Preface: What Are We Talking About When We Talk About RWA?

In 2024-2025, the RWA (Real World Asset) sector is red-hot. Wall Street giant BlackRock issued a tokenized U.S. treasury bond fund; tokenized stocks of Tesla and Apple appeared on platforms like Kraken and Solana. Especially in Hong Kong, which is actively embracing Web3, from real estate income rights to GCL Tech's photovoltaic power stations, and Langxin Technology's charging piles, the concept that "everything can be tokenized as an RWA" seems to be moving from concept to reality.

We are excited that RWAs can revitalize physical assets, lower financing barriers, and increase liquidity. But doesn't all this sound somewhat familiar?

As early as 2012, a Chinese developer named "Friedcat" had already fully implemented all of this, even more thoroughly, more RWA-like, and more "Web3" than today's models.

I. The Birth of a Legend

"Friedcat" (烤猫 Kǎo Māo), real name Jiang Xinyu, is a legendary figure. He entered the University of Science and Technology of China's少年班 (Special Class for the Gifted Young) at 15 and later visited Yale University for studies—a top-tier genius. In 2011, he keenly captured Bitcoin's potential and was active on the international Bitcoin forum (bitcointalk) under the ID "friedcat". He wasn't just theorizing. At the critical juncture when Bitcoin mining was shifting from CPU/GPU to specialized equipment, his team was the first to achieve mass production of ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit) miners, known as the "first-generation chip miners," once controlling a significant portion of the global Bitcoin network's hash rate.

The crypto world in 2012 was a "Wild West." Bitcoin's price was low, the community was small, there was no VC investment, and certainly no regulation. Trust was based entirely on an individual's reputation on forums.

Friedcat faced a practical problem: mass-producing ASIC miners required a large sum of money, but the doors of the traditional financial world were closed to him. His investors could only be those geeks who believed in Bitcoin's future. Thus, a financial experiment destined for the history books began.

II. The First RWA Issuance Scheme in History

To raise funds, Friedcat did not seek venture capital but instead designed an astonishing, unprecedented RWA issuance scheme.

The core of this scheme was to tokenize a profitable company in the real world using blockchain technology, creating an innovative model for financing, dividends, and trading. Below is a detailed analysis of its specific structure and mechanisms.

1. Physical Assets: A Solid Value Foundation

The project's underlying asset was Bitfountain Information Technology Co., Ltd. (比特泉 Bǐtè Quán). This was a formally registered entity in Shenzhen, whose core value came from businesses generating continuous cash flow, including an ASIC miner production line, the computing power owned by mining farms, and the future expected profits from these operations. This formed the cornerstone of the entire model, ensuring the issued "shares" were backed by clear, profitable real-world assets (RWA).

2. Issuance Platform: A Decentralized Choice

The issuance was conducted on GLBSE (Global Bitcoin Stock Exchange). This was an early virtual stock platform built entirely on the Bitcoin network. Its key feature was decentralization; the entire issuance and trading process completely bypassed traditional intermediaries like brokers and stock exchanges, providing a new, efficient channel for the global circulation of assets.

3. Issuance Details: Equity Financing Based on Bitcoin

The shares issued were named AsicMiner, with each share representing partial ownership of Bitfountain. The issuance structure resembled a typical equity financing:

Total Shares: 400,000 shares

Public Offering: 41% of shares (approx. 163,000 shares)

Issue Price: 0.1 BTC per share

The uniqueness of this design was that it did not use any national fiat currency but directly used Bitcoin (BTC) as the unit for fundraising and valuation.

4. Two Core Mechanisms: The Soul of the Model

The scheme's most striking innovations were embodied in its two core mechanisms:

1. Automated On-Chain Dividends: This was the soul of the entire model. The company promised to automatically and directly distribute its profits (in BTC) from mining and miner sales weekly to each shareholder's Bitcoin wallet address proportionally, via a program. This mechanism perfectly illustrated the concept of "Code is Law." The entire dividend process required no trust in any third-party financial institution, achieving clearing and settlement directly on the blockchain—efficient, transparent, and tamper-proof.

2. 24/7 Global Liquidity: AsicMiner shares could be freely listed and transferred 24/7 on the GLBSE platform. Once a transaction was completed, share ownership changed immediately, and the new shareholder instantly gained future dividend rights. This created a global secondary market for the equity of a private company, providing liquidity far exceeding anything available for traditional private equity at the time.

Conclusion: Friedcat created not just a simple project but a complete financial closed loop: investing in entity company equity with on-chain native assets (BTC), confirming ownership through on-chain transparent records (GLBSE), enjoying automatic dividends in on-chain native assets (BTC), and trading freely on an on-chain market (GLBSE).

III. Legal Anatomy: Was This Really RWA?

Judging from today's legal and financial perspective, were Friedcat's AsicMiner shares an RWA?

The verdict is: Without a doubt, yes. And it remains one of the purest, most native RWA prototypes to date.

Real World Asset: Yes. The shares were anchored to Bitfountain's miners, mining farms, and future cash flow—100% real economic activity.

On-Chain Representation (Tokenization): Yes. Although the ERC-20 token standard didn't exist then, the shareholding records on GLBSE were a primitive form of "token" recorded on a centralized server, representing asset ownership and dividend rights.

Connection Between Asset and Representation: Yes, but extremely fragile. This connection was not based on the legal structures of trusts or SPVs (Special Purpose Vehicles) used in modern RWAs, but entirely reliant on a "social contract" based on the community's trust in Friedcat's personal reputation. People believed he would keep his promise to distribute profits.

