Author: Tian Daxia (@Web3Donny)

*The first draft of this article was written in November last year. The incident information involved in the article has been officially released after confirmation with Du Jun.

In Singapore, the temperature is over 30 degrees all year round. This is the sixth year since Du Jun moved to Singapore.

His hometown of Chongqing is very similar to here in the summer, with high temperature and humidity, often heavy rains, alternating between hot and cool, but the difference is that Chongqing has spring and summer. Autumn and winter, while in Singapore, it is summer all year round.

As a serial entrepreneur and investor, Du Jun has been working in the blockchain Web3 industry for more than ten years. He has received praise as well as praise. Controversy, he understands investment, and he also understands marketing.

It is undeniable that people will add many labels when referring to Du Jun, but which one is true?

In October last year, ABCDE Capital held a In this context, I finally met Du Jun during the global study tour of the Web3 Hacker Growth Training Camp.

This entrepreneur worth hundreds of millions, when you see him, you will feel:

“It seems that my second wife’s family often takes me to play games. My cousin is not much different."

But he is such a "down-to-earth" person who has participated in the founding of blockchain companies such as Huobi Group and ChainUP, and continues to stir up the world of Web3. A story of your own.

Start a business when the wind blows; Be your own style

Du Jun said that he left his hometown of Chongqing when he was about 17 years old and went to Beijing, becoming a veritable "Beijing drifter". Later, with his keen sense of business, he accumulated his first wealth through domain name and other businesses.

In 2007, Du Jun joined Kangsheng Company. After two webmaster conferences, he became famous among webmaster circles and Internet entrepreneurs, and he also established a firm foothold in Kangsheng.

In 2010, with Tencent's acquisition of Kangsheng Company, Du Jun quickly became Tencent's youngest P3 employee and was responsible for managing a team of dozens of people.

However, after joining Tencent, he realized that his past methodology was too simple.

“Because in a complex and highly competitive industry, it is impossible to keep up with the pace of the times and market changes based on simple personal experience.

< p>So when he comes to the company every day, he only does one thing, which is to download Tencent’s internal knowledge materials and continue to learn.

He admitted that to this day, some of his work habits come from During this time at Tencent. For example, a large amount of internal information on the intranet can be learned at any time; interviewing hundreds of people allowed him to accumulate relatively rich recruitment and communication experience; professional training system and work processes allowed him to move towards a career.

At the same time, the most important thing is that I have met many friends during this period, who have been helping me on the way to starting a business.

Du Jun shared his experience at Tencent on social platforms

In the "Alternative Investment Group", buying Bitcoin for the first time

At the sharing meeting of the Hacker Growth Training Camp, Du Jun once talked about the third The story of a Bitcoin purchase.

At that time, he and his friends had a group, probably called "Alternative Investment Group".

He joked about this The group is very alternative, just invest in all kinds of "weird" things with your friends.

"Anyway, what you invest in is either flying in the sky, running on the ground, or things you have never seen before."

About 2012, when Du Jun heard about Bitcoin for the first time, he communicated with a few friends in this "alternative investment group". Anyway, they were all "alternative investments". Several people in the group The two brothers decided to give it a try.

Recalling the entire purchase process, Du Jun said: "At that time, there was no platform for buying and selling Bitcoin in China. We happened to have a friend in Japan, so we invited that friend to Each person paid him tens of thousands of dollars to buy on his behalf. When I bought it, the price of one Bitcoin was almost 20 US dollars. I remember it very clearly. Not long after, we found that the price of Bitcoin had risen to nearly 200 US dollars! ”

“We thought this was crazy and said it must be a scam! ! ”

“Definitely! ”

Du Jun still vividly remembers the scene at that time. At that time, he and several friends were all excited about the rise of Bitcoin at that time. I was scared and felt that this new thing was too risky.

So in In March 2014,Du Jun sold all the Bitcoins he had purchased. Shortly after, Bitcoin experienced a sharp drop, but it left him with a question to think about:

“Will you continue to speculate in coins in the future? Or stay inthis industry and start a business? ”

At this time, he was convinced by the encryption narrative, and he began to combine his previously accumulated entrepreneurial vision with cryptocurrency to explore new business models and opportunities.

“After all, buying coins is definitely not an opportunity to start a business. It’s better to do something to start a business. ”

It happened that in 2013, Li Lin had always planned to start a business in the field of virtual currency, so he pulled his friend Du Jun, who was good at marketing, tofound the then Huobi.< /strong>

Du Jun’s crypto world story officially begins here.

The story of “Chinese Aunts Speculating on Bitcoin”

< p>On November 15, 2013, an article "Chinese Aunts Speculate Bitcoin" went viral on the Internet. This was the first time Du Jun's marketing team tried media marketing at the time, which caused a large number of media reprints, secondary creations and Netizens’ discussion has become a classic case of Bitcoin marketing.

