Ethereum (ETH): $185.00.
Just five months ago, it was $10. An 18x return in less than half a year.
Hong Ye-eun stood in front of the screen, a glass of water in her hand. She looked pale. "Min-jun," she whispered. "Is this real? Or is the data feed broken?"
"It's real," Min-jun said, sitting on the sofa, scrolling through Reddit on his tablet. "The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) announcement triggered it. Samsung, JP Morgan, Microsoft... they're all testing the blockchain. The market is pricing in the 'World Computer' narrative."
Ye-eun turned to him. She did the mental math. She knew roughly how much he held. He hadn't hidden his conviction, even if he hid the exact amount.
"You bought at $2.50," she said. "And at $5. And at $10."
Min-jun didn't answer. He didn't need to. His 250,000 ETH stack, acquired for roughly 1.5 Billion KRW, was now worth $46 Million USD (approx. 50 Billion KRW).
In terms of liquid cash, Min-jun was now richer than Ye-eun. He was richer than most KOSPI CEOs.
"You're a monster," Ye-eun said, sitting down heavily. "I'm fighting for 10% returns in the stock market, sweating over quarterly earnings... and you just made 50 billion won sleeping?"
"I wasn't sleeping," Min-jun corrected. "I was waiting. And the waiting isn't over."
"Not over? It's up 1,800%! Sell it! Cash out! Buy a building! Buy an island!"
"If I sell now," Min-jun said calmly, "I miss the mania. This is just the 'Institutional' phase. The 'Retail' phase—the frenzy—hasn't even started yet."
Min-jun stood up and walked to the window. Below, Teheran-ro was bustling with salarymen. They didn't know yet. They were still talking about real estate and baseball. But soon, every single one of them would be talking about Bitcoin.
"Besides," Min-jun added. "I need the ETH. Not to sell for fiat. But to buy tickets."
"Tickets?"
"ICO. Initial Coin Offering."
June 15, 2017. The PC Bang (Old Habits).
Min-jun sat in a private room at a high-end PC cafe. He preferred it to his office for crypto transactions. No logs on the corporate firewall.
He opened a whitepaper. Project Name: Binance. Token: BNB. Founder: CZ.
In 2017, exchanges were terrible. Mt. Gox had failed. Poloniex was laggy. Bithumb was prone to crashes. CZ was proposing something simple: An exchange that actually worked, with a token that discounted fees.
Min-jun knew the future. Binance would become the Amazon of Crypto. It would swallow the industry. Buying BNB at the ICO price was like buying Amazon stock at $1.
ICO Price: 1 ETH = 2,700 BNB. (Approx $0.11 per BNB).
Min-jun checked his wallet. He couldn't invest too much. The ICO had a cap. And he didn't want to hold a majority stake that would alert CZ.
"Allocating 1,000 ETH," Min-jun decided.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
He sent the transaction to the smart contract address. Sent: 1,000 ETH ($350,000). Received: 2,700,000 BNB.
Min-jun leaned back. In 2021, BNB would hit $600. His 2.7 million tokens would be worth $1.6 Billion USD.
"This isn't investing anymore," Min-jun muttered, feeling a strange numbness in his fingertips. "It's a cheat code."
He looked at the screen. The numbers were becoming abstract. When you have 100 million won, you think about what you can buy (a car, a watch). When you have 10 billion won, you think about what you can build (a company, a house). When you have 100 billion won... you think about who you can destroy.
Min-jun opened a new tab. Daegwang Construction (000xxx). Market Cap: 2.5 Trillion KRW.
"Not yet," he whispered. "But soon."
July 2017. Gangnam. A "Blockchain Meetup".
Min-jun attended out of curiosity. It was held in a hotel ballroom. It was packed. But the crowd had changed. In 2016, it was geeks and libertarians. Now? It was MLM scammers, "Gangnam Moms" looking for investments, and college students dreaming of Lamborghinis.
"Ethereum is going to $10,000!" A speaker on stage shouted. "Buy my token! It's better than Bitcoin! It has AI!"
Min-jun stood in the back, sipping lukewarm coffee. This was the top signal. Or at least, the signal of the "Stupidity Phase."
"Excuse me," a man in a cheap suit approached him. "Are you interested in a pre-sale? We are building a blockchain for... dental records. It's called DentCoin."
Min-jun looked at the man. "No thanks. I prefer cash flow."
"Cash flow is old school! This is the token economy!"
Min-jun walked away. He saw Kim Si-woo—his high school friend—in the crowd. Si-woo was listening intently to a scammer selling a mining rig scheme.
Min-jun walked over and grabbed Si-woo's arm. "Let's go."
"Min-jun? What are you doing here? Hey, this guy says if I invest 5 million won, I get 10% monthly returns!"
"It's a Ponzi," Min-jun dragged him away. "Walk. Now."
Outside the hotel, the humid summer night hit them. "Why did you stop me?" Si-woo complained. "Everyone is making money! My cousin bought XRP and bought a car!"
"Si-woo," Min-jun said sternly. "Do you have 5 million won to lose?"
"No. It's my tuition money."
"Then don't touch this. This is a casino where the house is on fire. People will make money, yes. But most will burn."
"But you invest! You're rich!"
"I invest because I know the exit," Min-jun said. "You don't."
He hailed a taxi for his friend. "Go home. Study engineering. That's a real asset."
August 2017. The Fork.
The Bitcoin Civil War. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) split from Bitcoin (BTC). The market panicked, then rallied. Bitcoin hit $4,000.
Min-jun sat in his office at Mirue Partners. Total Crypto Net Worth: ~80 Billion KRW.
He was approaching the 100 Billion Won club. He needed to start off-ramping. He couldn't liquidate 80 billion in a day. He had to sell slowly, layer by layer, into the rising market.
He called Ye-eun.
"We need a new corporate structure," Min-jun said.
"Why? Mirue Partners is fine."
"Mirue is for Venture Capital. It's regulated. I need a structure for... alternative assets. Real Estate. Art. Gold."
"You want to buy a building," Ye-eun guessed.
"I want to buy a fortress. I'm liquidating 10 billion won of crypto this month. I want to buy the building we are sitting in."
"This building? It's 40 billion won."
"I'll put 10 billion down. Mortgage the rest. The tenants pay the interest. It's a hedge against inflation. And it's hard assets. The NTS can't freeze a building as easily as a bank account."
Ye-eun looked at him. She had seen him grow from a high school student with a stock tip into a financial titan. "You're cashing out. You think the crash is coming."
"The crash is always coming, Ye-eun. The question is whether you're holding the bag or the building when it hits."
Min-jun looked at the chart. BTC: $4,200. ETH: $300.
The hysteria was just beginning. The "Kimchi Premium"—where crypto traded 20% higher in Korea than the US—was forming. He was going to arbitrage the madness of his own countrymen.
[TRANSACTION LOG]
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Date: June 2017
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Action: ICO Investment (Binance).
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Asset: 2.7 Million BNB.
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Cost: 1,000 ETH ($350,000).
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Strategy: Long-term Infrastructure Play.
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Date: Aug 2017
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Action: Asset Diversification (Off-Ramping).
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Sell: ~10,000 ETH @ $300 (Avg).
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Proceeds: ~3 Billion KRW.
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Sell: ~500 BTC @ $4,000 (Avg).
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Proceeds: ~2 Billion KRW.
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Total Cash Raised: ~5 Billion KRW.
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Target: Commercial Real Estate (Gangnam).
[Status Update]
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Net Worth: approaching 100 Billion KRW (mostly illiquid crypto).
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Liquid Cash: 15 Billion KRW.
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The Goal: Daegwang Construction acquisition.