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【Exclusive Interview】Jack Kong: Bitcoin Will Be The Anchor of Web3, PEPE's 10,000-Fold Increase Attributed To Web3 Infrastructure

Mary Liu

Summary: Jack Kong (Twitter:@punk8185), who once led Canaan Technology and Nano Labs to ring the bell at Nasdaq, recently accepted an exclusive interview with Bitpush. Mr. Kong has been engaged in the blockchain industry for more than ten years. He is currently the founder and CEO of Nano Labs, and the director of Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited. ...

Jack Kong (Twitter:@punk8185), who once led Canaan Technology and Nano Labs to ring the bell at Nasdaq, recently accepted an exclusive interview with Bitpush. Mr. Kong has been engaged in the blockchain industry for more than ten years. He is currently the founder and CEO of Nano Labs, and the director of Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited. He also served as a co-chairman of the board of Canaan Inc. (Nasdaq: CAN), a leading provider of supercomputing solutions.

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Mr. Kong told Bitpush that Bitcoin is not just a store of value, it will play a greater role in the Web3 space and serve as the anchor of the Web3 world. The focus of the crypto ecology is gradually shifting from financial applications to underlying technologies. The recent 10,000-fold return on Pepe just proves the value of blockchain infrastructure, which can gain global liquidity and user network effects in a short period of time.

Bitpush: You have known about Bitcoin since around 2012. Its concept was quite difficult to understand at the time. Why are law students like you optimistic about this industry? How did you persevere?

Jack Kong: I think this is a relatively promising industry. It has changed some things from the bottom. The very convenient transfer transaction mode of Bitcoin, including access, payment, and interaction without permission on a global scale, is a very groundbreaking technology, and I think that might be the future.

Bitpush: Has your understanding of BTC changed in this decade?

Jack Kong: I think there are two huge changes. One is that 10 years ago we thought that Bitcoin was used for offline payment, but today we think that Bitcoin does not necessarily need to be used for offline payment in the next 10 years because the new technology is used in a new field and a new group. We believe that it should be the anchor of the Web3 world, not necessarily the anchor of the real world.

The real world can still be reserved for US dollars, gold, or RMB. When a new digital world emerges, Bitcoin is the best choice.

In the past 10 years, we thought that Bitcoin may be a carrier of real things, but now I personally think that it should be the carrier of the digital world in the future. It does not need to anchor the value of a cup of coffee, but it can anchor the value of NFT in the digital world.

There are various solutions in realistic scenarios. Bitcoin and digital currency may not necessarily be the best. Although it can be used as a supplement in many African countries with imperfect payment systems, it is not the best choice in the United States and China.

In the second aspect, I found that the entire crypto ecology is becoming more and more complete, from the past Bitcoin to the Ethereum eco, and it is becoming more and more abundant. I want to divide ecology into 4 stages. The first stage is the blockchain era dominated by Bitcoin. There are no more than 5 things that can be done in that era, such as mining machines, minerals, chips, etc., the second era is the financial applications based on Ethereum, and there may be hundreds of things that can be done at this time; the third era may be the native era of Web3, slowly moving from financial applications to technology, the fourth era is In the era of industrial Web3, we found that many industries and resources want to integrate with Web3. We believe that we may be in the process of transitioning from the second phase to the third phase.

 Bitpush: Since around 2012, you have seized many opportunities in the industry, including investing in Canaan Technology, serving as the chairman, and now turning to Metaverse. From your personal experience, how do you grasp the opportunities in the industry?

Jack Kong: I think the biggest opportunities in the entire blockchain track are actually divided into three categories, one is chip mining machines, holding BTC, and the other exchanges because all speculators cannot do without exchanges, that is liquidity pool.

The third is industry. We believe that the exchange business is relatively sensitive, and both Chinese and American regulations will have an impact, and many users may lose money by speculating on coins. This is not in line with our early investment value and philosophy, so we have not been involved in the exchange in the early days of business, but to make chips, and go to the path of compliance and listing.

We believe that if a company is opposed by both China and the United States, it will be under greater pressure, but chips and mining machines happen to be an area where China and the United States do not have many legal problems in supervision.

 Bitpush: There is a chip war between China and the United States, and the United States has many restrictions on Chinese chips. Does this affect you?

Jack Kong: There must be a macroscopic impact, but no direct impact. We are not subject to sanctions by the United States, and there is no problem with chip technology, but from a macro perspective, it is definitely not as easy for the Chinese to do this as the Europeans and Americans, but the advantage of the Chinese is that we are more efficient.

 Bitpush: Nvidia and Intel have basically withdrawn from the mining machine business, and many companies are also transitioning to artificial intelligence. Do you have any considerations in this regard?

 Jack Kong: Our original company started to make artificial intelligence chips in 2015. This kind of stronger computing chip is actually in demand.

When it comes to Nano labs, we feel that the network infrastructure can better capture opportunities, so we made the iPollo platform. The entire supply chain cycle of chips will be relatively long, and if the network infrastructure is built early, the advantages are huge. So we did an infrastructure for AI and metaverse earlier.

Bitpush: Many people think that the future world is the world of the Metaverse. This concept was very popular last year, but this year it has receded a lot. Meta lost more than $13.7 billion in the Metaverse business last year. How does this affect your network infrastructure?

