Great warships

Chapter 1225 Stirring up the Storm
Zhang Dong opened his eyes wide: "What is it?"

"Bitcoin." Qin Tao said: "Although this project has been planned for a long time, it is still only spread on a small scale. Next, we want to go big!"

"What's big?"

"Golden Sun Electric Vehicles will officially accept Bitcoin as a payment method for purchasing electric vehicles." Qin Tao said, "Technology elites like you should have a lot of Bitcoin, right? Do you want to be the first person to buy a car with Bitcoin?"

Zhang Dong nodded: "Okay, I'll be the first one, but, Mr. Qin, am I suitable?"

After all, we are all part of the same group, so this is a case of self-production and self-sales. Should we avoid suspicion?
“There’s no need to avoid suspicion. After all, the first batch of people who played with Bitcoin must have been the technological elites. You are a representative of the technological elites. It’s normal for you to have a large amount of Bitcoin on hand.”

"it is good."

July 2006, 7, was an ordinary day, but also unusual. Many people suddenly discovered that there was an additional message on the Golden Sun Electric Vehicle’s website.

From now on, Golden Sun Electric Vehicles accepts Bitcoin as a payment method!

You only need one hundred bitcoins to buy a Golden Sun Elite electric car!
What is Bitcoin?
How much are 100 bitcoins worth? Golden Sun electric cars are divided into three models: basic, elite and luxury. The price of the elite model is 200,000 yuan. Does this mean that one bitcoin is worth 2,000 yuan?
The news spread quickly on the Internet.

"Bitcoin, you don't know about it? It's been around for several years. It's a decentralized currency system, a brand new concept. This kind of electronic currency only requires a computer. Two years ago, I got a Bitcoin on my computer in about eight hours."

"What computer do you have?"

"Loongson 3!"

"Loongson 3, can earn 2,000 yuan in 8 hours of operation? Master, please accept my knees!"

“This is very similar to mining.”

"Yes, it's like mining, but you can only mine it with a computer."

"What do I do? I want to dig too?"

Soon, countless computers downloaded the Bitcoin program and started mining online, but they soon discovered that things were not going as planned.

"Hey, didn't you mine one in eight hours? My computer has been calculating for a whole day and night, why haven't I found one yet? I have a Loongson 4 computer!"

"Do you think this thing can be easily obtained? The total number of Bitcoins is limited. It is easy to obtain at the beginning, but it becomes more and more difficult in the later stages. This is the only way to ensure that there is no inflation. If Bitcoin can be obtained without limit, then is this thing still valuable?"

"That's right, how long will it take to dig it up now?"

"That depends on the configuration of the machine. In short, it will become more difficult as time goes by. It is best to upgrade the configuration now to make the computer's computing power faster, so that it will be easier to mine Bitcoin."

"I seem to have heard that there is already a special machine that can be equipped with many graphics cards, greatly improving the computing power. With this machine, you can mine one coin in a day."

"You can make two thousand dollars a day? Not bad! How much is this machine?"

"I heard the factory price is 200,000, but you can't buy it. You have to pay more. 400,000 is enough to buy it."

"Two thousand a day, sixty thousand a month, four hundred thousand in half a year, it's worth it, let's buy it!"

Soon, the whole world knew that there was a special machine with strong computing power that could perform calculations faster than other machines. An ordinary computer took a month to mine a bitcoin, but this machine only needed one day!
Buy it, you will make money if you buy it! 400,000 is not expensive! What, it has risen to 600,000? 600,000 is also fine!
The whole world was in an uproar, and the once weak hardware demand was suddenly boosted.

Across the ocean, in the United States, Intel Corporation.

This chip company, which was once the world's number one, can now only survive on government orders. Its prospects are extremely bleak, but the facts continue to prove a saying: There is no worst, only worse!

"Hardware demand has been weak recently. We originally thought we could take advantage of this opportunity to catch up with Loongson, but we didn't expect them to do this!" Barrett's voice was extremely low and he was very frustrated.

They fell behind step by step, and the gap between Intel and Loongson became wider and wider. The market was getting worse and worse. When they found that the hardware market was starting to weaken, they finally breathed a sigh of relief.

There is already a surplus of hardware. It’s because the Orientals are working so hard and constantly following Moore’s Law. The world no longer needs such advanced computers!
With hardware performance in excess, will Loongson have to stop research and development and continue to research more advanced products? There are no users, so wait!

Who would have thought that the hardware market would continue to be so popular!

"Yes, some time ago, they launched artificial intelligence, and I had a hunch that they were going to find a way out for hardware with excess performance. However, artificial intelligence is too far away, and few companies will follow their pace." Paul said: "In the United States, only Apple thinks this route is the future, but they don't have the strength to develop it."

"Yeah, it turns out that artificial intelligence is just a cover. Their real plan is actually Bitcoin. This thing has existed for several years, but none of us took it seriously at the time. Now..."

"Good news, everyone!" At this moment, another person ran in: "Many customers have requested that Intel also manufacture mining machines specifically for mining Bitcoin, so that we can make more money!"