He said that user education was 10 times more difficult than today, and those who signed up for Huobi at that time would receive 0.1 BTC.

< p>“0.1 BTC, who would dare to give it away now? ”

“And for offline activities, more will be given away in each lottery, including 1 BTC! ”

Du Jun lamented that such marketing methods will never go back, because one BTC is indeed too expensive now!

Everyone knows the following story. As the CMO of Huobi, Du Jun and Li Lin brought Huobi into a golden era.

Later, due to regulatory policies, Huobi once withdrew from mainland China, and Li Lin also chose to sell shares. Du Jun Choose to go overseas to Singapore and continue your entrepreneurial journey. 

Go overseas to Singapore and continue your crypto journey

Six years ago, Du Jun came to Singapore alone, allowing companies, individuals, and families to gradually take root here.

He said that in 2018, apart from a bunch of registered "foundations", there were almost no foundations in Singapore. No blockchain company has actually started operating in Singapore.

“At that time, I felt lonely and helpless, and I urgently needed to join a group to keep warm. From that time on, I began to continuously invite blockchain companies from mainland China. Entrepreneurs come to Singapore.

Du Jun said that Singapore’s talent density, capital density, and information density are much higher than other places in the Web3 field. This is the key to success, and this is why he chose to land in Singapore.

Of course, after going to sea, many people were asking Du Jun, Now that the so-called "freedom of wealth" has been achieved, why do you still have to start a business in Singapore instead of just sitting back and enjoying life?

Du Jun did not directly answer this answer.

In a roundtable discussion not long ago, Du Jun asked the audience: "Ten years ago, everyone was asking what BTC was. Ten years later, everyone Everyone knows what BTC is, has this industry changed?"

It seems to have changed, but nothing has changed.

He realizes that the crypto field is still in its early stages and there is still huge room for development and unexplored areas.

He also believes in the revolutionary potential of encryption technology and blockchain, which can change the status quo in traditional finance, social networking, media and other fields.

Therefore, he firmly believes that he can continue to play a role in this field and promote innovation and progress.

“If this industry still doesn’t create anything new, I hope we invest in more good Web3 innovative companies, and I hope these companies can promote the development of the industry.”

This is one of the reasons why Du Jun does not want to "retire".

Therefore, over the years, he has been focusing on the matter of "investment".

“We like to lead investors, 80% of projects are led investors”

In August 2022, Du Junhe BMAN established ABCDE Capital. As a cutting-edge crypto venture capital institution located in Singapore, ABCDE mainly invests in Web3 builders.

From the early Polyhedra Network, Particle Network, BeWater, Surf Protocol, to DeBox, Elven, Babylon, Bitmap.tech, B² Network, BitLayer, etc., ABCDE Capital is present in these.

Du Jun said: "So far we have invested almost 25 Of the projects, 80% of the projects are led by investors, and there are relatively few follow-up investors.”

Regarding the recent hot BTC ecosystem, Du Jun mentioned: “The emergence of Bitcoin’s Layer 2 and new assets such as inscriptions, and Ethereum’s DeFi Summer will likely be repeated in the Bitcoin ecosystem. Once again, the scale of TVL will be larger. However, the Bitcoin ecosystem is more decentralized. There are no VCs and no one to guide the direction. The speed of innovation will be faster and more chaotic. No matter what, we need to start."

< p> Regarding what constitutes a good project, Du Jun mentioned two criteria. First, they focus on projects that can advance the industry, especially those that are more technical.

The second criterion is to be able to promote social development, such as projects focusing on the application layer. They look for projects that solve real problems, provide useful applications and services, and bring real change and progress to society.

In addition to the above two criteria, another most important factor is whether this project is the only or first in its field.

In addition to direct investment, Du Jun feels that "incubation" is equally important . He believes that incubation is a way to actively participate in and support the growth of entrepreneurs, and can cultivate more potential projects and talents.

“For example, most of the developers of the Web3 financial reporting platform Elven, which we participated in investing and incubating, are in our ABCDE Singapore office. Everyone sits together every day and has time for more communication and Discussion, so that we can better polish the product."

He believes that entrepreneurs face many difficulties in the early stages of starting a business, including market positioning, business models, etc. In this way, he can share his rich experience and knowledge with the entrepreneurial team, provide guidance in strategic planning, business development, marketing and other aspects to help them achieve their business goals.

Accept controversy and misunderstanding

< p>In 2018, there was a manuscript about Du Jun called "Bookmaker Du Jun". Although six years have passed, Du Jun was still able to share the story candidly.

“At that time, many big bosses or investors said, Du Jun, you are already the banker, then we will give you the money and you can operate it.But they later found out the truth. Du Jun not only cannot sit in the bank, he is often cut off by others, and he has no way to defend his rights after being cut off."

