01. Who is FC?
Do you know who FriedCat is? People outside the Bitcoin circle may not know FriedCat, but in the circle, he is very famous and is known as the "No. 1 in the Bitcoin Circle."
In 2012, when Bitcoin was still unknown in China, he had already opened up new territory in the field of virtual currency. In 2013, he took a roller coaster ride with his faith and strength, bringing himself and many others huge wealth and passionate shouts and exclamations. But at the end of 2014, he disappeared strangely without leaving a single word. His disappearance was full of doubts and was called "one of the top ten unsolved mysteries in the currency circle" by people in the circle.
The disappearance of FriedCat has sparked a lot of discussion in the cryptocurrency community. Everyone is asking, where did FriedCat go? Many people tried to find him, but in the end, nothing came of it. People are looking for FriedCat not only for money, but more for regret. If FriedCat were still alive, he would have done more groundbreaking things and continue to lead people in the cryptocurrency community to experience unimaginable possibilities.
There are many reports and rumors about FriedCat’s disappearance on the Internet, but there is little information that can be confirmed. I will introduce FriedCat’s life, his adventure with Bitcoin, and sort out the information about his disappearance.
02. The life story of FC
FriedCat, whose real name is Jiang Xinyu, was born in Shaoyang, Hunan in 1986. In 2001, Jiang Xinyu, who graduated from Shaoyang No. 1 Middle School, was admitted to the Junior Class of the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei with the 11th place in the country (another saying is 11th in Hunan).
This year, he was 15 years old. No matter he ranked 11th in the country or the province, Jiang Xinyu’s name is still hanging high on the honor roll of his alma mater, and he is admired by his juniors in the No. 1 Middle School.
In 2009, 23-year-old Jiang Xinyu obtained a master's degree in computer science with his thesis "Using Formal Methods to Construct a Secure Thread Mechanism" and entered the doctoral program of the Computer Science Department of the University of Science and Technology of China-Yale Center for High Trustworthy Software Research. In 2011, he went to Yale University for a visiting scholar program. It was also in the summer of that year that BBQ Cat met Bitcoin and began to study it.
Soon, he took a leave of absence. Later, some people said that Jiang Xinyu was obsessed with Bitcoin and neglected his studies. Others said that Bitcoin provided an outlet for this depressed teenager whose studies were not going well. Having interrupted his academic pursuits, Jiang Xinyu gradually turned his attention to practical work. On January 16, 2012, Jiang Xinyu registered an ID with the name "friedcat" on the Bitcoin forum Bitcointalk. "Fried Cat" was born.
FC registered on the Bitcointalk forum. In the first half of 2012, FC and Fan Dawei returned to Hefei and came to Shenzhen to start a business with their bags and dreams. Fan Dawei played an indispensable role in FC’s life journey. I will always mention him.
Jiang Xinyu's life curve has been full of ups and downs, and he has been labeled with many labels. This is a genius boy: he has passed the world-class academic hall with excellent learning. This is a geek: relying on his cutting-edge technology, he promotes the creation of a new business model. This geek is also full of humanistic ideals and yearns for liberalism.
The issuance and circulation of Bitcoin does not rely on the government or third-party institutions. As long as there is a network and people know how to operate it, everyone can trade freely. Baked Cat wants to use Bitcoin to build a distributed and decentralized new world.
At the same time, this young man who soars in the sky is also very down-to-earth: he keeps a low profile and rarely appears in public. Whenever he appears, FriedCat is completely the image of a "sloppy science and engineering guy": "He always wears a loose T-shirt, a pair of loose casual shorts, and a pair of black slippers. He has a thin body with unkempt hair, a slightly hunched back, and a pair of square metal-framed myopic glasses on his squinting eyes."
03. Peaks and valleys: a bitcoin adventure
In July 2012, FriedCat posted a fundraising post on the forum, saying that he had the ability to develop ASIC mining chips and manufacture mining machines for mining, but he needed funds, and the goal of raising funds was 1 million RMB.
In this post titled “ASICMINER: Entering the Future of ASIC Mining by Inventing It”, FriedCat introduced the ASIC mining machine projects one by one and responded to external doubts.
