Bitcoin Billionaire Li Xiaolai Exits Crypto Sphere After Controversies
Li Xiaolai, one of China’s Bitcoin tycoons, announced on September 30 that he will no longer invest in cryptocurrencies. The sudden announcement triggered controversies and speculations in the Chinese crypto sphere.
Li is the founder of BitFund, a Beijing-based cryptocurrency investment platform. He entered the crypto world in 2011 as a miner and went on to own around 100,000 BTC by 2014. He was able to raise approximately US$82,000,000 last July for an initial coin offering (ICO).
Despite his success as an investor, Li announced in his Weibo account that he will not invest in any blockchain project anymore. He said:
“From now on, Li Xiaolai will not make any project investment (whether it is a blockchain or not, or not). Therefore, if you see Li Xiaolai being on the platform again (previously there have been countless stations for a long time, saying that 99% is absolutely not excessive), it will be ignored. I am going to take a few years to seriously change careers. As for what to do next, I didn’t think about it. Another: nonsense, I still have a long-term optimistic about the blockchain.”
Although Li stated he is leaving the industry to change his career, speculators say that his retirement is caused by the tight ICO regulations in China. In September, The People’s Bank of China ceased the release of ICOs in compliance with China’s ultimate ban of cryptos and ICOs. The ban also prohibited exchanges from offering cryptocurrencies.
Following this, Li faced a controversy. A 50-minute recording of him criticizing Bitcoin projects and investors was leaked. In the recording, he said that China’s crypto startups are scams, even attacking some of the biggest crypto companies such as Binance and NEO.
The recording caused a war among Chinese investors. Binance’s co-founder He Yi even posted on Weibo regarding Li’s statement. He said:
“In a cheater’s eye, everyone is a cheater.”
Li also had a quarrel with Chen Weixing, a venture capitalist. Facing a lot of controversies, Li stepped down as a managing partner of Hangzhou Xiong’An Blockchain Fund this year.
Now that one of China’s largest Bitcoin investors has retired, Chinese crypto enthusiasts are expecting a change in the Chinese crypto sphere. Meanwhile, some still believe that there is still a possibility that Li will take part in some investment funds sometime in the future.
