Exclusive Interview | Machi's "Big Brother" Huang Licheng's Cryptocurrency Adventure: The cryptocurrency world is like a martial arts world

Machi Brother Jeff Huang, who is known for his roles as an entertainer, businessman, producer, also has another identity that the general public may not be familiar with: a big player in the cryptocurrency industry. For participants in decentralized finance (DeFi), his name is well-known both domestically and internationally.

The cryptocurrency projects he has founded or been involved in include Mithril, which focuses on content mining, MachiX for digital rights, C.R.E.A.M. Finance for DeFi lending platform, and algorithmic stablecoin MITHCash. His involvement in various projects reads like a recent history of cryptocurrency. Every coin he has played with becomes a hot topic, some have become rich because of him, while others who lost money refer to him as a "big cutter." Jeff Huang stated that he doesn't care about the community's comments, saying, "The world of cryptocurrency is like a martial arts world."

Exclusive interview with Brother Jeff Huang, giving you an insight into how he views his "cryptocurrency career."

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Algorithmic Stablecoins: From Getting Started to Actual Participation

Huang Licheng's latest involvement in a DeFi platform: MITHCash, is playing with algorithmic stablecoins, which, in simple terms, use algorithms to control currency inflation and contraction to create a stable value cryptocurrency. There is a reason why he chose the topic of "algorithmic stablecoins."

He believes that centralized stablecoins like USDT and USDC have their own problems, with the most crucial being the government's control over them, leading to the possibility of frozen funds, which he does not favor. It wasn't until he started paying attention to "algorithmic stablecoins" and got to know improved algorithmic stablecoins like ESD and DSD after Ampleforth AMPL. He straightforwardly said, "I felt like I was late to the game, I don't like that feeling." So, he didn't join until he saw another platform, Basis Cash, where he saw many smart individuals in the crypto community engaging in discussions and launching it with a fair launch. However, he wasn't very confident in the anonymous team behind it, and with talented individuals in Taiwan wanting to fork this platform, he decided to help out and also contributed his Mithril Coins to this platform. (He emphasized that he is just a participant in the platform.)

However, the common risk with algorithmic stablecoins is how to stabilize the coin price when it falls below the target value. He believes that the team behind MITHCash has implemented many mechanisms better than Basis Cash and should be able to perform better, looking forward to the advancement of algorithmic stablecoins.

Since he finds risks in centralized stablecoins, why not consider collateralized decentralized stablecoins? For example, DAI, he feels that DAI, for stability and scalability, still relies on centralized USDC as collateral. He mentioned that DeFi talks about using oracles to capture real-world data, but he finds it strange and overly complex to define value in dollars in the on-chain and off-chain worlds.

He agrees with FTX CEO SBF's analogy: "These things aren't called algorithmic stablecoins, they are algorithmic bitcoins." Because they can't really be stable and have no collateral assets, their value is defined by the market.

He thinks the most ideal stablecoin is a digital currency that governments cannot control and without collateral assets. There are still many algorithmic stablecoins competing, and when the last one with a large market cap emerges, it will be able to survive more stably.

Investing in DeFi Tips: English is Important, as well as Participating in Community Discussions

"English is crucial," Huang Licheng said, the quality of a platform's official English documentation often affects its credibility. Using good English explanations on platforms like Twitter and Medium can enhance trust. Along with other technical conditions, such as having rules like a 48-hour time lock, destruction of management keys, all written in DeFi smart contracts, can be indicators of a good investment project.

Although English proficiency doesn't necessarily correlate with the team's technical abilities, sometimes even the opposite, as some Russian teams write English oddly but are technically strong. So, when the right mix of technical expertise and marketing is found, that's an ideal target.

He also mentioned that investing in DeFi relies on experience. Actually investing in the product and participating in discussions with developers and the community can provide a better understanding. For example, when he was involved in Basis Cash, he invested first, got to know the team, and engaged in discussions with them to evaluate the platform.

Since playing with cryptocurrencies since 2017, his advice is: "I don't play projects that venture capital funds participate in." He mentioned his dislike for VCs, having seen many VCs discussing how to exploit the market, as they often don't bring much value besides their brand. With the rise of fair launches, cryptocurrency VCs are gradually decreasing.