Just this month, his partner Fan Dawei registered Bitfountain Information Technology Co., Ltd. in Shenzhen. Then, BBQ successfully crowdfunded on the GLBSE exchange, with the stock name ASICMiner, which was also used to name BBQ's mining machines.
FC divided the company's shares into 400,000 shares, sold 41% to the public, and held 59% for himself. The success of FC's crowdfunding benefited from the trust of people in the circle, which was also because he was very active before the crowdfunding, rather than suddenly appearing on the forum to make money. It was precisely this trust that made FC's subsequent loss of contact even more difficult to accept.
In addition to trust, the technical strength of BBK is also one of the necessary factors for its rise. The ASICMiner project has attracted great attention in the global Bitcoin circle. Among the domestic investors who invested in this project at that time were Wu Jihan, who later became a mining tycoon, and the online writer "Crazy Xiaoqiang" (real name Xie). Their undoubted belief in the ability of the BBK team represents the voice of many investors. The vision of Wu Jihan and others was later proved to be correct.
In early 2013, Wang Song and Zhuang Zhong (now the head of BTC.com mining pool) joined them. Zhuang Zhong wrote the code, Wang Song was in charge of procurement, supply chain and mining factories, Baked Cat was responsible for external investor relations, and Fan Dawei was in charge of product design. During this period, Baked Cat developed the first Bitcoin mining machine, making him the second mining machine manufacturer in the world.
BitQuan’s market strategy also had an absolute advantage, allowing the BakedCat team to surpass its two main competitors at the time in mining machine manufacturing: the American Bitcoin hardware manufacturer Butterfly Labs and Canaan Creative, which was later listed in the United States.
In fact, as early as June 2012, before BitQuen was founded, Butterfly Labs announced that they had made breakthrough progress in the research and development of ASIC mining chips and would produce the first mining machine in September. Pumpkin Zhang, the founder of Canaan Creative, developed the first commercial ASIC mining machine in the cryptocurrency world in January 2013. The RoastCat team followed closely and successfully developed ASIC chips, the core technology of mining machines, at almost the same time.
The emergence of ASIC mining machines has brought mining technology into a new era, and its mining speed is much faster than previous methods. How can Baked Cat win the first place when its opponents attack from both sides? Here I will first popularize some knowledge about Bitcoin.
As we all know, banks in various countries record all the currency transactions in the world. So, as a new virtual currency circulating globally, how are Bitcoin transactions recorded?
There is a group of people who record all Bitcoin transactions in the world on the Internet, and the recording process contains a specific calculation method. These people are called miners, and recording these transactions is mining. Based on many complex factors, when the number of recorded transactions reaches a certain number, that is, for each "block" (unit) mined, the miner will receive Bitcoin as a reward for his labor.
Sometimes, the reward also comes from transaction fees. If you want to get Bitcoin, mining is the only way besides buying it. Everyone can mine, and any computer can mine, but some computers have low computing power and slow mining speed, and they can't mine a Bitcoin for several years.
AISC technology can greatly increase mining capacity while reducing costs (electricity). At the time, Butterfly Labs, Canaan Creative, and BitQuack were competing in a "who can make a high-capacity ASIC mining machine first" competition.
Although Pumpkin Zhang’s results were released first, his strategy was to pre-sell mining machines and chips to the world, allowing coin users to mine on their own. After developing the chips, the BBQ team immediately started mass production of mining machines and carried out large-scale mining. Therefore, when Pumpkin Zhang’s team was shipping goods across the ocean to subscribers around the world, the mining machines manufactured by BBQ had already been lined up in an old industrial plant in Nanshan District, Shenzhen, with thousands of units lined up and began concentrated mining.
In other words, while Pumpkin Zhang’s customers were still eagerly waiting for the arrival of mining machines, BBK’s investors were already sitting at home waiting for money to roll in. And the BitSpring mine really mined bitcoins like a spring. On February 18, 2013, the BBK mining machine mined a block for the first time and obtained 50 bitcoins. In April, Pumpkin Zhang announced that it would no longer produce mining machines, but only chips, and Butterfly Labs was unable to produce mining machines. Soon, BBK became the only company in the global ASIC mining machine market.