Du Jun joked that he has been moving towards this path and has always wanted to become this character, but has never succeeded.

He said that in fact, in this circle, there are as many controversies as there are praises. You can’t restrain other people’s descriptions and misunderstandings of you. The circle is inherently bloody. We should do our best. Portions are enough.

“Because some media are not completely responsible. The author will write some articles based on his own subjective consciousness and subjective judgments, and make some inappropriate remarks about a person. Objective evaluation, and even fabricating some facts to write such an article, also caused some misunderstandings among ordinary people or people who do not understand this industry."

He said that integrity is the cornerstone of public relations. , if you are a frank and honest person, there is no problem if you are misunderstood.

In this industry, when facing doubts and debates, it is more important to examine one's own behavior, decisions and opinions. It is very important whether a person is willing to listen to different voicesand discover his or her blind spots and room for improvement.

For this reason, he also suggested that young people not feel frustrated or frustrated by external comments about themselves, but should use them as motivation for reflection and advancement, and respond to the appreciation and doubts given by the outside world. We should have an open and positive attitude towards discussions and debates, and face and accept them with humility and courage.

And he is also willing to spend time with young people and share his many years of experience in this industry with everyone.

 In October 2023, Du Jun shared his experience at the Growth Training Camp

Hacker Growth Training Camp Review: What are we talking about when we talk about Web3 marketing?

Work, family and life

A few months ago, Du Jun and his friend who helped him buy Bitcoin on Mt.gox Met in Tokyo.

This friend helped Du Jun buy his first Bitcoin in 2012. Du Jun also mentioned that he was also among the top 100 users of Huobi. He hadn’t seen him in 5 years and we had a heated chat during the meal. , and then we talked about a topic: What regrets do each of us have in the past 10 years of cryptocurrency?

A friend told him that his most regretful thing was that he sold more than 50,000 Bitcoins in 2015 and bought big houses in Japan and the United States. Fortunately, they were big houses. He gave birth to several children, and he joked that his second son’s name would be Satoshi Nakamoto.

Du Jun thought about the most regrettable thing in recent years, and it seems that there is only one thing that is difficult to reconcile, and that is HECO.

In mid-April 2021, HECO’s TVL had just exceeded US$12 billion, the average daily transfer number exceeded 4 million, and the monthly fee income was US$10 million. The price of HT increased 10 times from US$3.5 to US$39 US dollars, but HECO had to cease operations in May due to domestic policy reasons.

“This is the only project that I put all my efforts into (I personally invested 300 million U.S. dollars and took an average of less than 5 hours of rest per day for 30 consecutive days), but it ended in vain. It is also the most controversial project. ."

To this day, HECO is still an uneasy feeling in Du Jun's heart, and it is also the entrepreneurial project that he reflects on the most.

He said that sometimes he felt that time passed very quickly, and sometimes he felt that it passed by in a daze. He thought more and did less. He spent half of his time with his children and half of his time traveling, with a little work mixed in. and learning.

At the end of the sharing class that day, everyone got into the elevator with him. In the small space, everyone joked with him, and he also joked with us young people. Mingle.

After we went downstairs, we saw him waiting for the driver to pick him up. We asked him if he wanted to have dinner with us. He said he wanted to go back to spend time with his family.

I have always thought that big names in the blockchain always live alone in the world, but later I found out that he was married and had a lovely daughter.

He occasionally shares some anecdotes with his family on social platforms. For example, once his daughter suddenly said that her arm was dislocated while playing, and he asked several doctors in Singapore. They were all on holiday, and the emergency room might not be available yet. Treatment, thinking that his daughter would still be in pain all night, he found a reset tutorial on Xiaohongshu and successfully completed it in 5 seconds.

He said that he was working as a barefoot doctor at that time, but he did not expect that he succeeded in one go.

On one side is work, on the other side is family. Having founded so many businesses, when you asked him how he managed so many businesses, he mentioned the partners who worked hard with him.

“Sometimes many of the goals we set are only half achieved. Looking back, those who have achieved it are either lucky or they found the right partners and they got things done. , my role is minimal, and I would like to thank my partners.”

Yes, everything is getting better,He also wants more partners or entrepreneurs to join Web3 encryption In the second half of the field, let’s build the next generation of encrypted network world together and create another golden era of blockchain Web3.

On April 5 this year, Du Jun will also lead Xinhuo Technology to announce multiple products that support the Bitcoin ecosystem at the BITCOIN DAY, a side event of the Hong Kong Web3 Conference. You can continue to pay attention.

Write in Finally

In December last year, Du Jun passed by Ginza while traveling in Tokyo and was deeply moved when he saw the banner celebrating the 350th anniversary of Mitsukoshi's founding.

He wrote on the social platform that day: “I hope Bitcoin can last forever.”

Yes, it’s great for our generation,

ours Times have created Bitcoin.

Bitcoin should last for generations, right? !