When Lin Shicheng came out of Suite of Zhao Chen, the night of Manhattan had already sunk to the surface of the water of the Hudson River.
He did not go back to the office directly, but bought a can of black coffee from the convenience store downstairs of the hotel.
I drank it while standing on the street, then threw the empty can into the trash can and hailed a taxi.
The driver asked him where he was going, and he said "Era Vanguard Office"--
That corner in an inconspicuous office building at Midtown Manhattan, where the lights are on every night,
It's the place where he spent more time than at home in the past two months.
He needed to organize the more than two hundred pages of documents in the file box into an attachment that could withstand any level of SEC review within two days.
It's not a re-make - all bank statements, exchange statements, and cross-border transfer vouchers have been filed one by one as early as last year.
What he has to do now is to rearrange and combine these scattered materials according to the logic that the SEC can understand.
Let a reviewer who doesn't understand Bitcoin clearly know where every penny of Era Vanguard comes from after reading the first page.
The office lights are still on.
Two analysts were working overtime to sort out the position change records of Nvidia. When they saw Lin Shicheng pushing the door in, they raised their heads at the same time.
Lin Shicheng placed the file box on the conference table and opened the lid. More than two hundred pages of documents glowed softly off-white under the light.
Each page is covered with sticky notes, marked with dates and keywords in fine black marker.
He took off his suit jacket and put it on the back of the chair, loosened his tie, and opened his laptop.
He had already thought of the basic structure of the reply letter on the way back.
The SEC is asking about the initial source of funds, but if it only gives a general answer--
"Profits from Bitcoin trading" -- SEC examiners won't be satisfied.
They need to see the complete Capital Chain road, from the first bank transfer to the last liquidation return.
Each link in the middle must be supported by independent third-party certificates.
So he decided to break down the initial funding source of Era Vanguard into four stages.
Each stage is accompanied by complete transaction records and bank statements, making the entire Capital Chain entry clear at a glance.
Phase One, seed capital.
He opened the first few pages of the file box. This was the starting point of the entire Capital Chain--
At the end of 2016, Zhao Chen raised approximately 500 million Hong Kong Dollar by pledging its Henglong Holdings shares.
Transferred to Offshore SPV, a newly registered company at British Virgin Islands. He has a complete archive of the registration documents of this SPV.
He retrieved the original Board of Directors resolution and a copy of the bank transfer voucher and placed them on the first page.
This page is not complicated, but it is the beginning of the whole story:
A 22-year-old young man pledged all his shares in the family business.
In exchange for the first real seed capital.
Phase Two, Bitcoin open positions.
This part of the file is the thickest and most critical.
From November 2016 to early 2017, Bitcoin hovered in the range of 800 to 900 US Dollar for a long time.
It was during this window period that Zhao Chen transferred all the seed funds to Coinbase and Bitfinex exchanges in batches, and bought Bitcoin with High Leverage.
Lin Shicheng pulled out the exchange's original statement from the file box--
He applied for it through the institutional client channels of two exchanges at the beginning of last year, and each copy was stamped with the electronic seal of the exchange.
The statement clearly shows the transaction price, quantity and timestamp of each pending order on each trading day.
He added a calculation on the attachment page: the average price is about 855 US Dollar, and the first batch of positions is about 355,000.
Next is the part of T+0 Swing Trading.
This part of the record is more complicated--
Zhao Chen sold part of its position when the price of Bitcoin rose to a certain stage high.
After the correction, I bought again, and my position once reached 550,000 coins.
Every selling and buying record of Swing Trading is accompanied by an exchange statement.
Lin Shicheng pairs the selling price, quantity, and time with the buying price, quantity, and time one by one to form a complete closed loop.
After Swing Trading, Bitcoin continued to rise, and Zhao Chen bought about 50,000 more US Dollar around 2,000.
The exchange statement and bank transfer receipt for this part of the purchase are also attached.
At this point, the total holdings of Bitcoin have reached approximately 550,000 pieces.
Phase Three, clearance.
In December 2017, Bitcoin exceeded 17,000 US Dollar.
Zhao Chen decisively chose to clear the stock on this day.
The clearing exchange statement clearly shows that about 500,000 Bitcoin were sold in batches at multiple prices, with a total profit of about 8.2 billion US Dollar.
After deducting approximately 267 million US Dollar in transaction fees, financing interest, cross-border fund transfer fees and tax compliance costs,
The final net profit was approximately 7.94 billion US Dollar, all of which was deposited into Offshore Account of Cayman Islands.
He placed this clearance summary at the top of all documents.
This is the end point of the entire Capital Chain and the source of principal for all subsequent operations of Era Vanguard in the US Stocks market.
The last is the fourth stage, US Stocks layout.
Starting from the beginning of 2018, this amount of approximately 7.94 billion US Dollar funds was gradually transferred to the United States brokerage account.
Used to buy Tesla Common Stock, participate in SpaceX financing, and build a large-scale position Nvidia after Nvidia Financial Report plummeted in November 2018.
Every subsequent increase in holdings and every additional pledge will be funded entirely by the Bitcoin profits of 7.94 billion US Dollar.
When the tidying up was completed, the sky outside the window was already covered with a very light gray-white color.
Manhattan's lights gradually dimmed in the morning light. He picked up the already cold black coffee on the table and took a sip.
The bitter taste exploded on the tip of his tongue, reminding him of Zhao Chen's decisiveness at the end of 2017 when he issued the order - "Bitcoin is all cleared."
It is estimated that the people who executed the order at that time had a hard time understanding why Zhao Chen was able to escape unscathed when Bitcoin was at his craziest.
Now he has read through the more than two hundred pages of documents from beginning to end. Every page is the trace of Zhao Chen's alone late at night watching the market, calculating, and making decisions.
He put on his glasses and began to cross-reference page by page.
From exchange statements to bank statements, from Offshore SPV registration documents to United States brokerage account opening records.
Every page is perfectly matched, and the time, amount, counterparty, and intermediate account all match.
At five o'clock in the morning, he sent an extremely brief message to Zhao Chen:
"The four-phase framework has been sorted out, and all credentials can be verified in a closed loop."
Zhao Chen's reply came almost instantly - "Very good, thank you for your hard work."
Lin Shicheng closed the file box, leaned back on the chair and closed his eyes for a few minutes.
He knew that this was destined to be a ground-breaking report and a wealth myth that could be recorded in history.
It's already dawn outside the window.
Manhattan The morning light filtered in through the gaps in the blinds, casting thin golden stripes on the conference table.