It was fundamentally different from later ICOs: ICOs mostly issued "air coins" with no real asset backing, whereas Friedcat's shares were backed by tangible, profit-generating miners. This is the core distinction between RWAs and pure cryptocurrencies.

IV. From Ancient Artifact to Modern Marvel: Friedcat vs. Today's Hottest RWAs

Friedcat's innovation was a full decade ahead of its time. Comparing the pioneer project "Friedcat's AsicMiner" from 2012 with today's (2024-2025) mainstream global RWAs (Real World Asset tokenization) clearly shows the field's evolution from a disorderly experiment into an increasingly compliant financial innovation track.

1. Underlying Assets: From Singular to Diverse

The most obvious difference is the breadth of assets. Friedcat's AsicMiner had a very singular value proposition, limited to the equity and future earnings of a single miner company behind it. In contrast, modern RWA asset pools are extremely rich and diverse, covering almost any asset with stable cash flow or valuation potential, such as the U.S. treasury bond tokenization being pushed by giants like BlackRock, stock equity rights of companies like Tesla or Apple, income-generating real estate, charging piles and photovoltaic power stations in the new energy sector, and even rare artworks.

2. Technical Carrier: From Centralized Silo to Decentralized Network

The technical path has also undergone fundamental change. Friedcat relied on the internal database of an early centralized platform, GLBSE, meaning asset issuance and trading were limited to the survival of that single platform. In contrast, modern RWAs are generally built on open, decentralized public chains like Ethereum and Solana, using standardized token protocols like ERC-20, ERC-1400. This not only enhances asset security and transparency but also lays the foundation for interoperability between different applications.

3. Compliance & Law: From Lawless to Compliance is King

Compliance is the core differentiator. The Friedcat project was born in a complete "legal vacuum"—no KYC (Know Your Customer) verification, no financial regulation, and almost zero investor protection. Modern RWAs treat compliance as their lifeline. Their issuance and trading strictly adhere to national securities regulations, often requiring the establishment of trust funds or SPVs to isolate and custody assets, issued by licensed institutions, with all investors subject to strict KYC and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) checks.

4. Source of Risk: From Personal Credit to Systemic Risk

The composition of risk has also changed. The risks Friedcat faced were simple yet fatal: first, platform risk (the collapse of the GLBSE exchange); second, personal risk (the founder "Friedcat's" disappearance directly causing the project's collapse). In contrast, modern RWA risks are more complex and systemic, including technical risks like smart contract vulnerabilities, compliance risks from changes in cross-border regulatory policies, and default risks inherent to the underlying assets themselves.

5. Core Advantage: From Ultimate Efficiency to Security & Trustworthiness

Finally, the core advantages pursued by each reflect the needs of their respective eras. The appeal of the Friedcat model lay in its ultimate decentralization ideology and high efficiency, removing all traditional financial intermediaries and minimizing costs. The core advantage of modern RWAs lies in their security and trustworthiness. A robust legal framework provides solid protection for investors, and asset authenticity is audited and endorsed by third-party professional institutions. This enables them to break out of niche circles and attract mainstream financial institutions and a broader range of conservative investors.

The Nature of Evolution: We see a clear evolutionary path—from野蛮生长 (wild growth) reliant on "personal reputation" to compliant development reliant on "law and code." Friedcat proved the technical possibility, and today's RWAs are completing the legal and trust infrastructure that was missing back then.

V. Peak, Collapse, and the On-Chain Ghost: Friedcat's End and Its Lessons

Friedcat's story is like a classic Shakespearean tragedy.

It began with great success for AsicMiner, which once controlled 42% of the global hash rate. Its share price skyrocketed from 0.1 BTC to a peak of 5 BTC. Combined with continuous BTC dividends, early investors achieved astonishing returns exceeding 500x, creating the first legends in the crypto space. But technological iteration is cruel. With the rise of competitors like Bitmain, Friedcat's second-generation chip R&D failed, and market share was quickly eroded. Simultaneously, the closure of the GLBSE issuance platform and internal company conflicts worsened the situation. At the end of 2014, after inspecting a mining farm, Friedcat (Jiang Xinyu) mysteriously disappeared. His whereabouts remain unknown to this day, making it the biggest unsolved mystery in crypto. His company was abandoned, and investors' shares ultimately became worthless.

Although the ending is lamentable, Friedcat's legacy is profound:

He proved through practice that the model of "on-chain assets, on-chain dividends" is entirely feasible, directly inspiring later ICOs, STOs, and even today's RWAs.

His failure starkly revealed the fatal flaw of lacking legal protection and asset custody. Without compliance, even the most genius design is just a castle in the air.

To this day, Bitcoin addresses associated with Friedcat still hold substantial assets. Any slight movement causes waves in the community. He is like an on-chain ghost, constantly reminding us of this crazy yet enlightening history.

Conclusion: Standing on the Shoulders of History, Where is RWA Headed?

Looking back at Friedcat's story, we can't help but feel that history always moves forward in spiraling repetitions.

Friedcat was a lonely pioneer. With his genius conception and tragic ending, he previewed everything about RWAs for us: immense potential and fatal risks. He proved that decentralized technology alone is not enough; it must be combined with the real world's legal frameworks and trust mechanisms to proceed steadily and go far.

Today, when licensed institutions in Hong Kong issue a compliant real estate RWA product, or when Wall Street giants move U.S. treasury bonds onto the blockchain, the path they tread was paved by Friedcat with code and reputation 12 years ago.

The future of RWA必然是 (is inevitably) a dance between technological innovation and regulatory compliance. And only by understanding the story of "Friedcat," the originator of RWA, can you truly grasp the past, present, and future of this trillion-dollar financial transformation.