The Zhihu girl and the 7 years she missed Bitcoin

We found the girl who was advised on Zhihu to buy Bitcoin with 6,000 yuan in 2011.

On December 21, 2011, a girl asked on Zhihu, "As a junior student with 6,000 yuan on hand, what good financial investment advice do you have?"

On the same day, a netizen (Babit founder Chang Qia) replied: "Buy Bitcoin, save the wallet file, and then forget that you ever had 6,000 yuan. Check again in five years."

From 2011 to 2018, Bitcoin soared from US$3 to a peak of US$19,000. If the junior student had bought all 6,000 yuan in Bitcoin, he would have been worth tens of millions by now.

In an exclusive interview with Shenzhen Chain Finance, Xiao Zhuzi, the college student in the story, said that he once regretted it very much, but he had long since let it go and thought that if it was missed, it was missed.

If someone recommended you to buy Bitcoin on Zhihu seven years ago, would you buy it?

A Zhihu answer and a chance to become a billionaire

Beijing was shrouded in smog and freezing cold in November. I saw the "legendary" little bamboo in a bustling Man Coffee in Chaoyang District.

Almost everyone who has just entered the cryptocurrency circle has heard this story: Many years ago, a college student asked a question on Zhihu, saying that he had several thousand yuan in his hand and wanted to invest in financial management, and asked everyone for advice. One person replied below, buy Bitcoin and hoard it, and then see after a few years.

The person who suggested buying Bitcoin was named Chang Qia, a science fiction writer and the founder of China's earliest blockchain community "Babbitt". Xiao Zhuzi, who was sitting in front of me, was the college student in this story.

The story takes place in 2011, when Zhihu had just received angel investment from Kai-Fu Lee and was not yet open to public registration; Chang Qia was working as an engineer at the Guangxi Nanning Land and Resources Planning Institute while running the Babbitt Forum; Xiao Zhuzi was enjoying his college years at a university in Beijing.

At this time, it had been three years since the birth of Bitcoin, and the price of one Bitcoin was only US$3, which is a huge difference compared to the current price of more than US$6,000.

Someone has done the math. If all the 6,000 yuan had been used to buy bitcoins at the time, he could have bought more than 800 bitcoins. Based on the highest price of Bitcoin at $19,000 at the end of 2017, these 800 bitcoins are worth more than 100 million yuan. Even today when the value of Bitcoin has shrunk, Xiao Zhuzi would still be a multi-millionaire.

Therefore, this story has been given the following meaning by those who have entered the cryptocurrency circle or those who are watching from outside: Bitcoin can make people rich overnight, but some people have opportunities in front of them but fail to seize them.

"Are you going to ask me if I regret it?"

Before we even met, Xiao Zhuzi asked me this question via WeChat.

Wearing a black sweater, a simple ponytail, and oval glasses with a smile on her face, Xiao Zhuzi blew on the hot rose tea in front of her and then talked about her past experience with Bitcoin.

In his junior year, Xiao Zhuzi received his first scholarship from the school, and with his own savings, he had 6,000 yuan in total. For a student who had little income on weekdays, 6,000 yuan was not a small amount.

"My idea at the time was simple. I just wanted to see if there was any way to make money and whether I could use the 6,000 yuan to make some investments."

Before this, Xiao Zhuzi had never invested or had similar ideas. First, he had no money, and second, he didn't understand anything.

In 2011, Zhihu, a knowledge question-and-answer platform, had just been established for less than a year and had not yet opened to public registration. Some college students were invited to become beta test users, and Xiao Zhuzi was one of them.

"As a junior student with 6,000 yuan in hand, what good financial investment suggestions are there?" This was Xiao Zhuzi's first voice on Zhihu.

From 2011 to 2018, in seven years, Bitcoin soared from US$3 to US$19,000 at its peak, and blockchain has gone from being ignored to being in high demand. As an outsider, Xiao Zhuzi has long since changed from a carefree college student to a working woman working hard in Beijing.

Fortunately, the Internet has memory.

