He "jumped" from a hydropower station to a Bitcoin "mine": he checks the central bank's official website every day

As a native of Leshan, Sichuan, Lei Ke had been working with his boss in the hydropower station business before becoming the operator of a Bitcoin "mine". Before 2013, he had almost no idea what "Bitcoin" was.

2013 was a turning point in Lei Ke's career. Due to the poor performance of hydropower stations, and the natural connection between hydropower development and Bitcoin "mines", his boss decided to switch to running Bitcoin "mines". As a newcomer in the industry, Lei Ke also "followed his boss and dove in, and had to learn everything from scratch".

Today, Lei Ke is considered one of the experts in Bitcoin and blockchain, managing nearly 20,000 Bitcoin mining machines. In addition to Bitcoin, his company also deals with derivative products of blockchain such as Litecoin, Ethereum (ETC), and ETH.

On the bumpy mountain road, Lei Ke talked to reporters in the car about his experience when he just changed his career: the company initially provided Bitcoin server hosting, and he learned while providing services - browsing industry forums and portals, learning what blockchain is, hashing algorithms... While working, he communicated with customers and technicians to discuss recent events in the industry. After returning home, he visited some foreign websites and waited for industry experts to translate the "white paper" on foreign cutting-edge technologies before studying.

"The most valuable thing I learned during that time was not to reject new things. My boss also told me that it would be a good idea to learn more. Even if this path doesn't work out in the end, we can still gain something." Lei Ke was still very emotional when talking about this.

Before he came into contact with Bitcoin, he didn't care much about the central bank's monetary policy. Today, "mining farm" executives have to browse the central bank's official website every day to check the latest regulatory policy trends. And miners also have to keep an eye on the price trend of the currency and the upgrading of mining machine models.

At the beginning of the career change, there were also resistance and doubts. At first, Lei Ke's family had never heard of Bitcoin. When they checked online, they found some news that linked Bitcoin with words such as "pyramid scheme" and "scam", which made his parents very worried.

"At first, my family would ask: What is this? Is it reliable? Is it illegal? Is it a pyramid scheme?" Lei Ke had to explain to his parents that in the United States, Bitcoin is considered a commodity, just like crude oil, rare earths, and agricultural products. After a long period of patient explanation and popularization of Bitcoin knowledge, his parents finally gradually recognized their son's new job.

When talking about the income issue that the outside world is most concerned about, Lei Ke admitted: "Compared with the past, the income has actually increased, but it is also more unstable. When the price of the currency fell sharply, everyone was worried and couldn't eat well."

As a practitioner, it is a common phenomenon in the industry for miners to hold a certain amount of Bitcoin. However, Lei Ke believes that what has benefited him more is that after getting in touch with Bitcoin, he has become more interested in the stock, futures, real estate and other markets than before. "My horizons have been broadened, and I am no longer confined to the past hydropower industry. Many new things can be understood if you are willing to spend time studying them."

"If quantum computers are developed one day, the Bitcoin industry may undergo earth-shaking changes again." Lei Ke smiled as he talked about the gains from recent exchanges in the "miner" group. "Everyone will question whether your technology is safe. Therefore, new things are also in a process of continuous development and change, and we must also adapt to possible changes."

When asked by reporters about the biggest difference between being in the Bitcoin industry and the traditional hydropower industry, he thought for a while and replied, "Now some people say that Bitcoin is a castle in the air. I think as long as everything exists, it has its value. Bitcoin is very convenient and fair. Of course, its design is not without flaws. But I am still very optimistic about this industry and hope that more people can really understand it."

In Lei Ke's opinion, many people say they "don't understand" Bitcoin after they come into contact with it, which is indeed because the industry has a certain threshold. But he thinks that ordinary people don't need to understand the creation principle and operation mechanism of Bitcoin. Just like everyone uses the Internet, but how many people know the TCP/IC protocol? He thinks that the development of Bitcoin still needs to find a better point of popularization.

"Bitcoin will never become a legal currency. I think its best fate in China may be to be recognized as a commodity. When that day comes, we practitioners will have laws to follow and feel at ease," Lei Ke believes.