Li Xiaolai (born 1971 or 1972)[1] is a Chinese billionaire and Bitcoin investor known for founding Chinese venture capital firm Bitfund. He is often described as "China's richest Bitcoin billionaire" and had an estimated net worth of ¥7 billion in 2018.[2]
Career
editLi was an English test prep teacher at New Oriental from 2001 to 2008.[1] He began investing in Bitcoin and advocating for cryptocurrencies in 2011.[3] Li purchased 2,100 bitcoins, which was at the time valued at USD$1, before buying an additional 100,000 bitcoins six months later. He subsequently branched out into mining bitcoin, and achieved a net worth of $100 million before the 2013 Bitcoin crash.[4] Li raised a $200 million ICO in China during July 2017, two months before the Chinese government banned initial coin offerings.[5]
Li founded the cryptocurrency venture capital Bitfund in 2013.[6] In 2018, Li was appointed co-chief executive of the Hangzhou blockchain investor Grandshores Technology Group, as part of a project to create a Hong Kong-based stablecoin.[7]
In July 2018, a profanity laden rant was leaked in which Li allegedly described leading cryptocurrency exchanges as "cheaters" and "scams".[8] In September 2018, Li announced that he would no longer be investing in cryptocurrency projects, and that investors should discount rumors that he was involved in any future blockchain projects.[9]
References
edit- ^ a b Deng, Chao (2013-12-04). "Bitcoin Market Gets a Lift From China". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
- ^ "Cryptocurrency moguls make it to list of China's richest people for the first time". South China Morning Post. 2018-10-11. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
- ^ "Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem". www.techinasia.com. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
- ^ Wong, Rex (2018-12-08). Token Economy: A Practical Guide to Blockchain Technology and ICO in Asia. Wolterskluwer HK. ISBN 978-988-78405-6-5.
- ^ Liu, Chen Qiufan, Ken (2017-09-15). "How the Chinese Could Stop Worrying and Learn to Love the Uncertain Future". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Thompson, Luke (2018-12-05). "Chinese tycoon's HK 'stablecoin' sign of new crypto dawn?". Asia Times. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
- ^ "Blockchain investor Grandshores names 'bitcoin evangelist' co-CEO". South China Morning Post. 2018-12-04. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
- ^ "Bitcoin tycoon Li Xiaolai's foul-mouthed rant". NZ Herald. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
- ^ "China richest bitcoin billionaire Li Xiaolai says he's done with investing in blockchain · TechNode". TechNode. 2018-09-30. Retrieved 2021-07-11.