Open Zhihu, find the question, and display the answers in chronological order. The third one is Chang Jian’s reply: “Buy Bitcoin, save the wallet file, and then forget that you ever had 6,000 yuan. Check it out in five years.”

The time displayed is December 21, 2011.

At that time, Chang Qia's comment did catch Xiao Zhuzi's attention. When others were recommending stock trading or investing in themselves, this comment seemed so different. Before that, Xiao Zhuzi had never heard of Bitcoin.

Data shows that this year, Bitcoin officially became equivalent to the US dollar and hit an all-time high; mainstream American media such as Time Magazine and Forbes published articles on Bitcoin, and investors from many countries flocked to speculate in the currency; a "hacking incident" broke out on the Bitcoin trading platform Mt.Gox, and the security of the digital currency was questioned by investors.

“I did search what Bitcoin was, but I had no idea what it was. Then I saw the hacker attack and thought it was weird.”

As a person who is cautious and does not like taking risks, Xiao Zhuzi has never thought about buying Bitcoin, but this year, Chang Qia used all his salary from work to buy Bitcoin.

In 2013, everyone asked me if I regretted it.

"So what did you do with the 6,000 yuan?"

Xiao Zhuzi took a sip of the rose tea in front of her and said with a smile, "I'm going out to play."

In the spring of 2012, Xiao Zhuzi took a 6,000 yuan scholarship and went to Hangzhou and other places with her friends for a week. It was her first time to Hangzhou. Due to allergies and coughing, she could not go out at night. When she went out to play during the day, she was deceived by the locals and went to visit a fake tourist attraction. For her, the trip to Hangzhou was not a pleasant experience.

Two years later, in 2014, Chang Qia also went to Hangzhou, but not for tourism. Instead, he resigned from his job to start a business - turning the Babbitt Forum into a company.

In 2013, the year between the two of them going to Hangzhou, the production of Bitcoin was halved, the market also ushered in the biggest bull market in history, and many milestone events occurred. Many domestic media reported on Bitcoin and used the word "crazy" to describe this year.

Bitcoin continued to set new highs within a year and reached an all-time high of $1,242 on November 29. At that time, the price of gold was $1,241.98 per ounce, and Bitcoin surpassed gold for the first time.

Although Xiao Zhuzi did not actively pay attention to Bitcoin, news related to Bitcoin appeared in front of her from time to time.

“The price of Bitcoin rose to more than 6,000 at the time, but I was really poor, so I didn’t buy it.”

In Xiao Zhuzi's memory, Bitcoin suddenly became popular in the second half of 2013, and the question she asked on Zhihu was also dug out by netizens, and screenshots were circulated on platforms and media such as Douban.

"Ah, I was the one who raised this question," Xiao Zhuzi told his good friends about this matter, feeling excited but also with great regret and loss.

When her friends learned that she had asked the question, they also posted on their Moments to join in the fun, saying, "I never thought the person who asked this question was right next to me."

At the same time, many people who learned about this question online also came to Zhihu to watch. Xiao Zhuzi receives many comments and private messages every day, but the content is similar: "Why didn't the questioner buy it in the first place?", "Don't you regret not buying it?", "The questioner should be regretting it now", etc.

At first, Xiao Zhuzi replied in the comment section, saying that she regretted not buying it. Later, similar comments continued to appear, which made her unbearable, and she finally chose to hide this "Internet celebrity question".

"Do you regret not buying Bitcoin?" I asked Xiao Zhuzi this question that I have been asked countless times.

"What do you think? Of course I regret it. I could have made money even if I had bought it for 1,000 yuan. But what I regret more is that I didn't learn it. If I had communicated with Chang Jian or learned it myself, the path I would have taken later might have been different."

Holding the teacup in his hand, Xiao Zhuzi said seriously.

Still not buying Bitcoin

In the four years that Xiao Zhuzi hid the "Internet celebrity question", the production of Bitcoin was halved again, and at the end of 2017, Bitcoin reached its historical high of $19,000.

