After the Divorce, I Could Hear the Voice of the Future

"It's about to start breaking upwards again."

Zhao Changpeng, far away in Modu, smiled and instructed, "Closely monitor that key short selling account. As soon as there are signs of a margin call, forcibly close it immediately."

He could see that this wave in the market was anything but ordinary. The leading players were determined to break through with an unstoppable momentum.

After two days of adjustment, the market was like a powder keg that would explode at the slightest spark.

It could be said that even if the breakthrough failed now, it would succeed tonight, and Bitcoin would certainly reach twenty thousand US Dollars.

However, there was one thing Zhao Changpeng couldn't figure out: why choose to launch an attack at this particular time?

Beijing time, 6:30 PM, it's past seven in East Asia, dawn just breaking in America, and it's around noon in Europe.

If the goal was to break through the twenty thousand US Dollars barrier and reach a new high at the lowest cost, the best time would be 10 PM.

Because Bitcoin trading was most active and frequent then, essentially in line with London gold.

"At this time, we can probably rule out Europe and America institutions; could it be East Asia institutions attempting a sudden strike?"

Just as Zhao Changpeng was about to ponder more, the head of the company's short selling department informed him, "Mr. Zhao, the key account has applied for another 50 million US Dollars with 4x leverage; he wants to continue stocking up."

Zhao Changpeng frowned, torn; the first 10 million had basically been lost, the second 40 million mostly lost, and now they're applying for another 50 million US Dollars for short selling.

One purchase, two replenishments, for a total of 100 million US Dollars. If approved, the daily interest alone would be 900,000 US Dollars.

But they only held 25,000 Bitcoins; the previous two times, they had loaned out 12,100, with over a thousand still in the hands of small retail investors.

With backup coins, there were only 11,580 left on the books.

If they agreed, they would have to directly take out 10,000, not only using backup coins but also employing 80% of them.

The platform would be left with only 1,580, nearly emptied out.

"Mr. Zhao, the gentleman wants to talk to you."

As soon as Zhao Changpeng picked up, he was met with a barrage of angry curses: "The largest Bitcoin trading platform in the country? Damn your connections, always applying for this or that; if I went to FXCM, there wouldn't be so much bullshit."

The image of a gambler down on his luck vividly appeared.

Zhao Changpeng's lips curled into a mocking smile, "Sir, please stay calm, we will immediately restock for you."

"Hurry up, hurry up."

Before Zhao Changpeng could respond, the call ended with a busy tone.

His face darkened like water: "Deploy the backup coins, complete the short selling for him, monitor closely, watch him like a hawk."

All these years, he'd never taken such disgrace.

He had the backing of Blackstone Group, personally met by Su Shiming, unanimously recognized as the top figure in East Country's cryptocurrency circle, seemingly on the verge of conquering the global stage.

But indeed, virtues not commensurate with fortune will bring disaster.

In this market's condition, to dare to go against the trend by short selling, he wanted to see just how this guy would meet his end.

Seventh floor office, Tokyo Stock Exchange.

"Comfortable~"

Sun Yutao smiled with satisfaction; throwing a tantrum occasionally can effectively relieve stress and adjust emotions.

He looked at Miyuki, who was as stiff as a board, and smiled, "Miss Sakurada, when performing, you have to go all the way. If it's not real enough, how will he believe it?"

"Finance professionals generally have pretty bad tempers, especially those in high positions."

Zhao Changpeng, founder of Binance, would be a feudal lord in ancient times, while he played the role of a rogue leader with slightly bigger influence.

A rogue provoking royal authority is indeed a disgrace to the royalty.

Given the current market condition, if Zhao Changpeng wanted him dead, he would definitely agree to grant him short selling privileges.

This is also known as the aggressive method.

"Sokka~"

Miyuki nodded as if she understood but suddenly said, "But my husband is really gentle."

"Mr. Lu? Gentle?" Sun Yutao was startled, suddenly feeling his mouth dry and forgoing any further comments.

Tokyo Time, 7:45 PM.

After half an hour of tug-of-war, all the short positions were thoroughly wiped out by the longs.

Bitcoin broke through the twenty thousand US Dollars barrier in one stroke, briefly soaring to 20,300 US Dollars.

The sound of keyboard tapping and mouse clicking was like the black and white keys of a piano, playing a beautiful melody.

