In our last lesson, we discussed how the rise of the mining circle was inseparable from two individuals: "Pumpkin Zhang"—Zhang Nangeng, and "Friedcat"—Jiang Xinyu. If Zhang Nangeng started an era, then Friedcat was the one who pushed it to its peak.

The story begins in early 2012. Friedcat, originally named Jiang Xinyu, was what elders would call the "perfect child" from a young age. During his academic years, he was admitted to the prestigious University of Science and Technology of China's (USTC) Special Class for the Gifted Young from Hunan Shaoyang No.1 High School with outstanding grades. In 2009, he obtained a master's degree from USTC, and by 2012, he was pursuing a Ph.D. in computer science at Yale University.

By chance, Friedcat encountered Bitcoin and was deeply fascinated by the decentralized ideology in Satoshi Nakamoto's whitepaper. In early 2012, Jiang Xinyu registered an account on a Bitcoin forum under the ID "friedcat," exchanging ideas and ideals with geeks worldwide. Over time, "friedcat"—Friedcat—became Jiang Xinyu's alias.

Coincidentally, in June of the same year, news that Butterfly Labs in the U.S. was developing ASIC miners not only changed Zhang Nangeng's fate but also Friedcat's. Even more coincidentally, they made the same choice—to develop ASIC miners to prevent potential monopolization in the Bitcoin network. The difference was that Zhang Nangeng chose to drop out of school to start his business, while Friedcat took a leave of absence and returned to China to launch his venture. Perhaps because they both had a sense of heroism and passion in their bones, they later achieved greatness.

After returning to China, Friedcat quickly registered Bitfountain (比特泉) and, to raise funds for mass-producing miners, adopted an "IPO-like" model by issuing virtual company shares in exchange for Bitcoin. This laid the financial foundation for mass production.

After six months of research, in early 2013, Friedcat became the second person after Zhang Nangeng to successfully develop an ASIC miner, naming it the "Friedcat Miner." Soon after, he achieved mass production, used some miners to build the world's first professional mining farm, and scaled up mining operations—ushering in the golden age of the mining circle.

With Friedcat's success, 2013 became a year of fierce competition in the mining industry. Capital began pouring into the mining machine business, and numerous brands emerged, such as Fish, Ant, Zeus, and Western. Back then, mining machines underwent generational upgrades every few months, marking the beginning of a battle for dominance.

Ironically, Butterfly Labs, which initially announced ASIC miner development, failed to deliver and missed the entire era. Instead, the young dreamer who once sought to slay the dragon became the dragon himself—Friedcat won the battle. At its peak, Friedcat Miners controlled about 40% of the network's total hash rate, and the company's virtual shares skyrocketed from 0.1 BTC to 5 BTC.

Thus, the mining circle became Friedcat's domain, and he ascended as its king—the first "Mining Overlord" in history, opening the golden age of the mining industry.