Xiao Zhuzi also entered the workplace after completing undergraduate and graduate studies. Unlike other classmates, she did not like taking risks and did not choose to stay in school or go to a state-owned enterprise with a matching major. Instead, she switched industries and became a product manager for an Internet company.

In her opinion, she prefers the flat and relaxed atmosphere of Internet companies to the hierarchical management of traditional enterprises.

At the beginning of 2018, Xu Xiaoping, a representative of traditional venture capital, called for embracing blockchain. A number of Internet giants suffered from insomnia in the three o'clock blockchain community. The huge wealth effect and media coverage brought Bitcoin and blockchain into the public eye.

Many previously unknown blockchain entrepreneurs and cryptocurrency traders have become the focus of the spotlight because of their “overnight wealth”. Chang Qia, the founder of Babbitt and Bytom, has also become a focus of attention. Related articles have continued to appear in the media, and his company has also received RMB 100 million in Series A financing.

At this time, Xiao Zhuzi's question and Chang Qian's prophetic answer went viral on the Internet again.

Xiao Zhuzi also set the Zhihu question to public. When asked why, she smiled and said, "I'm thinking about making myself an internet celebrity." Then she added with a chuckle, "Of course, this is just a thought, and I don't really want to make myself an internet celebrity."

Currently, Chang Qia’s comment has received nearly 30,000 likes and over 6,600 comments, and people are still commenting below.

But Xiao Zhuzi doesn't pay much attention to it. In her words, she has long let it go. Just like she studied mechanical design for seven years, but decisively chose to give up this industry after graduation. In her opinion, "don't regret your choice."

Moreover, as she likes to play scratch-off tickets but can only win 20 yuan at most, she thinks that becoming rich overnight will never happen to her.

“Many people only see the result of getting rich quickly, but fail to see the hard work behind others. The reason why those who speculate in stocks and cryptocurrencies can make money is because they have put in some effort behind the scenes.”

"Apart from getting a huge sum of money from demolition, there is really no such thing as getting rich overnight, right?" Xiao Zhuzi said with a smile.

“If you had to do it again, would you follow Chang Qia’s advice and buy Bitcoin?”

"If I were the person I am now, I would definitely buy it. If I were still the person I was then, I think I would make the same choice as I did seven years ago."

In Xiao Zhuzi's opinion, a person's personality is there, just like the characters in novels. Behaviors are derived from the characters and will not change much.

“If I had used 6,000 yuan to buy Bitcoin at that time, it would really not be my character.”

Now that he has entered the workplace and has a stable income and savings, Xiao Zhuzi also does some simple financial management such as P2P, but currently still does not hold any digital currency assets. The main reason is that he does not understand and is not very interested.

From 2008 to 2018, Bitcoin has gone through a decade of ups and downs. In Xiao Zhuzi's view, Bitcoin has nothing to do with him. Rather than the unrealistic dream of wealth, he hopes to go further and further on his existing career path.

On October 31, 2013, Chang Qia mentioned this Zhihu incident on Weibo: "When I opened Zhihu, I was shocked by the hundreds of followers. It turned out that an answer I gave in 2011 was pushed out. A junior student asked: 'I have 6,000 yuan on hand and want to make some small investments to make some money. Do you have any good suggestions?' You all know what my answer was. At that time, Bitcoin was 3 US dollars. Unfortunately, that answer was folded and was only pushed out today."

Xiao Zhuzi never knew much about Chang Jian, only knowing that he "seemed to be a science fiction writer."

When asked, "If you meet Chang Jian, the man who showed you a way to wealth, what would you say to him?", Xiao Zhuzi blurted out, "They use me for advertising, shouldn't they give me some advertising fees?"

After laughing, Xiao Zhuzi looked upwards and fell into thought. Suddenly he came to his senses and gave a complicated smile.

"Maybe there's really nothing to say."

(At the request of the interviewee, "Xiao Zhuzi" in the article is his nickname on Zhihu)

Source of this article: Virtual Human Dakong