Andre Cronje's Protocol Whale? Big Brother: I'm the One Who's Late to the Party

"I'm always late to the party, every time," Big Brother said discontentedly.

Due to the transparency of blockchain transactions, the crypto community tracks Huang Licheng's address to see his fund movements, with some even suspecting his close connection with Yearn founder Andre Cronje, allowing him to be ahead.

Big Brother expressed his dissatisfaction, mentioning Andre's Keep3r protocol, where everyone around him entered at $8-10, but he bought at $40, making him actually late. The token's peak was $500, currently at $300. He ensured it was indeed Andre Cronje's protocol and not a test before buying in large amounts. After facing criticism for selling in bulk, even Andre Cronje himself came to criticize him. However, this led to a conversation with Andre Cronje, resulting in a collaboration with CREAM.

Recalling the initial release of Andre Cronje's YFI token, Big Brother said, "I was really late, and the cheapest I mined was around $60."

He mentioned selling and buying back, even at $3000. It wasn't until he felt the fair launch of YFI seemed somewhat reminiscent of Bitcoin's creator Satoshi Nakamoto that he decided to go all in. (Initially, during Yearn.finance YFI's fair launch, there was limited liquidity mining, with the highest price reaching $40,000, currently around $30,000.)

It seems there are whales above whales, and Big Brother has a group of friends who are always on time, explaining why many people follow his address. When asked if he had anything to say to those tracking his address, he simply replied, "That's not me, those transactions aren't mine."

Thoughts on YFI Governance Token: Wanting to Increase Issuance is Not Right

As the Yearn.finance community debates whether to increase the supply of YFI by 20,000, Andre Cronje, under pressure from the community, has started to express his concerns.

Big Brother believes that when the founder states the total supply, that's it, and communities without actual contributions shouldn't demand token issuance increases. After discussions with Andre Cronje and others, he is confident that those with a significant voting power advantage will not support proposals for issuance increases.

He thinks that governance tokens should serve as a form of promotion initially, and in the later stages, there's no need to continue issuing tokens for ongoing mining. Methods like Compound's governance token COMP, which allow prolonged mining, are not appropriate, resembling Ethereum's long-term mining approach, which he finds outdated.

For a more effective platform, he believes that at this stage, capable and contributing individuals should be the ones determining the direction. He sees decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) as positive, requiring time and more talent to achieve meaningful decentralization.

The Crypto Community is Like a World of Its Own, Achievements are My Evaluation

Big Brother doesn't care about the crypto community's evaluation of him: "The crypto world is like a world of its own, I've fought many battles in it." He believes that negative evaluations stem from having already gained a certain influence in this world.

He finds satisfaction in the success of the lending protocol CREAM. With assets locked up to nearly $400 million, it not only received encouragement from Compound founder Robert Leshner but also the approval of Andre Cronje, integrating into the Yearn ecosystem. The recent product, Iron Bank, also pleases him.

He mentioned that with the team's technical expertise, CREAM could explore many other ventures within the Yearn ecosystem. Although they are interested in projects like Deriswap, they currently focus on the lending aspect.

He believes that product recognition is the best achievement, and what the masses say doesn't matter anymore.

Why Stay in the Crypto World? Big Brother Says: Just Interest, I Have No Faith in Crypto

We were curious why Big Brother, who already has many ventures outside of the crypto world, would still want to stay in crypto after retirement. He candidly mentioned that due to the pandemic restricting travel and being at home, researching this field has become an interest for him, finding the community really fascinating.

He mentioned that doing business in the crypto space isn't much different from other industries, and he doesn't have many material desires besides wanting to buy an NBA team, which is a bit challenging. It's just that he has the ability, technical knowledge, and resources in the crypto space, making it a waste not to utilize them. He also believes that Yearn's core developers can bring a better future for CREAM.

He mentioned that he likes Bitcoin but prefers Ethereum because everything he is currently involved in is on the Ethereum platform. In reality, he has no faith in cryptocurrencies, and if any issues arise one day, he would immediately exit.

Although Big Brother seems laid-back, he spends a lot of time researching cryptocurrencies and frequently discusses with renowned developers worldwide, suggesting he might be in the crypto world for a long time to come.