A Review of the Bitcoin Mining Journey and Outlook on BTC Layer 2 and AI Development

Recently, an event themed "BTC Friends" was held in Hong Kong. The event brought together early Bitcoin miners and representatives of emerging BTC Layer 2 projects to jointly review the development history of Bitcoin mining and discuss the future prospects of the BTC ecosystem.

The co-founder and CEO of a well-known cryptocurrency company shared his experience as an early Bitcoin miner at the event and expressed his views on the BTC Layer 2 ecosystem and AI trends.

The CEO describes himself as "an old miner, an old retail investor, an NFT collector, and a victim of on-chain inscriptions." He reviewed the development of the cryptocurrency industry over the past decade, from the earliest GPU mining to the emergence of ASICs, and then to the birth of the first Chinese mining pool and the first Bitcoin halving. He also mentioned milestone events such as the Mt. Gox incident, the Ethereum ICO boom in 2017, DeFi Summer, and the explosion of NFTs.

He believes that the launch of the Bitcoin ETF in January 2024 marks the official debut of Bitcoin as a mature financial asset. He stated that the core issues of the blockchain industry are now basically clear, and there is hope for large-scale adoption within the next one or two cycles, allowing end users to enjoy the convenience and security brought by blockchain technology without feeling it.

The CEO also shared the background of the rise of institutional and professional mining. He recalled that the bear market from the end of 2014 to 2015 forced miners to optimize electricity costs, which drove the corporatization and scaling of mining. He described how he moved from a high-end mining facility in downtown Nanjing to areas with lower electricity costs, such as along the Dadu River and Xinjiang.

Regarding the challenges faced by miners going overseas, he mentioned various issues including legal frameworks, tax planning, mining operation and maintenance, and repair efficiency. He pointed out that many miners find the U.S. market less than ideal and are turning to opportunities in regions such as South America and Africa, but are now facing new issues such as political stability and safety.

In the BTC Layer 2 ecosystem, the CEO analyzed the demand spillover caused by congestion in the Bitcoin network, as well as the emergence of various sidechains and Layer 2 network solutions. He introduced his company's solution based on Multi-Party Computation (MPC), aimed at enhancing the fund security of cross-chain bridges.

Finally, he also discussed the prospects of AI applications in the cryptocurrency industry. He envisioned a future where AI agents could directly trade on the blockchain and use smart contracts. He stated that his company is developing a standard API to enable the capability of integrating AI agents, with a related product prototype expected to be launched in the second half of this year.