Bitcoin Forum

(Translated from: http://bitebi.cc/archives/1601.html. English is not my first-language, so please endure my verbal and grammar errors :))

I came across Zhoutong tonight.

I was using my cell phone to watch the BTC price. Then I received a text message: "Hi, are you the Bitcoinica user XXX? I was examining the AML file you submitted just now."

I: Who's that?

Z: I'm Zhoutong... I happen to be in Guangzhou at this moment.

I: Zhoutong the Singapore guy?

Z: In fact I'm a Chinese. I was studying in Singapore when I was interviewed. Of course I'm that guy, otherwise how could I know your information? I was processing them minutes ago.

I: Is there any risk that Bitcoinica might be forced to close?

Z: Not now. The company has several other guys that are in charge besides me (but I can't disclose their identities yet). In addition, we have hired a few lawyers to make sure that we don't break the law. Now Bitcoinica has got the license of providing the financial service. According to the local legislation, we must verify our customers' identities.

I: Do you intend to make a Chinese version of Bitcoinica?

Z: Not yet. Our website was not designed with multi-language support from the start.

I: How did you come up with the idea of Bitcoinica? Were you majoring in finance? It is a very cool exchange.

Z: Hehe, thanks.

I: Do you often stay in China now?

Z: No. I'm about to study in Australia. I haven't gone to college yet. I became a stock speculator in 2006, and started writing Rails applications in 2009, therefore I sort of have some experiences in this. My business is very successful now, I've already earned my tuition.

I: I dived into the stock market in 2002. But I think Bitcoin is the best object I can find, for both investment and speculation.

Z: Hehe, it's certainly a good bet for long-time investment. But the risk of short-time speculation is way too high, I think. For speculation, I like foreign currencies and futures more.

I: Hehe, I find that my account is not allowed to choose the 10:1 leverage.

Z: It should be OK now. Only those transactions larger than $2000 are prohibited to do 10:1.

I: Haha, I hope I wouldn't be Zhoutonged then.

Z: ... Control your risk. Don't use high leverages. And don't put all your life savings into it.

I: Is my trading volume in the top of Bitcoinica?

Z: No, but it's large anyway. Both long and short volumes in Bitcoinica exceed 55000 now.

Then I asked him for his QQ(a popular IM tool in China) number, and dragged him into a discussion group:80041991)

Tuzi: Master Zhou, could I ask why you created Bitcoinica?

Shenzhoubahao: I find that placing orders in Bitcoinca is quite blind-minded. The price information given is less than that in the stock market.

Z: I started Bitcoinica because I'm not satisfied with other exchanges. I have traded foreign currencies before, and found that Mt.Gox does not have mechanisms to stop loss(forced liquidation). Nor it supports margin trading or short trading. I wanted to implement these features, while the only way to do it is to gather money from customers and let them borrow and lend from each other. We are quite like foreign currency exchanges, which also only provide a limited quantity of price information, namely two prices. In fact Bitcoinica will give some of its orders to Mt.Gox. It's called hedging. Nevertheless, the internal trading volume of our exchange is also very large already. But still, 30%-70% of the orders in Mt.Gox are from Bitcoinica every day.

cnbtcnews: It would be perfect if you support Alipay(A Paypal-like service in China) and the Chinese language. I guess it will attract many Chinese people then.

Z: Hehe, we didn't start with multi-language support in mind, so it is somehow technically difficult to modify the software. But surely I will consider.

We found that Zhoutong will soon be 18 as we were chatting.

cnbtcnews: What's your opinion in html5?

Z: I have no doubt that it will become mainstream. But the difference among browser standards are so big that we couldn't have a proper common specification.

cnbtcnews: Will you make Bitcoinica a cross-platform website using html5?

Z: Doesn't it support all mainstream browsers already? Even iPhone and iPad are supported. I use them to visit Bitcoinica myself.

cnbtcnews: Will you have an iPhone-specific client?

Z: No short-time plans of this yet. The cost is too high, and I have no experience in cell-phone development.

@Original chinese authors: And?

The original author's id is Derson, according to that website. I've no idea if he has any accounts of bitcointalk though.

Thanks for translating. I can't read Chinese chicken scratch, only 한글 and Engrish.

Some summary:

1. Zhoutong has been indeed making money.
2. He himself doesn't prefer short-time speculation on Bitcoin.
3. Bitcoinica might still be English-only for a long time.

All totally true from first hand experience as his friend.

Yepo... Whenever you are in Melbourne; make sure you send me a message :)

And I won the bet in that other thread about where will he incorporate?

So people are getting their IDs reviewed and processed by a minor in Guangzhou. Kind of surreal, but amusing.  8)

I'm not seeing where he mentions that.

Sure. I'll go to Trinity College in March.

Trinity College? Wow, I almost wanted to go there for my pre-U studies too. Guess I missed the chance of meeting you  :'(

Bump, in case there's any relative information that can be gleaned from this thread.

~Bruno~