2013 Prophecy: Mai Gang talks about Bitcoin, currency war and the internationalization of the RMB

Author: Ventureslab

In March 2025, US President Trump signed an executive order announcing the establishment of a "Strategic Bitcoin Reserve" that the US Treasury Department directly holds and manages these digital assets. This is the world 's first superpower to clearly include Bitcoin in the sovereign reserve system .

In June 2025, the U.S. Senate passed the GENIUS Act, establishing a global stablecoin regulatory framework, allowing the US dollar to peg stablecoins 1:1, and mandatory that the exchanged US dollar can only purchase U.S. Treasury bonds.

As early as 2013, an early technology investor, Mai Gang, spread Bitcoin and blockchain knowledge to young groups in many cities in China, focusing on the perspective of currency history and world financial landscape to illustrate his understanding of Bitcoin, and put forward many views that have been tested by history so far, although at that time, there were more doubts and surprises off the market:

" Bitcoin will go through three stages, individual game, institutional game, and eventually enter national game."

" It is recommended that the Chinese government now (in 2013) hold 20-30% of the global total of Bitcoin as a strategic reserve."

“In the future, the US dollar will be pegged to cryptocurrency in some form.”

“Multiple countries, including the United States, will use Bitcoin as one of the national reserve currencies.”

At that time, most people were still arguing whether Bitcoin was a scam and whether it could buy coffee, and Mai Gang had already seen the possibility of a game around Bitcoin between countries. Looking back today, this perspective still seems extremely forward-looking.

In 2025 **, the United States launched executive orders and bills

for digital currencies are the weather vane and watershed in the digital currency field. At this important milestone moment, the editor and Mr. Mai Gang had another interview.**

Q: Everyone knows the legendary story of your investment in Pop Mart , but few people know that you are also the promoter of the earliest digital currency industry. Do you have any stories to share with us?

A: I co-founded Douding.com with Jonathan Lin in 2007. Xu Mingxing went from a software engineer to soon become the CTO of Douding.com. In 2012, the celebrity left Douding.com to start his own business. Although I was reluctant, I still supported and invested in him wholeheartedly. His project at that time was a full-chain service platform for the takeaway field. Although celebrity is a very excellent and comprehensive entrepreneur, Haogang needs to be used on the edge. I don’t think the takeaway field is a suitable project for him. Fortunately, we transformed into the digital currency trading field and co-founded OKCoin (OKX), which is in line with the background and advantages of celebrities. OKCoin’s status and contribution in the digital currency industry, whether it is products, marketing, talent construction and internationalization, I believe the industry is very clear and praised. Xu Mingxing is also eternal pride in my heart, although I have never mentioned these stories to the media.

Q: You were the earliest preacher and knowledge disseminator in the digital currency field. What background and ideas did you come from?

A: I started preaching Bitcoin to young people in 2013. My original intention is to spread knowledge about international finance and monetary history. I think I am still very academic because my undergraduate studies are macroeconomics. The basic knowledge of monetary banking, even the basic courses in undergraduate studies, is not easy for the public to understand. I just impart the knowledge I understand and master, and express the predictions and future I believe in. Indeed, many young people benefited from this. More than ten years later, someone I had never met sent me a WeChat message, thanking me for my knowledge enlightenment from them back then.

Bitcoin price trend chart (2012-2025)

Q: But this industry is also full of controversy, and there have even been illegal and irregular behaviors. What do you think?

A: The origin of digital currency is technological innovation, and technological innovation will definitely be ahead of supervision. Just like today's AI explosion, it has a profound impact on society, but supervision in the AI ​​field also takes time to improve. There was a wave of ICOs in 2018. At first, I read a few white papers carefully, looking forward to another blockchain innovation, but later I quickly concluded that if I were either a fool, I would have a liar sitting on the other side. I did see chaos in this industry happening frequently and many people are involved. I once again started many public speeches " ICO has nothing to do with Bitcoin, the core issue is the lack of supervision of the process " , reminding the public of risks. Whether it is born in the 1990s or 1970s, we have no difference in our common values ​​and common bottom line. We are all citizens who abide by the law and discipline and have moral conscience.

