Recently, I spent some time reviewing the development history of China's cryptocurrency industry, from the first Bitcoin trading platform in a residential house in Shanghai in 2011 to the reshaping of the global landscape today. This chapter of the industry’s history truly deserves a thorough review.

It's quite nostalgic to think about. Back then, Yang Linke and Huang Xiaoyu set up China's earliest Bitcoin exchange in a dilapidated room of less than 20 square meters, using two peeling computer desks and a dot-matrix printer. At that time, no one considered this a serious business; it was just two young people spotting a market gap, relying on simple business intuition and technical skills, to create the first matching platform.

2013 was the real watershed. A major exchange returned from overseas, bringing Silicon Valley’s approach and financing capabilities, directly ushering the industry into a regulated era. Meanwhile, entrepreneurs who understood user experience adopted a strategy of “easy to use, free, fast,” fiercely capturing market share, while another group of tech geeks focused on the core obstacles of trading systems, specifically serving institutional clients. This tripartite pattern took shape, and the market size of Bitcoin trading began to grow exponentially.

During that period, China’s position in global Bitcoin trading was virtually invincible. The RMB became the core pricing currency for Bitcoin, customer service in Beijing was still handling orders at dawn, Shanghai’s matching system was running at high speed late into the night, and the entire market rhythm was dominated by traders in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. At one point, China accounted for over 90% of global trading volume—that was truly China’s golden age in exchanges.

But good times didn’t last. At the end of 2013, a notice from the central bank put the brakes on this wild growth industry. By 2017, the “Nine Four” announcement directly ended onshore fiat currency trading. I still remember the panic at that time—users rushing to withdraw, customer service crying from complaints, and retail investors gathering outside exchange offices, emotionally charged. An era was abruptly halted by regulatory crackdown.

The subsequent story was one of massive migration. Some relied on first-mover advantages to steadily build up, others gambled everything on derivatives, and some keenly sensed policy risks, preemptively avoiding all red lines. A technical executive from a major exchange sold his property and went all-in on founding a new platform, which in just half a year crushed competitors who had been in the game for years.

2019 marked the last wild, unregulated frenzy. IEO launches, platform tokens, altcoins—various new approaches emerged, and retail FOMO reached its peak, with stories of sudden wealth everywhere in the Bitcoin trading market. But it was also in this year that the industry began accumulating reasons for strict regulation—gray capital, scams spreading, risks piling up—all setting the stage for subsequent cleanup.

In September 2021, a notice from ten government departments decisively announced the complete ban of the mainland market. The three giants each took their own path—some cashed out and left, some retreated behind the scenes, and others continued to deepen their presence in the global market. The Chinese power that once dominated global Bitcoin trading was forced to shift overseas, beginning a long process of compliance.

Over these years, I’ve watched the industry evolve from wild growth to strict regulation, from gray areas to licensed compliance, from offshore scattered operations to professional global management. It feels like witnessing a complete business epic. Those young people who struggled in internet cafes and residential houses—some achieved success and retired, some kept a low profile, and others faced fines and imprisonment.

Today’s landscape is completely different. Compliance, licensing, institutional services, and global operations are now the core competitive advantages of exchanges. The window for grassroots entry and overnight overtaking has closed, and the crypto industry has officially entered a new stage of professionalism and institutionalization.