I recently saw a piece of news and it reminded me of Wu Jihan.

It’s a little ironic. Back in 2017, eight years ago, he dumped all of his and his company’s tens of thousands of bitcoins at around $3,800 to $4,000. The reason: All in BCH. He wanted Bitcoin Cash to replace BTC. As everyone now knows, BCH didn’t manage to take over—instead, it got trapped in a fork war. Bitmain was dragged into the abyss, and he himself was also forced out in a humiliating way, becoming the biggest joke of that bear market.

Eight years later, history has repeated itself. This February, BitDeer under Wu Jihan issued a holdings announcement, saying that as of February 20, the company’s self-held bitcoins had been completely zeroed out. 943.1 reserve coins plus the 189.8 coins newly mined that week—one-click liquidation at the $68,000 level.

Many people in the circle’s first reaction was: Here we go again?

Wu Jihan replied on X that having zero holdings now doesn’t mean it will always be like this in the future. He said that, but the market doesn’t talk about feelings. The moment the news came out, panic spread immediately. Retail investors were stunned, big players panicked, and even inside the mining industry there was an uproar.

Some people explained that he was selling in order to buy land and expand the mining farms, not because he was bearish. But think about it: someone who translated the Bitcoin white paper into Chinese; someone who has been betting on “Hodl” with 15,000 BTC since 2012; someone who once loudly shouted that BCH is the real Bitcoin—now he has sold his last remaining bitcoin. If that isn’t a collapse of faith, what is?

Logically, it makes sense—this is financial maneuvering, an adjustment to asset allocation. But put it at this particular moment: $68,000, clearing the position, zeroing everything out, even leaving nothing of the 189.8 coins mined this week. The signal it releases is more direct than any research report.

What’s the more practical problem? On the market, among 22 mainstream mining rigs, 9 have already reached their shutdown prices. At these prices, mining doesn’t even cover electricity costs. Miners either shut down or sell coins. And selling coins also further pushes the price down, creating a negative feedback loop.

When leading mining companies wipe their Bitcoin holdings down to zero, it means mining capital is withdrawing from the crypto world. Miners are the backbone of Bitcoin. If the backbone is running away, how are retail investors supposed to hold on?

When the people who understand Bitcoin best start stepping away, the market really is at a delicate turning point. I’m not trying to spread bearishness, and I’m not calling for bullishness. I just feel that Wu Jihan’s two rounds of liquidation are too much like one person’s destiny. He’s always betting big on the trend—when he wins, he gets to be glorified; when he loses, he becomes a punchline. In 2017 he lost. In 2026, this round isn’t finished yet—but the market’s panic is already written into the candlestick chart.

Right now, BTC is around $79,900, up 1.67% over the past 24 hours. At the end of the day, the crypto world has never lacked stories; what it lacks are people who can actually learn something from those stories.

My personal take is: when top players start clearing their positions, don’t rush to insult them, and don’t rush to copy them either. First figure out one thing—are the coins in your hands the vessel of your own belief, or just fuel in someone else’s story? This round, the story isn’t over, but the signals are already clear enough.