"Mining requires floating-point computing power." Barrett smiled bitterly and shook his head: "At Intel, our main product is the central processing unit. Even if we can develop programs that run on our X86 platform, we cannot supply mining machines with sufficient computing power."

They can't make any profit from this big cake, and just think about it, they will understand why the other party will leave the market to them. The Orientals are playing tricks on them!
"We don't have the ability?"

"Yes, this requires display chips for parallel computing. In our country..."

Talking about this, both of them became even more depressed.

Once upon a time, when Dongfang started to develop the chip industry, it was only engaged in central processing units. Other auxiliary parts had to rely on other manufacturers. For example, the north and south bridge chips were made by VIA.

As for graphics cards, they can't even take care of them. The United States still has the most advanced chip research and development capabilities, among which 3dfx is at a monopoly level.

In 1994, designers from Silicon Graphics, Digital Equipment Corporation, MIPS Computer Systems, Pellucid and other companies jumped out and formed 3dfx, aiming to develop the world's most advanced 3D graphics card.

And they did it. Since the establishment of the company, they have developed a large number of advanced technologies and have become leaders in this field. They originally had an absolute advantage, but who could have thought... this company wanted to eat alone and ruined the business of the board manufacturers below. In the end, this company didn't get any benefits, but instead went bankrupt!
When 3dfx went bankrupt, Loongson Corporation suddenly took over and got rid of all the key personnel. This should have attracted their attention at the time, but Loongson Corporation was too secretive, and they also had NVDIA. In their eyes, the bankruptcy of dfx was just to make way for NVDIA. Unexpectedly, Loongson Corporation grew bigger and became the leader in the graphics card field.

NVDIA's situation is not much better than Intel's. Although it is also developing graphics cards, it cannot compare with Eastern graphics cards.

Therefore, even if they saw that it was a plate of meat, they did not have the ability to eat it and could only watch the Orientals eat it!
"Damn it! Our American technology was originally the most advanced. How did it fall to this point?"

Everyone was sighing over this matter. What on earth was going on? How could it end up like this?
"Recently, graphics cards produced by SMIC have been sold out, and suppliers are crowding outside SMIC waiting for their orders. This hot scene doesn't look like a hardware surplus at all!"

"Yeah, let's...ah!"

The Americans can only sigh and watch the soaring prices of graphics cards.

Oriental, Minnesota Group.

"Boss Qin, it's really great. Ever since Golden Sun Electric Vehicles started accepting Bitcoin as payment, Bitcoin, which was previously ignored, has suddenly become a hot commodity." Xu Zhengyang said excitedly: "Our chip industry is booming again. But..."

"But what?"

"At present, only graphics cards are popular. A mining machine only needs one processor, which can accommodate more than a dozen graphics cards. Our other chips are still somewhat unsalable."

"This is easy." Qin Tao said, "Now, it's time for Loongson to stand up and express its opposition."

A few hours later, Mr. Ni appeared in front of the camera.

"We at Loongson are firmly opposed to the popularity of Bitcoin. We do not think this so-called virtual currency has any real value. We believe that computers should be used for scientific research and daily life, not for the pursuit of virtual things. We at Loongson have decided to reduce the quota of graphics cards in the personal computer assembly market from now on."

There are two main types of computers. One is a branded computer, which is a complete machine when you buy it, with all the configurations and software pre-installed. The other is an assembled computer, for which you buy accessories in the computer market. Now it has evolved to buying various accessories on the website and then assembling it yourself.

This type of assembled computer is cheaper and can satisfy the hands-on interest of DIY makers. It also has a large market, and the graphics cards on the mining machines are all purchased from this type of computer market.

Of course, all suppliers are out of stock now, so you can’t buy it even if you want to.

"We welcome customers in need to purchase our branded computers and use them for scientific research and learning, rather than engaging in so-called mining that does not create any value!"

It is normal for a group to have conflicts within it, but any group is profitable. Chips were unsalable, but now they are in hot demand. Loongson should have given its full support, and it is touching that Loongson made such a choice.

It's amazing! They are worthy of being Loongson, a world-class chip manufacturer. When they found that the society had gone astray, they immediately took practical actions to get everyone back on the right track. Even if they don't make money, they can't make money by going against their conscience!
When they heard the news, Barrett, Paul and others on the other side of the ocean continued to smile bitterly. Damn, this is really like being a whore and pretending to be a saint, and doing it in such a righteous, bright and noble way.

It's obvious that he just wants to sell the other accessories as well, and he says it so nicely!

A graphics card has been sold for 15,000 yuan, while a high-end brand computer equipped with this graphics card sells for 18,000 yuan.

Therefore, anyone with a brain would know that as long as they can buy this brand of computer, remove the graphics card inside, replace it with a low-end graphics card, and then sell it for three or four thousand yuan, there should be no problem.