I remember saying a famous saying at that time, "I am not afraid of not understanding, nor am I afraid of pretending to understand, but I am afraid that people who understand pretend not to understand." The people involved behind the chaos may be because of stupidity and greed, but the most hateful ones are those who are deceiving.

Later, I was fortunate to be elected as a professional member of the China Fund Industry Association. I think everyone still recognizes my public spirit and responsibility.

Q: In an interview with Jiaban Xinzhidian , you mentioned your lonely moment as a Bitcoin trailer in the past few years since I was "abandoned" by the VC circle . Some people questioned that you may be because of the industry span and lack of knowledge, but why do financial industry practitioners do not have the perception you had at that time?

A: I am indeed the first preacher in the Chinese investment industry to invest and vigorously popularize Bitcoin knowledge. I remember one year I attended the NPC Alumni Forum. The host asked, "NPC alumni have emerged in the field of finance, why do you seem to be the first to discover and seize the major opportunity of Bitcoin?" I admit that there are too many academic masters in the investment industry who are much smarter than me and know more than me. I sincerely praise them. I think I am slower than them, and my knowledge is not as broad as theirs. Fortunately, I am not a bad student, so I use a stupid method to judge and make decisions in all matters, and then answer them clearly.

The essence of Bitcoin is actually very simple, but because it spans multiple fields of network, technology and finance, it may be difficult to understand and understand. It is beneficial to know more, but it may also have side effects, that is, to forget what is the most essential thing. When you hear a hundred kinds of sounds, you need to distinguish the three most important ones. The rest may not be important, or even noise. The so-called three births of all things are the wisdom inherited by the ancient Chinese.

In 2013, I was invited to two WeChat groups of mainstream VC circles because of my discussion of Bitcoin. The members of the group are all highly educated people. I think my teaching method is professional, but some people still think I am selling something. I thought it was a discussion of professional financial knowledge and shared an investment opportunity with everyone, but some people thought it was a fool. At that time, I felt very disappointed. After all, as a social animal, everyone hopes to gain recognition.

Q: The United States passed the stablecoin bill this year, and digital currencies have officially entered the national game stage that you predicted more than ten years ago. As an early opinion leader in the industry, what new views and opinions do you have?

A: I dare not be a leader of the opinion. I am incompetent and unwilling to be a public intellectual , but I have received a good education and have seen the world. The more I go around the world, the more I believe in China's strength and the pride of being a Chinese. Looking back on my suggestion of China to carry out strategic Bitcoin reserves in 2013, it is indeed a correct and forward-looking view. At present, the introduction of the US dollar stablecoin bill is another important means of international currency competition. Now countries around the world are worried about the US debt repayment ability. The issuance of US dollar stablecoins provides huge purchasing power for US bonds. As my video in 2013, the United States' strength lies in its many turning crisis into opportunity, and even changing the rules of the game.

Relevant Chinese departments should act immediately, formulate relevant systems and bills, and promote the issuance of stablecoins overseas. Because the globalization of the RMB is a major long-term strategy that concerns the well-being of the Chinese people. The circulation of physical goods made in China around the world is the strength of China's national strength, but please remember that currency is also a special and highest level of goods. This is the basic knowledge that undergraduate tutorials tell us. I think this is the so-called combination of soft power and hard power.

Conclusion

More than ten years have passed, and Bitcoin has moved from grassroots to mainstream, from "hype" to system. It has not subverted the US dollar, but is gradually becoming a variable that cannot be ignored in global finance.

Mai Gang's prophecy is not fully realized, but he pointed out that Bitcoin is the logical basis of "anchored assets" in the monetary system , which has been gradually verified by reality. His warning to the US strategic layout is also becoming a key clue in the formulation of financial policies.

This is an investor, observer , and practitioner who made a judgment in the very early days of digital currency. It's not necessarily all right, but it's definitely worth remembering.

" The story of Bitcoin is ultimately a story of wisdom and game between countries. "