Chapter 207: Dimensional Reduction Attack

"Seven hundred dollars!"
"My goodness... seven hundred already?!"
Gasps of astonishment echoed through the top-tier trading department's office.
A group of traders, now looking like country bumpkins visiting the city for the first time, practically had their eyes pop out.
"Holy crap... if I'd impulsively gone all in when it was three hundred, I could have my underwear in gold by now!"
"Is this insane? Even a printing press couldn't do this! Is money just falling from the sky?"
The bright red candlestick on the screen shot straight up to the heavens like a rocket.
Bitcoin.
This thing, which they had recently dismissed as an "electronic scam," was now taking off in a way they couldn't even comprehend.
To date, a full 15 million Bitcoins have been mined, and its total supply limit, hardcoded in the code by its mysterious founder, is 21 million—not a single one more.
“So, only six million remain unmined?” a young trader asked.
“That’s right,” explained a senior employee beside him.
“But don’t underestimate those six million. Some experts have calculated that to mine them all, it will take at least until 2140 AD!”
“Huh?! That long? There’s only so much left, how can it take over a century to mine?”
“The design of this thing is simply ingenious! It has a feature called ‘half-life,’ like a bottleneck in cultivation techniques. The later you get, the more exponentially the mining difficulty increases.”
Initially, the elites at Fang Huan Investment, without exception, viewed Bitcoin with the same disdain they would a street vendor selling miracle cures.
But once their exchange opened and they dissected and studied the system thoroughly, they discovered things weren't so simple.
This system was actually quite sophisticatedly designed.
To ensure its scarcity and prevent inflation, the total issuance was capped at 21 million coins.
The 'half-life' mechanism also controlled market rhythm.
Even more impressive was its underlying technology, the so-called "blockchain," which, theoretically, was impenetrable.
Even if all the hackers in the world were united, they couldn't break through it head-on.
Of course, news occasionally circulated about exchanges being completely hacked, stripped bare.
But this wasn't Bitcoin's fault; it wasn't that Bitcoin itself had been compromised.
Rather, the security system of the exchange—its "vault" for storing Bitcoin—was so inadequate that it was broken into!
The conclusion is: as long as the exchange's own security is robust, it's rock solid.
"And don't be fooled by the claim of mining over 15 million coins," one trader pointed out incisively,
"but the actual number circulating in the market is less than 7 million!"
Some are determined to keep it as a family heirloom and refuse to sell;
Even more ancient sages mined massive amounts of these things back in the day, when they were worth less than a pizza, and then…
They either discarded the hard drive containing their private keys like trash and can't find them anywhere;
Or they simply throw away the little piece of paper with the key written on it.
These Bitcoins become ghost assets that can never be redeemed, sitting on a mountain of gold but begging for food.
“Back when our ‘Fanghuan Exchange’ first opened, everyone was quite apprehensive.”
Some people started reminiscing about past hardships and appreciating present happiness, saying...
"Everyone felt this lousy business wouldn't last long; they'd all be packing their bags and leaving."
Recalling the first day Fanghuan Exchange opened, the scene was nothing short of "utter disaster."
New user registrations: 97. Less than a hundred people!
That night, the entire department didn't sleep well; their hearts were ice-cold.
With such a small user base, they couldn't even cover server electricity costs, let alone pay salaries!
However, no one expected the turning point to come so suddenly.
First, India implemented its demonetization policy, throwing a bombshell into this stagnant market.
Then, central banks around the world followed suit, launching a massive crackdown on illicit "black money."
This whole ordeal enraged the powerful figures operating in the shadows.
Their illicit funds either became worthless overnight or plummeted in value.
Thus, they desperately needed a new, anonymous haven, free from government control.
And so, Bitcoin, this decentralized and untraceable currency, burst onto the scene, becoming their "chosen one."
The irony is palpable.
Governments, intending to nip the problem in the bud and uncover illicit funds, inadvertently helped these individuals bury their money in an even deeper vault, secured with an impenetrable lock.
However, those illicit money launderers overlooked one crucial point.
They only intended to use Bitcoin as a tool for money laundering, failing to anticipate that the influx of massive amounts of illicit funds into the Bitcoin pool would drive its price to an unbelievable level.
And this, in fact, ignited the catalyst for the subsequent global Bitcoin frenzy.
"Hey, you guys think Bitcoin... breaking $1,000 shouldn't be a problem, right?"
"A thousand? Ha! That's a piece of cake! Look at the trading volume right now, it's insane!
Besides, our Fanghuan Exchange has already surpassed one million registered users!"
That exchange, once deserted and where employees worried about losing their jobs, is now so popular that its servers are constantly at risk of crashing.
A surging tide of people, a torrent of hot money.
"But speaking of which, did Chairman Su foresee this happening?"
"Nonsense! Don't you think about who Chairman Su is? He's a ruthless person who can defy the heavens!
Back when the exchange was still a thing of the past, he gave us a firm order to build up servers regardless of cost, buy as many as we could!
At the time, we thought it was a waste of money, but look at us now!"
Liang Haiyuan gave him a look that said, "You bunch of mortals."
"If it weren't for Chairman Su's foresight, these million people flooding in over just a few days would have crashed our servers!"
This sudden Bitcoin frenzy spurred countless new exchanges to spring up like mushrooms after rain.
But what was the result?
The vast majority of platforms couldn't withstand this tsunami of traffic; servers crashed or crashed as usual.
Only Fanghuan Exchange, thanks to Su Hao's almost prophetic foresight in planning ahead, remained steadfast, becoming the sole Noah's Ark amidst the surging tide.
This allowed it to attract the vast majority of new users like a magnet in a short period.
"It's not just the servers! Chairman Su also got us exclusive partnerships with dozens of overseas exchanges.
Right now, in the domestic market, only we offer trading in hundreds of altcoins!"
Indeed, besides stable servers, Fanghuan Exchange's other fatal attraction lies in its outrageously vast selection of cryptocurrencies, a direct blow to the competition.