At the same time, a major event was unfolding online. Someone had discovered that Bitcoin—yes, Bitcoin—had been completely emptied out.
Originally, there were approximately 21 million Bitcoins in existence. After years of mining, about 19.9 million had been extracted, leaving roughly 1.1 million yet to be unearthed. This scarcity was the primary driver behind Bitcoin's persistently high price, which had been hyped up to 70,000 USD per coin—equivalent to roughly 500,000 in Xia Country currency. It is no exaggeration to say that owning just a few dozen of these coins was enough to achieve financial freedom.
Not long ago, the once-calm Bitcoin market suddenly experienced a massive sell-off, with tens of thousands of coins being dumped at a time. Everyone initially assumed it was a leveraged institution facing a margin call and being forced to liquidate, a common occurrence in trading markets. So, when the price of Bitcoin was smashed down to 65,000 USD, many investors began "buying the dip," assuming the price would inevitably rebound once the institution finished its liquidation.
Chapter 522