Chapter Fifty-Three: Snatching Food from the Tiger’s Mouth, Befriending Time

It was clear that no investor in this world was a fool, especially not someone as shrewd as TIME, an early domain investor. The fact that he had registered multiple two-digit numeric domains back in 1998 demonstrated his unwavering belief in the value of numeric domains from the very beginning.

A simple, memorable, and striking domain could provide tremendous traffic power for many internet startups.

This was something the bearded TIME understood perfectly, particularly when it came to Chinese internet companies.

Therefore, he was very willing to negotiate domain transfers with domain merchants or executives from Chinese internet enterprises.

Two hundred thousand euros was a price that satisfied him, but he felt it wasn’t the limit; he wanted more.

“That foreigner’s appetite is quite big!” Hochtai squinted, somewhat surprised.

After all, before his rebirth, Liu Yi, a domain merchant from an island, had acquired the domain for roughly the same amount.

Could it be that TIME, seeing Liu Yi competing for the domain, now regarded it as a rare treasure and wanted to raise the price exorbitantly?

Was he not afraid that both parties would back out, leaving the domain unsold?

“No, that’s not right! The Liu Yi from the previous life had already raised the price to two hundred thousand euros quite early and had remained at a stalemate with TIME until the end of July, when he finally secured the domain. There must be some inside story I don’t know about.

Though two-digit numeric domains were valuable, abroad they paled in comparison to meaningful English acronyms.

Two hundred thousand euros was enough to satisfy TIME and make him let go.

So what reason did Liu Yi use to persuade TIME later?

If he could accurately identify that TIME was buying 55.com, he must have almost finalized a deal with Wowo Network.

At least, he had an insider there. Snatching the domain before him was like seizing prey from a tiger’s mouth.

Even if he managed to get it, it wouldn’t be as easy to handle as I originally thought...”

As his mind raced through the key points, Hochtai fixed his gaze on TIME’s half-smiling expression on the screen.

Then he snapped his fingers and said, “Okay, TIME, it’s obvious that us middlemen making money off information asymmetry can’t fool you.

But I believe you’ve also noticed a brand-new English word recently added to the Oxford Encyclopedic Dictionary.

That word is ‘guanxi,’ derived from Chinese, meaning relationships, and it carries a fundamentally different meaning from your English word ‘relation.’

This difference manifests in our political-business relationships, government-enterprise ties, inter-company connections, and personal-business associations.

Of course, there is also the most vital one: the interpersonal favors and human connections.

I tell you this to explain that holding the 55.com domain yourself will not truly attract the target Chinese internet companies to buy from you.

Even if these companies want it, they will only have intermediaries purchase from you at a lower price, just like now.

Then those intermediaries will resell it to the companies at prices ten or even a hundred times higher.

This way, not only can they hype the impact of an outrageous domain price on the company, but quietly funnel company funds into certain pockets.

I think I don’t need to spell it out any clearer.

Abroad, your so-called ‘non-corrupt’ political donations follow the same playbook.”

After hearing Hochtai’s explanation, TIME was silent for nearly half a minute before slowly nodding.

“Nice! FIRE, you’ve convinced me.

Indeed, as I know, even if I hold a domain urgently needed by your domestic companies, they only want to buy it at a high price through middlemen.

In your terms, I’m not one of you—I’m not at your table.”

TIME smiled with relief, clapped his hands, and praised Hochtai, “Now I believe the media calling you the smartest high school investor in the world is well deserved.”

“My boss is already a college student now! Mr. TIME, let me correct you once more,” Lulu, smiling nearby, interrupted.

“All right, all right! Beautiful Miss Lulu, your boss possesses wisdom and sharpness beyond his years.

We can proceed with the domain transaction now, money for goods.”

While signing the purchase agreement and contract with Lulu, TIME looked at the camera and said to Hochtai,

“FIRE, I also have an account on the Bitcoin forum, with the nickname TIME. Could you tag me in the post about the pizza purchase transaction?

You know, that post has become a pilgrimage site for many Bitcoin believers, and I want to leave a small trace there as well.”

“No problem! I’ll post it right now. You’ll see it soon.”

Hochtai knew this was TIME’s indirect way of verifying whether he was truly the “FIRE” from the pizza transaction.

So, Hochtai posted a new reply under that thread:

“Make friends with @Time, 2024, $100000.”

Translated, it meant:

“Be friends with Time, aiming for $100,000 Bitcoin in 2024.”

The phrase was a clever double entendre, as TIME’s nickname literally meant “time.”

As a rising figure on the Bitcoin forum, Hochtai’s reply immediately sparked another wave of heated discussion.

“Look! That Chinese high schooler has been hyped by our media until he’s flying high. Bitcoin worth $100,000 each? Only a madman would believe that.”

“Bitcoin isn’t even worth one dollar now, and he dares to say it will be $100,000 in 2024—that’s fourteen years from now.”

“It’s just nonsense. I say by 2044, Bitcoin will be $1,000,000 each!”

...

Even the most devoted Bitcoin believers on the forum didn’t believe Hochtai’s forecast.

They thought he was either intoxicated by media hype, truly believing himself a visionary investor, or deliberately throwing out an astronomical figure to maintain his personal media heat and attract attention for those hyping him and Bitcoin.

“All right! The top investor college student in the Northern Hemisphere, 55.com is now yours.

Oh, let me see what you wrote on the forum.

‘Make friends with Time’? Haha! Brilliant!

Time is me—hello, my friend.

In fact, that’s the very meaning behind my nickname.

Like Buffett, my investment strategy is always bullish in the long run.

Just like the 55.com domain, which I snapped up in 1998 and have held onto without selling, perhaps waiting for a genius investor like you to appear.

By befriending time, I turned a domain registered for a few euros into a sale worth two hundred thousand euros today.

So... my friend, I’m actually quite eager to see how much you can sell this domain for in the future.”