A junior student posted a question five years ago asking for advice for investment with his 6,000 yuan in hand. Someone named “blockchain” suggested that he should buy some bitcoin. It turns out that the answer would be worth 1.5 million RMB today.

I am a junior student and have 6,000 yuan, any investment advice?

The question was raised on Zhihu, the quora equivalent in China. The most-upvoted answer among 170 others was from the id “blockchain” on 21st Dec 2011:

“Buy bitcoin, keep your wallet file safe and forget that you ever have 6,000 yuan. Dig it out 5 years later.”

As pointed out by Wu Guanggeng, CEO of Haobtc, on 21st Dec 2016:

“Back then each bitcoin was worth 24 yuan, now it’s 6,000 yuan, that’s 250 folds in 5 years. “

The news was soon captured by the BTCC and they quickly posted an article quoting their price on that day as BTCC was the only running exchange back then.

It’s a reply worthy of 1.5 million nowadays if the OP converted his 6,000 yuan into 250 bitcoins.

The person behind “Blockchain” is Changjia, CEO of 8btc. As a famous SCI-FI writer back then, he founded 8btc in 2011 to serve as a communication medium for the Chinese Bitcoin community out of his personal enthusiasm. Now 8btc has grown into 100 million RMB worth company.

Changjia’s advice was quite off-track among the right answers like “invest on yourself” “go travelling” “making new friends”.

Then in the 2013 bubble, the thread attracted lots of attention:

Yetian: The return rate of the advice by @blockchain is insane!

Wang Xu: It will become 70,000 yuan as of today

Moemoe Li: It’s a crazy advice.

In addition to the price of Bitcoin, things have changed a lot in China in the past 5 years.

In 2012, the 1st thread on 8btc forum was about a Bitcoin wallet.

Two bubbles in a year made 2013 the most unforgettable time for everyone in the ecosystem. The joy ride ended with the Chinese authority warning against the speculation. (Video report)

“Shorts” become the only option to survive in 2014. Some claimed to double their assets within a year.

Friedcat was missing in 2015 and no one is aware of his whereabouts even now.

Most of the young generation in China is tagged as the “90’s”. They were born with the internet boom but under the one-child policy, which means this single child will receive all the resources of their parents, even their grandparents. The 90’s held completely different values with the elder generation but some commonly-accepted labels are: cool, energetic and brave to embrace new conceptions.

However, these young generations also faces the social and economic barrier in front of them. The social classes or hierarchy has settled down in the past 30 years in China. One simple fact is that they may work so hard and still not able to pay the first installment of an apartment in big cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen with their mere salary.

There was a very interesting debate in 2014 in China about bitcoin as the counterattack means for the young generation.

With Bitcoin through its infancy, this young generation may face the political issue raised by Liu Changyong, a professor in Chongqing, The war between Segwit and BU is fundamentally a political wrestling? He is also a firm believer of the miner.

You may wonder what the OP actually did with his little stash of cash.

In 2011, the OP said:

“I really don’t know much about Bitcoin. I will look into it further. I have a hunch that this will be popular. Hopefully I don’t bump into any hackers.”

“In the end, I decided to buy those investment products issued by the bank for the sake of safety.”

In the 2013 bubble, the OP said:

“Of course I didn’t buy any because I don’t understand the complexity of bitcoin. And I spent the money on travelling. I do have some regrets but that’s OK. I just couldn’t understand the system but I do feel that this (bitcoin) will be big.”

In fact, the thread was so hot that the OP chose to go anonymous to avoid being a laughing stock.

Hop on before it’s too late!