Qiao Feng. In the mining industry, disputes seem to have never stopped. In the past, it was undercurrent, but now it has been brought to the surface. Mining pools, mining machine manufacturers, and the forces behind them are all competing secretly. There are also people like Qiao Feng and Murong Fu who are equally famous but have a huge difference in strength.

In fact, our industry has also experienced a relatively harmonious and mutual appreciation period. In the first Huashan Sword Contest, Huang Yaoshi, Ouyang Feng, Duan Zhixing, Hong Qigong, and Wang Chongyang fought for seven days and seven nights on Huashan. Each of them was a top master. It was called a martial arts fight, but there were no casualties. The masters appreciated each other. These five people became the "Five Wonders" in the martial arts world. They all had their own spheres of influence, but they never fought against each other. Even Ouyang Feng, who was injured by Wang Chongyang, admitted defeat and stayed away from the Central Plains martial arts world for more than ten years. In the early years, everyone in the mining circle knew each other when they were young, and Shenyu taught most people how to mine. The few companies that you see fighting in court today could have sat together and drank and talked happily as brothers. Unfortunately, the characters in the martial arts world are all cheating, which is more or less romantic. These masters are out of the interests of mortals and have divinity. They are not interested in worldly rights. In the real mining circle, this kind of feeling can only exist in the early days.

When someone discovers the only orderly logic "computing power" in the disordered world, this new continent must be seized. If you add a little poetry and Taoism to the computing power world, this is Jerusalem in the eyes of religious people.

Today, the industry landscape is different, and top experts no longer focus on the mere power of the underworld. They not only focus on the "computing power war" and "currency war", but also build their own "super sect". [Li Shuo]