Later, Butterfly Labs was forced to close by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in September 2014 after thousands of customer complaints. Bitcoin Springs, which had been promising since the beginning of spring, soared in 2013, known as the first year of Bitcoin.
In July, the price of BitQuen rose 50 times, from 0.1 bitcoin per share at the time of issuance to 5. Coupled with the appreciation of bitcoin itself at the time, it is said that most shareholders at the time received a return of more than 500 times in value.
The astonishing increase brought unimaginable wealth to FC and its investors. It is said that FC earned 200 million RMB in three months. FC’s stock was considered the most worthwhile stock to invest in the cryptocurrency circle at that time.
Li Xiaolai, China's richest Bitcoin man, has endorsed him many times: "...all other chip manufacturers and managers don't have the brains of FC. They have detailed actuarial models. This is a problem of mathematics." He also said, "You can just buy FC's stocks with your eyes closed!" On the one hand, FC has no competitors in the ASIC mining machine market.
According to netizens, “People who come to Kaomao to buy mining machines line up in a queue. Some even just throw money over, pick up the mining machine and run away, fearing that the mining machine will be snatched away by others.”
On the other hand, computing power (mining speed) has also become the world of Baked Cat. According to Mi Xiaoou, Tan Yuqing, 31QU, Lucy Cheng and many others, the BitSpring mine only has half of the mining machines, and the computing power generated has accounted for 30% of the entire network.
What does this mean? 30% of the bitcoins mined worldwide are owned by FB. Here’s an introduction: the more people join in mining, the higher the difficulty and cost, and the higher the value. Every four years, the number of bitcoins in a block is halved, but the value will increase to compensate for the depreciation. In 2140, the number of bitcoins in a block will be zero, and the total number in the world will be 21 million. This design mimics the limited supply of gold.
In its heyday, BitSpring even caused panic and attacks in the cryptocurrency circle due to its excessive computing power. Roasted Cat distributed part of its computing power and maintained it at only 20% to calm everyone's panic. However, nothing lasts forever. This passionate time did not last long.
In this field, R&D technology is the key to staying ahead. FC had difficulties in developing its second-generation chips, and market competition has become more intense than before. In addition to its old rival Pumpkin Zhang, there are new competitors, including Wu Jihan. Wu Jihan was once a shareholder of Bitquan and wanted to join the FC team, but Fan Dawei disagreed. Later, he approached Zhan Ketuan as a technical partner, and the two co-founded Antminer, becoming one of FC's strongest rivals.
By October 2013, the computing power of the FC mining machine had dropped from 42% of the entire network to 4%. People began to sell their FC shares, causing the stock price to plummet. Setbacks came one after another.
In January 2014, the third-generation chip launched by FC had problems in design and packaging, resulting in insufficient heat resistance and easy explosion, which caused the new product to be unsalable. Although the Tube mining machine was launched in August of the same year, the profit was not high and it was difficult to make up for the previous losses. FC's business was in trouble. Then, FC's last hope was shattered.
In September 2014, Kaomao met a Fujian businessman named Lin QX (pseudonym) through an intermediary named "Chong Ge" who used to sell mining machines. The two agreed and signed a contract to invest in Huai'an, which is rich in electricity resources, and built a mining farm with an area of 2,000 square meters, placing seven or eight thousand mining machines.
But in the end, due to various conflicts of interest, the two parties were unable to cooperate and had to breach the contract. According to the previously signed contract, FriedCat had to pay the other party a penalty of 80 million.
In October 2014, FriedCat got married. At the end of 2014, FriedCat suddenly lost contact. No one, including FriedCat's family and team members, could get in touch with him. FriedCat's family reported the case to the police on January 25, 2015, but there has been no news for several years. This day was designated as the official date of FriedCat's disappearance. On the bitcointalk forum, FriedCat's last login was at 4:03 pm on January 25, 2015, Beijing time.
On the morning of January 23, FC held a two-day mining machine auction and announced the end at 8:03 am on January 25. Since the forum uses Greenwich Mean Time, adding 8 hours is Beijing Time.
