There is a figure in the crypto world that cannot be ignored. Brother Bao Er, Guo Hongcai, this name has existed like a symbol around 2017. As long as he endorsed a project, grassroots investors would go crazy and follow suit. But looking back now, the story of this former "Crypto Guru" is actually quite ironic.

Speaking of how Brother Bao Er made his fortune, it all started with a trip to Beijing. In 2013, this guy was still selling beef in Pingyao, Shanxi, accompanying his wife to Beijing to learn e-commerce, when he attended a Bitcoin sharing session at Zhongguancun Garage Coffee. His wife was immediately convinced and spent hundreds of thousands to buy Bitcoin. Guo Hongcai initially opposed it, thinking his wife had been duped by a pyramid scheme, but after a few conversations, he was "brainwashed" himself and decided to go all-in on Bitcoin. From selling beef to playing with coins, his turnaround was pretty quick.

At the end of 2013, Brother Bao Er launched a show called "Hand-in-Hand Teaching You How to Play Bitcoin," and from then on, he became a notable figure in the crypto scene. In 2014, he built the world's largest Bitcoin mining farm in Inner Mongolia, burning 500k yuan worth of electricity daily to mine 100 Bitcoins. Later, when the bear market hit, he shifted gears and used 5,000 Bitcoins to buy BTC123 navigation site, becoming a co-founder.

What truly made Brother Bao Er famous was his "Bitcoin China Tour." In 2015, he drove a stretched car across the country, giving speeches and boasting everywhere. He never hid his nouveau riche attitude; instead, he believed the crypto scene was grassroots culture and should be remembered in the most vulgar way. "Buy one Bitcoin to leave for your kids' wedding" and "Bitcoin will reach 1 million USD"—such fanatic statements sounded especially infectious coming from him.

At the 2016 Davos Forum, Brother Bao Er went in wearing shorts and slippers, and security wouldn't let him in. Later, inside the venue, he saw a group of well-dressed financial elites questioning Bitcoin, and he directly started shouting in broken English, claiming "Bitcoin's value is equal to the future GDP of all countries." After this video circulated, Brother Bao Er became a household name.

In 2017, ICOs became a hot trend. As long as a celebrity endorsed a project, its tokens could skyrocket ten or hundred times. Brother Bao Er seized this opportunity, endorsing over 30 projects in three months, with a total market value exceeding 500k yuan. He never hid his logic: not investing but just endorsing, taking a 1% fee, and not even examining the projects. As long as Brother Bao Er nodded, retail investors would follow blindly.

But the good times didn't last. When the bear market arrived, the projects he endorsed started to collapse, go to zero, or stagnate. Take Achain, for example: it launched at 1.5 yuan, shot up to 4.4 yuan the next day, then plummeted 52%. This rollercoaster made people start questioning Brother Bao Er's judgment. He also realized the problem and, in August 2017, established the "Crypto Circle Huangpu Military Academy" to evaluate ICO projects, but the quality of the projects was uneven.

Even more exaggerated were the domain chain projects. Brother Bao Er boasted they would increase 250 times, and he invested himself, attracting many followers. The first day, it surged and then crashed, ultimately being bought back at cost, leaving retail investors heavily exploited. After the seven ministries and commissions called a halt to ICOs on September 4, Brother Bao Er stopped endorsing projects.

But this guy didn't settle down. In the first half of 2018, he started hyping FCoin's FT token, promoting it from $1 all the way up, only for it to fall over 95%. He also created forked coins, launching "Bitcoin God," which once soared to 5,500 RMB, then crashed to 90 RMB, a decline of over 98%. Those who invested 100k yuan now only have 1,636 yuan left.

At the end of 2017, Brother Bao Er recorded a video at the airport saying he had flown 290k kilometers, surpassing 98.8% of people worldwide. After that, he went to the United States and rarely returned to China. He said it was to "lay low," afraid of being caught. But insiders knew that this guy had made enough money and was fleeing.

In the US, Brother Bao Er loved to show off his wealth even more. In March 2018, he bought a mansion covering hundreds of acres in Silicon Valley, with a sign at the gate reading "Leek Farm," and actually grew a small patch of leeks on the estate. He bought two Rolls-Royces—one costing 60 Bitcoins, and the only one in the US; the other, 25 Bitcoins, was for his wife.

People in the crypto circle have always had mixed opinions about Brother Bao Er. Some say he's free-spirited and unconventional, others say he's just a scammer who preys on retail investors. But there's no denying that this guy did seize the wave of Bitcoin and blockchain, transforming from a beef seller grassroots to a "leader" in the crypto scene. The story of an underdog rising to the top is always the most captivating, but the price of this story was borne by those retail followers who blindly followed.