In this way, graphics cards continued to be sold, and other accessories were also sold together with them, and a good reputation was gained. Oriental people are really good at this!
Sure enough, high-end brand computers equipped with these graphics cards became hot-selling products instantly, and soon, some high-end brand computers equipped with low-end graphics cards were launched into the market. Due to oversupply, the prices of these brand computers were very cheap, and some people who really needed computers for research could buy high-end computers at a low price. Except for the graphics cards, all the parts were of the highest configuration!

It wasn't just these branded machines. It even expanded to laptops in the end. On those high-end laptops, the graphics card chips that were originally soldered on were also blown off by the heat gun and disappeared without a trace.

The electronics market is booming!

However, behind this prosperity, there are also many crises hidden.

Just the day after Loongson Technology issued its statement, Qin Tao had a guest in his office.

"Boss Qin, your Bitcoin solution has indeed revitalized the computer market, but this market is deformed." An old leader said earnestly: "Your Loongson company has expressed dissatisfaction with this approach and decided to suppress this industry."

"Ahem, Mr. Leader, there is something wrong with your investigation. Bitcoin was not proposed by our Mingzhou Group. The Bitcoin plan was developed by several programmers who support currency decentralization. These programmers are all foreigners and have nothing to do with us."

The old leader smiled and said, "Okay, it has nothing to do with you, but your Golden Sun electric car allows you to buy cars with Bitcoin. You can't escape this, right?"

"Yes, this is our decision."

"From a higher perspective, the Bitcoin industry has no benefits, only disadvantages. Countless mining machines have invested a lot of resources and consumed a lot of energy. We have done statistics and found that it takes about 30,000 kWh of electricity to mine a Bitcoin, and this number will continue to increase as time goes by..."

"I know what the leaders want to say to me. I support the decision of the superiors. However, foreign countries have more electricity and more machines. It should be okay to put this thing abroad, right?"

Qin Tao certainly knows that this thing cannot be rolled out in China. After all, it cannot promote scientific and technological progress and the development of civilization. Virtual currency is something that has value if you say it has value, and has no value if you say it has no value. This thing should be widely used overseas.

"Yes, it would be best if we could export it overseas, but how would you do it?"

This thing appeared on the Internet and can be traded on the Internet. Simply put, no country can supervise it and it is everywhere. But Qin Tao said that it can be transferred abroad so that it will not harm the country?

Qin Tao smiled and said, "It's very simple. Mining is becoming more and more difficult, so we have to stimulate the market again."

the next day.

"We believe that the emergence of Bitcoin has seriously disrupted the market order, so from today on, Bitcoin is prohibited from circulating in our market! Mining machines cannot be allowed to exist here, which is a waste of resources and has no meaning!"

This simple news immediately blew up the cryptocurrency world. In a word, it is banned from circulation? Then this thing is useless!

For a time, the market value of Bitcoin fell rapidly. Many people who had just bought mining machines and wanted to make a big move suddenly encountered this kind of change and even wanted to jump off a cliff.

On this day, Golden Sun Electric Vehicle also briefly released a message.

"We have deeply realized our mistakes. In the domestic market, we will give up the plan of using Bitcoin to purchase Golden Sun electric vehicles. Of course, we will deliver the 47 vehicles that have been purchased on schedule, and we have already delivered 32 vehicles."

After hearing these words, some mining machine owners were already trembling all over.

"However, our Golden Sun electric car is the best-selling electric car in the world. In addition to Dongfang, our transaction is still valid in other countries. Of course, buyers should be careful not to drive electric cars purchased with Bitcoin to our Dongfang, otherwise they will be confiscated."

You can still buy it, just change the place!
In an instant, everyone's face turned from gloomy to bright.

“Finally, as Bitcoin becomes increasingly difficult to mine and its value continues to rise, we have made a new assessment and believe that the next batch of subscribers can purchase an elite electric car with 80 Bitcoins.”

Wow!
The cryptocurrency market is in an uproar again!

Virtual currency will only be sought after if it has actual value. It became popular because it can be used to purchase Golden Sun electric cars. If it cannot be used to purchase electric cars, it is just a string of meaningless codes.

They originally thought they were going to go bankrupt, but unexpectedly, a better life was beckoning them!

As mining becomes more and more difficult, the value of Bitcoin will become higher and higher. In the future, maybe you can buy an electric car with one or two Bitcoins!
What are you waiting for? Move the battlefield, roll up your sleeves and get to work!

In addition to mining machines, mining also requires electricity supply. Where the electricity is cheap, you can make money!

There are many places in the world where electricity is cheap, especially some hydroelectric power stations in mountainous areas. Even though there are power stations, the electricity cannot be transmitted, so the electricity there is super cheap.

Go mining for electricity all over the world! As a miner, it doesn’t matter how high the mountains and how deep the waters are, as long as there is electricity to mine, you can make money!
Moreover, as the value of Bitcoin is recognized, it will be used in more and more occasions. Gradually, many transactions will be conducted using Bitcoin. As long as you mine it, you can make money!
The good life beckons!

Miners have appeared all over the world. In the huge computer room, rows of mining machines are working desperately. Countless mining cards are running happily, calculating all kinds of illusory data, but these mining cards are real.

(End of this chapter)