A bidding auction will be held on the morning of January 23
The forum uses GMT, Greenwich Mean Time
At 8:03 am on January 25, FC announced the end of the auction.
04. Doubts and rumors
The news that FriedCat was missing began to spread online, but most people were most concerned about his Bitcoin wallet. During that period, investors came to the company every day and asked when the stock dividends would be paid, which annoyed the company's employees.
On February 28, 2015, BitQuan Company stopped paying dividends. On March 11, under pressure from many parties, Fan Dawei, as the co-founder of BitQuan, issued an official announcement on the bitcointalk forum on behalf of the company's management that FriedCat was missing, but stated that the company would continue to operate. However, investors who came to defend their rights later found that BitQuan's office was empty.
The glass door of Room 1317, East Building, Shenzhen Coast Building was empty. According to company employee Wang Song, the FC team had already planned to give up Huai'an and go to Sweden to find a mine. They had already arranged their passports and air tickets, but they couldn't find FC before leaving.
Since FriedCat rarely appeared in public and didn’t talk much, few or no one knew his last whereabouts and activities before he disappeared. FriedCat was officially identified as missing 12 days later. On February 7, 2015, FriedCat’s social media account shared a documentary “If America Didn’t Exist”. This made everyone even more confused.
Documentary "If America Didn't Exist" There are many different opinions on the Internet, but no one has a definitive conclusion. Some people say that FriedCat went to Huai'an alone to negotiate, and then disappeared.
But some people also said that Kaomao never went to Huai'an and this was a scam. In the early stages of development, virtual currency was completely unregulated by law, and scams abound in the Bitcoin circle.
Some people also said that FriedCat had depression and committed suicide, or needed to rely on drugs to relieve his depression, so he took the remaining money and lived in seclusion in the mountains. Some of these are random guesses based on fragmentary information.
Many people on the Internet said that FC had bought a round-trip ticket to Thailand, but there was no record of entry, and he has since disappeared. Did he go to Thailand? What did he do in Thailand? These details have not been explained. One netizen even speculated that FC might have gone to Thailand, because he mentioned on the social platform that he liked to eat Thai seafood pineapple fried rice.
FC had shared his Fukushima dream with his friends. Fukushima is an island with no military stationed there and does not belong to any country. It is located 12 nautical miles from the edge of the U.S. high seas. Food can be delivered by simply setting up a network. It is an anarchist paradise of freedom. Therefore, some people think that FC is going to realize his Fukushima project.
Some people even worried about his safety and suspected that FriedCat was murdered. This statement is not groundless. On March 3, 2015, a netizen named "Yon_Wu" on Babbitt.com posted that 19,000 Bitcoins were transferred out of FriedCat's three Bitcoin wallet accounts within a few minutes. This was worth 30 million RMB at the time. Netizens speculated that the Huai'an mine might be a trap and FriedCat might have met with an accident.
This is not the end. Two and a half years later, a netizen named Bitcoin Black posted a post saying that on July 29 and August 4, 2017, there were 5 transfer records in the two wallet accounts of FriedCat, with a total of 17,597 bitcoins transferred out, which was equivalent to RMB 323 million at the price of the currency at that time. According to reports, this number was about the daily trading volume of domestic bitcoin exchanges at that time.
Were these two transfers done by FCMC himself? Shareholder Xie Jian of the company issued a statement saying that only FCMC knew the account. So, the account activities of these two transfers indicate that the person who operated it was either FCMC himself or someone who controlled FCMC’s activities and forced him to hand over his account and password.
The last piece of news related to Firecat appeared on December 15, 2018. Mixin’s former COO Bo He posted a message on WeChat Moments, saying without context: "Firedcat (seemingly referring to Firecat) has finally returned to the team."
But in the end, Friedcat did not show up, and some people suspected that she was hyping it up. The signs of Friedcat "appearing" after these four disappearances made the entire disappearance incident even more suspicious.
05. Fraud
Some people in the cryptocurrency circles at home and abroad believe that FC has deceived investors and absconded with the coins.