Jack Kong: Because the first point of our iPollo network is computing, not only for real-time rendering of the metaverse but also for AI, so although the demand for the metaverse is not so great recently, the demand for AI is increasing. Many customers have contacted us actively, hoping that we can provide this kind of service, and use GPU to do calculations for these projects that require GB.

 Bitpush: Recently, the discussion on Web3 in Hong Kong has been quite high. However, there is a view that Hong Kong is more of a financial center, and the United States is more advanced and has a deeper foundation in terms of technological innovation and application implementation. As a director of Hong Kong Cyberport Management Co., Ltd., what do you think of the future prospects of Web3 in Hong Kong?

 Jack Kong: In terms of finance, I think Hong Kong is popular because the Hong Kong government issued a policy statement and a cryptocurrency licensing system at the end of October last year, and Hong Kong was originally a financial center, so, of course, it will have a relatively large advantage, but we also told the Hong Kong government that if Hong Kong only has finance but no technology, the entities and technology are still opened in the United States and Singapore, it is not a real financial center.

So you can see that the Hong Kong government is very keen. Its budget released in February is called Web3. Web3 is not just finance. Our definition of Web3 is AI+blockchain, not just finance. In the past Web2 era, if you want to start a business with technology, the company has to grow bigger and bigger, because it is a barrel theory, and if there is a shortcoming, it can’t be done. Either let the giants invest in the ecology to make up for the shortcoming, or the team are getting bigger and bigger. But in the Web3 era, a few people can also be a company, which is particularly valuable. Hong Kong's ecology is suitable for the development of companies with a few to a few dozen people.

I think Hong Kong must be an innovative place, because where there are people, there will be innovation, and if you look at the entire crypto ecosystem, for example, the exchange business is still dominated by the Chinese. Overall, the Chinese are actually doing more than the American ones, so When we look at specific applications, the Chinese still have an advantage.

 Bitpush: You are now deeply involved in the field of technology. Does your study experience in law school help you now?

 Jack Kong: I think the biggest help is the understanding of the law. You know which things can be done and which things may be more strictly regulated. We can focus more on technological innovation and technical thinking.

 Bitpush: What is the principle of your business?

 Jack Kong: The general direction is that we hope to do something that really improves efficiency or reduces costs in a profitable track.

 Bitpush: From the perspective of career development, do you pay more attention to the opportunities that may be brought about at the macro level or opportunities within an industry?

Jack Kong: In the early days, it was more on the macro level, because when I was practicing law, I definitely couldn’t see a certain detail at the beginning, but with a long enough time in the industry and continuous iteration of ideas and cognition, opportunities in the industry can be grasped in advance.

Bitpush: From your point of view, what do you think is the biggest misconception people have about the crypto industry and the mining industry you work in?

Jack Kong: Everyone is looking at each other through a window, so this is not a misunderstanding, it takes time to accept it.

For the mining industry, I think the biggest misunderstanding is that many people think that this industry is useless and a waste of energy.

Bitpush: Overall, society’s acceptance of Web3 is actually getting higher and higher.

Jack Kong: Because it has a wealth effect, people continue to make money here, and young people rush in, the acceptance will definitely increase, which also shows that this industry is good.

 If there is no continuous wave of enthusiasm in the industry, it is impossible for anyone to pay attention. Open AI is also attracting attention because its financing valuation is tens of billions of dollars. Many people have seen new business opportunities, and the reason is the same.

 Bitpush: Pepe coins have brought ten thousand times returns. What do you think of this upsurge in meme coins?

Jack Kong: This just proves the value of the blockchain infrastructure. It can obtain global liquidity and user network effects in a short period of time. Just like the Internet, the value of the Internet is proportional to the number of network users. The dimension of Web3 is higher, so once these coins have a certain user base, once the exchange lists them, the bull market will rise sharply, and of course, the bear market will fall sharply.

If Pepe coin is not developed on the blockchain, it may not be so popular, because everyone does not know what is going on, how to buy it, and where to buy it.

Bitpush: So do you think this meme token has real value?

Jack Kong: It has no value. Its value comes from the value of the entire infrastructure of Web3. The infrastructure gives it a "shell value" and a liquidity value.

For example, if you buy a "shell" [listed] in China for US$1.5 billion (the most expensive time), a shell may only have 20,000 shareholders, and your transaction volume is 10 to 100 times that of that shell. Your user quantity is 5 to 10 million. How much do you think such a "shell" is worth?

Bitpush: It has been almost 10 years since you know Bitcoin. During the 10 years of entrepreneurship and exploration, what is your greatest experience?

Jack Kong: My personal feeling is that if you are optimistic about this industry, you must persevere. You may be wrong today and tomorrow, but you will definitely have the right opportunity if you have more experience.

The second point is don’t take a high-leveraged position in a cryptocurrency.

The third is not considering luck as an ability. You bought pepe today not because of your ability, but because of luck or bought it by accident.

 Bitpush: Do you have any advice for a young person who wants to start a business in the blockchain industry?

Jack Kong: As long as you persist, you will definitely succeed, and the probability of success will be higher than in other fields because everyone has a prejudice against this industry, which means that people who are firm and optimistic have more opportunities than others under the same ability conditions, and the probability of failure will be smaller, the probability of success will be higher.

Bitpush: Do you think there are still many opportunities in this industry?

Jack Kong: Yes. If the full score is 100, I think it will be 0-1 in the past 10 years, and 1-100 in the next 10 years. The current crypto industry is equivalent to ~ 2000 in the web2 era.

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