"The bulls are ferocious."

Wen Chao sighed, having lost count of the times he'd expressed this sentiment over several months.

Of the 5.5 billion short-selling chips left, they only slightly obstructed the rising trend.

This market was so crazy that he began to suspect if there was any news capable of influencing this upward trend.

"How much did we just spend on buying?" Lu Liang asked. Time was running out for them.

Wen Chao immediately conducted a tally; they spent a total of 560 million US Dollars to buy 28,000 Bitcoins.

"Continue to sell, but try not to impact the market until I give notice."

Meanwhile, Lu Liang received a call from Sun Yutao.

Learning about the situation over there, he smirked, "You guys, just sell off and quietly watch how the market performs."

Old Sun still has some skill, managing to get so many chips from Zhao Changpeng, probably emptying Binance's reserve.

This time, Binance wouldn't just get hurt; it might be fatal.

Lu Liang returned to his workstation, glanced at the lower-right corner of the screen, and saw it was already 8 PM.

Refreshing the webpage, the screen no longer showed a loading message, presenting dynamic images accompanied by a familiar tune since childhood.

In the first ten minutes, it was still the same, with leaders inspecting countryside affairs, foreign people living in dire straits.

However, from the eleventh minute, the tone shifted, no longer reporting domestic prosperity.

Instead, it narrated joint operations across multiple areas, busting many pyramid scheme dens, revealing a list of 350 illegal fund pools.

One-third of the names on the list related to various cryptocurrencies like Dark Coin, Baote Coin, Great Wall Coin, Sharing Coin, Litecoin, Dogecoin, and so on.

Two months ago, as Bitcoin began its bullish trend, countless cryptocurrencies emerged, now virtually all labeled as pyramid scheme fund pools.

Lu Liang barely had time to think before, as soon as the presenter spoke of the special operations, Bitcoin suddenly flash-crashed, breaking below twenty thousand US Dollars.

It was like a free fall from a high altitude,

falling below 19,500, 19,000, 18,500 with no support.

In an instant, the decline hit -8%.

Tens of thousands of retail investors who were long saw their portfolios pleasingly high one second, only to face margin calls the next.

Just as if the protagonists were targeting the few measly funds in their pockets, the decline hit -9.5% before halting the downward trend abruptly.

19,000...19500...20000...20500...

In an instant, huge amounts of capital flowed into the market; the candle turned from red to green, gradually recovering losses and closing in on a new historical high.

"No matter the cost, slam it down."

Lu Liang squinted and swiftly issued the command.

This rapid rise was likely the last-ditch effort of those institutions.

Taking advantage of bearish news that hadn't yet spread widely, they aggressively pushed up prices to reduce East Country Market's impact on Bitcoin, luring more clueless retail investors into the fray.

But as Lu Liang's orders were precisely conveyed to the traders' ears, the chips bought earlier to breach the twenty-thousand-point barrier began to be sold off evenly.

20,921 points, the upward momentum,

was forcibly halted, causing a reversal to appear once more.

Just now, the institutions were playing on the time difference, capitalizing on the unexpected; the actual funds invested weren't much.

Because they also knew the significance of the East Country Market; exposing so many fund pools pointedly was killing the chicken to scare the monkey, a refusal to embrace Bitcoin.

Therefore, they didn't dare put in too much capital, either.

Seeing someone resume selling, they cut the pretense, immediately joining the selling camp, escaping however much they could.

Their profit margin already had at least dozens of points. Even if only 10% remained in the end, it'd still be better than no gain.

After all, having soared ten times over four months, who knew how much this correction would bring it down to; keeping 10,000 US Dollars might be the best case scenario.

Many years later, there would still likely be many Bitcoin investors who remember the events of this night.

In just a few minutes, they first experienced a crash, then a recovery, and now another crash.

Some slow-reacting retail investors,

felt lucky for the first time due to their delayed reactions.

Because some quick-reacting investors already got margin-called three times in succession, to the point of questioning their existence.

However, their fortune didn't last long; as many retail investors faced margin calls, the market's transaction slip orders increased.

When the bulls came to their senses, they threw themselves into the bear camp, intending to mitigate losses by shorting the market.

Thus, a mining disaster was imminent; a 45% overnight drop would no longer be a myth, soon to be reenacted in the market.