Netizens on the forum posted: "Roasted Cat has disappeared again, the situation is complicated" and "He defrauded tens of millions of yuan, but now he can't be found, no case has been filed, no wanted notice has been issued, and no one is investigating."
"This is probably the biggest theft in the history of the mining industry, using the unheard-of excuse of mining equipment being robbed. For a long time, FriedCat has built a trustworthy resume in this forum, so no one imagined or expected that he would commit fraud in this way."
"At present, these people are still at large. I hope the victims can organize themselves and report the crime together!"
Although there are many reports of fraud and running away, many of these are based on the mystery that has always surrounded Kaomao and Bitquan, as well as a lack of understanding of the actual situation.
Many people who know FC, even those who have only met him once and are not close friends, do not think that FC would do this, and even repeatedly emphasize that "he will definitely not run away."
A netizen on the “Bitcoin Forum” posted that the motive for fraud is simply for money. Does Kaomao have this motive?
A former employee of BitQuick once told the media that Kaomao was "not excited at all" about the ups and downs of the currency's value. He was not excited because the reason he was fascinated by Bitcoin in the first place was not money. When Kaomao studied the white paper written by Satoshi Nakamoto, the inventor of Bitcoin, he was fascinated by that world.
He joined the cryptocurrency circle for the fun of doing it, and at the same time, it is combined with his computer science major. It is so exciting to be able to combine and apply one's interests and expertise to realize one's dreams. As mentioned earlier, all reports mentioning FriedCat inevitably describe him as an "unkempt science and engineering geek". Some netizens even joked that FriedCat's outfit is still "blinding" among a group of science and engineering guys.
He even wore this outfit when attending company product promotion events. FC’s material desires seem to be quite weak. You can refer to the article by Sawpi, which is also a suspected Bitcoin fraud case, and compare the various extravagant consumption of the protagonist in it. Moreover, after FC’s disappearance, his family did not seem to benefit. He didn’t spend much money himself, nor did he give it to his family. Why did he take away so much money? What’s more, he would have to pay a huge price in his personal reputation and future and hide for the rest of his life. I think this possibility is very low.
07. Murder theory
Among many uncertain information, one thing that is certain is that at the time of its disappearance, FC was working hard to resolve the crisis that the company was already in. There are rumors that FC disappeared while trying to solve the problem in Huai'an. So, how did the cooperation between FC and the businessman surnamed Lin begin?
Lin, who claimed to be a shareholder of Shuanghui Group, slapped his pilot's license on the table during their first meeting and said he could help Kaomao build a new mine in Huai'an: "If we do it in the name of cold storage, we can enjoy subsidies from the Jiangsu Provincial Government." By throwing out his pilot's license, Lin probably wanted to express that he has financial resources and connections. The report described Lin as "currently worth tens of billions of yuan, and he has successfully laundered it."
But in any case, putting your pilot's license on the table is not a common start of a business cooperation. Although Fan Dawei did not think it was a good opportunity at the time, Baked Cat had made a decision. After signing the agreement, the mining farm could not operate as planned due to quality and packaging issues of the third-generation chips.
Wang Song said, "The partner changed our account to his own" and hijacked the computing power. This matter is very tricky. The company sent several groups of people to coordinate, but none of them could solve it. Wang Song recounted that the company sent a lawyer's letter and called the police, but the other party ignored it. When the company's people tried to solve the problem locally, the other party "found dozens of idlers from the local area and surrounded us in the middle." The leader said: "If you dare to touch me, I will hit me..."
As a last resort, FriedCat had to go to Huai'an to coordinate in person. Is there any connection between the robbery of the mine and the disappearance of FriedCat? In Huai'an, merchants from other places have formed more than a dozen chambers of commerce based on regional differences. It is said that the year FriedCat disappeared, the Huai'an police investigated a local underworld gang. When the media went to the Huai'an mine to look for clues afterwards, Huai'an had denied their connection with Bitcoin.
On March 3, 2015, it was discovered that FC’s address had transferred out 19,000 bitcoins. Netizens speculated whether the Huai’an mining factory was a setup from the beginning and FC was the target.
But the next day, in the early morning of March 4, Zhao Dong (co-founder of Moji Weather, who manufactured the Dragonfly mining machine) sent a message in the Bitcoin Technology WeChat group saying that he "contacted Huai'an" and Huai'an "said that FriedCat was fine." RoastedCat disappeared at the end of December 2014, and Huai'an claimed that FriedCat was fine in March 2015? The time does not seem to match.
According to the statement of shareholder Xie Jian, the computing power hijacking occurred on December 25, 2014. The computing power hijacking had a huge impact on the company, and FriedCat might have gone to the Huai'an mine in person to resolve it. If he did go, it would coincide with the time of his disappearance. Moreover, why did Huai'an hide their previous cooperation with FriedCat?
Lin owns a family-run food company in Huai'an. The first phase of the FC's mine is located in a factory building on the first floor of the food company, surrounded by clothing, machinery, packaging factories, etc. According to reports, after FC disappeared, a colleague went to the company to inquire, but was eventually stopped and could not get in. Nearly three years after the incident, when the media went to Huai'an for an on-site investigation, they still ran into obstacles everywhere and could not find any clues.
When Liu Jing, a reporter from Caijing Tianxia, asked the security guard of the food factory about Bitcoin, the 68-year-old security guard immediately stopped talking, remained silent for a moment, and said to Liu Jing in a low voice: "In court, this is called inducement." Then, he kept repeating: "I don't know the answer to this question either." The security guard also proudly said: "The boss once tested me with a 5,000 yuan supermarket shopping card, and I was unmoved. How could he not trust me?" The security guard wanted to show that he was absolutely trustworthy. As long as the boss told him to do so, he would not give in no matter how much money was offered. What is it that he can't give in?
Liu Jing also found a phone number on the company's official website. After calling it, the other party vaguely stated that they had invested in Bitcoin in 2014 and 2015, but in the face of Liu Jing's questioning, the other party directly hung up the phone and did not respond. The person in charge of the local development zone said that he had never heard of Bitcoin, "We in Huai'an do not engage in these things that the country does not advocate." Huai'an Minerals cannot operate as agreed, so the partners of BBQ changed the account and password and took the computing power that originally belonged to Bitquan for themselves. Is it possible that the other party was tempted by huge wealth and further hijacked BBQ? Why are the locals in Huai'an, from the development zone to the manufacturers that have cooperated with BBQ, so unanimously evasive about this matter?
07. Depression says: I ended my life & I retired to the mountains
Others attributed FC's disappearance to depression. Reports indicate that in October 2014, although Jiang Xinyu was married, he was already (severely) depressed. FC's colleagues once said: FC had intermittent depression "tendencies" and often bit his nails. To this day, his QQ signature is still "Don't panic".
From the rumors that FriedCat suffered from depression, we can make two inferences.
First, FriedCat must rely on medication, so he chose to retreat to the mountains.
But even if FriedCat needs treatment and must rest quietly, it does not mean that he should disappear without a trace, nor is it necessary for him to disappear without a trace.
Second, FC committed suicide due to depression.
There are several doubts about this statement.
First, the body has not been found. Of course, it is possible that it has not been found yet.
Second, there were absolutely no signs beforehand.
About a week before FC went missing, he went to a restaurant he often went to for dinner on an overtime day with an old friend and colleague he had known for many years. It is said that FC ordered a bowl of gold medal beef noodles and a basket of steamed dumplings. FC looked no different, and there was nothing unusual during the chat. The old friend said: "There was no sign."
Third, FriedCat did not leave his huge fortune to his relatives, which is unreasonable.
In the article "Looking for Fried Cat", Caijing Tianxia reporter Liu Jing mentioned that the first thing Fried Cat's mother said when she saw her was: "Are you in touch with Jiang Xinyu?"
This question indicates that FC's mother believes that FC is still alive. However, according to Liu Jing, FC's mother "can never figure out why her son disappeared." From believing that FC is still alive, we can infer that "FC did not transfer his property to his mother."
Waopi once wrote that one of the characteristics of some people who are depressed or disappear is that they will suddenly tell their bank card passwords to their relatives and friends.
Even if you don't want to live anymore, you still want your family to live well. And your money and assets, no matter how much, can always be of some help to your family, not to mention such a large amount of wealth.
Therefore, if FriedCat plans to end his life, he should not ignore it and waste his Bitcoins.
The most unconvincing reason is FC's personality. Although he is low-key, he is a person who loves life, both spiritually and materially.
Grilled Cat enjoys food. Friends say he is well versed in food knowledge. On his social media accounts, he has marked "likes" for everything from pumpkin vines and purslane salad to Indian curry and beef stew in red wine.
According to reports, the Douban account "Giant Goose" of FC has been cancelled and noted "This is the best time" and introduced himself as "using life to be cute". This spirit of daily improvement sounds more optimistic than me.
Some reports describe the impression left by FriedCat as "not quite true to reality".
Another way to describe this is that Friedcat is not someone who will be affected too much by the reality. He is a person who lives in his own vision of the future: at the party, he talked about how humans can live forever, how to develop a handheld scale, and his Fukushima project.
He likes reading, and is described by his colleagues as "rich in inner world", "detached from the world", "never caring about other people's opinions", etc. Such people have great inner support even when they encounter setbacks.
At the same time, FC is not the type of person who would retreat, admit defeat, or escape.
Before he disappeared, FriedCat was still actively solving the problem: going to the Huai'an mine to negotiate and preparing to go to Sweden to look for new opportunities. And his efforts had lasted for several months.
In August 2014, Fan Dawei was very surprised to find that FC, who had never attended any offline events in China, took the initiative to contact the organizer Sun Xiaoxiao and decided to personally promote his new mining machine.
FC has undoubtedly realized that his career is declining, and he is willing to step out of his comfort zone and try to make changes.
It is reported that in this event, FC, who has always restrained his emotional expression, actually stood on the podium and made public the hardships of his entrepreneurship.
Isn't this a great self-challenge? Being willing and able to step out and change one's thinking and behavior patterns also confirms Fan Dawei's description of him: adventurous. This is not a sign of depression at all.
Push forward again.
In 2012, after Butterfly Labs announced that it would produce chips and mining machines, he took the lead, crowdfunded, and founded BitSpring. This requires confidence and a positive attitude.
In 2014, after achieving great success, FriedCat continued to work hard and never gave up despite facing many difficulties.
Even if FriedCat loses everything in this crisis, he will not be left with nothing. He believes that he will overcome all difficulties, achieve his goals and realize his ideals, just like the wonderful adventure in 2012-2013.
To him, life is “Keep discovering” printed on the T-shirt he is wearing.
Will such a roasted cat commit suicide or escape?
08. Other clues: FriedCat’s marriage
If FriedCat didn’t commit suicide, is this all we know about his disappearance? Are there really no other clues? If so, who is most likely to know?
His ex-wife Wang Xian is likely the person who knows best about FC’s activities before he disappeared, because they should have lived together at that time.
Mi Xiaoou mentioned in the article "Looking for FC Cat" that in 2013 in Shenzhen, Wang Xian forced FC Cat to marry her, and FC Cat bought a house in Shenzhen. In October 2014, Wang Xian and FC Cat got married in a flash.
The two completed a premarital examination at the Maternal and Child Health Center in Baohe District, Hefei, and got married. Since FC is from Hunan, it can be inferred that Wang Xian’s household registration may be in Hefei, and they may have met when FC was studying at the University of Science and Technology of China (located in Hefei).
FC bought a house in 2013. In fact, FC might have moved to the new house before getting married in October 2014. Therefore, Wang Xian might be the person who knew FC’s whereabouts best from the second half of 2013 to the end of 2014 when he disappeared.
Mi Xiaoou also pointed out that Wang Xian was one of the key figures in the disappearance of FriedCat. Forced marriage and flash marriage are the words used by Mi Xiaoou and other netizens. Why use these words?
They got married in Hefei in October 2014, but the choice of this time is a bit difficult to understand.
How could Friedcat, whose career was already in trouble at the time, have the mood to travel all the way from Shenzhen to Hefei to do this? Isn't it contradictory to hold a happy event like marriage under such heavy mood and pressure?
In January 2015, Kaomao disappeared, and Wang Xian filed a lawsuit in court and was divorced in October of the same year.
The whereabouts of FC is still unknown, why did they divorce so soon?
One possible situation is that the two people had too deep feelings for each other, and after FriedCat disappeared, the wife could not bear such tremendous pressure, so she decided to file for divorce, hoping to get out of the haze as soon as possible.
One possible situation is that since people have lost contact or are avoiding seeing each other, it is better to live their own lives while they are still young.
Legally, if FriedCat is declared dead, his parents and wife will inherit his estate, including all his Bitcoins.
I did not find any other reports or rumors about Wang Xian. After the incident, Wang Xian never seemed to come forward to make any statement, whether to clarify the possible connection between FriedCat’s disappearance and her, or to explain the situation to the company’s investors.
09. Other clues (II): Baked Cat’s Bitcoin account
We later found a mysterious insider who provided a key piece of information: The two addresses from which 17,597 bitcoins were transferred in July and August 2017 were the wallets of a BitQuan partner, not the wallets of Kamao.
This means that FriedCat's Bitcoins are still intact in his account. This information does not negate the above inference, but makes us more certain of the following points:
First, the possibility of FC currency scam is lower, because at least so far, FC has not gained any financial benefit from it.
Second, FriedCat’s mother definitely did not get FriedCat’s bitcoins, which helps me to speculate that FriedCat did not commit suicide.
Third, at first glance, this piece of information makes murder less likely, but it's hard to say.
Everyone knows that FriedCat is worth hundreds of millions. Suppose there is a person, or several people, who covet FriedCat’s Bitcoins and decide to sacrifice FriedCat’s life to get them.
First of all, this person must be someone that FC is quite familiar with. He or she has the opportunity to approach FC without making him or her suspicious.
Furthermore, as mentioned earlier, this person knows how to operate Bitcoin or at least understands its value.
Finally, he knew that if a wealthy public figure like FriedCat suddenly disappeared, it would inevitably cause a huge commotion and suspicion. If FriedCat's bitcoins were transferred out at this time, the news would definitely spread to everyone, just like the information about the five transfers in 2017. This was too risky.
But as long as the disappearance of Fried Cat is presented as a "disappearance" rather than a "criminal case", the police's investigation will weaken over time or even disappear. After a while, everyone will forget about Fried Cat.
At the same time, the market price of Bitcoin has been rising continuously since 2015.
Is it possible that he has obtained FC's account and password, and has been waiting for the public to stop paying attention to FC and the police to stop investigating, and then transfer FC's Bitcoins and cash them out at a higher market price?
10. Give me back Jiang Xinyu
Fan Dawei and Jiang Xinyu met at USTC. These two science and engineering men have accompanied and inspired each other for many years, and they are no longer alone. At Yale University, they ate at all the steakhouses near the campus because BBQ cats love meat.
It was Fan Dawei who introduced Bitcoin to FC. They lived in an apartment together during the early days of their business. He handled the registration procedures for Bitquan. He asked FC to be in charge of investor relations for the company. Their lives and worlds were created by thinking, dreaming, and doing things together.
In 2011, when they were visiting scholars at Yale, they also published a paper together in the domestic journal "Miniature and Microcomputer Systems". After Friedcat disappeared, when people on the Internet commented that Friedcat was a science and engineering man who was not good at coping with pressure, he said that Friedcat was the best chairman.
In March 2015, he announced to the world the news of his friend's disappearance on the forum where he registered FC. It is said that Fan Dawei later went to study abroad and refused to talk about FC anymore. In fact, among all the materials I have read about FC, he talked a lot about it in a fairly in-depth report.
He changed FC. In August 2014, he was surprised to find that FC had participated in offline activities to promote its products, contrary to its usual practice. FC also had a profound impact on him. He said, "I was originally a moderate neutral, but he (FC) turned me into a complete anarchist."
This is a pair of close friends who support each other and make each other's lives deeper and broader. FriedCat may disappear, but I hope Jiang Xinyu is safe. I hope the world can give back the unrealistic and dreamy Jiang Xinyu of Fan Dawei.
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