Content arrangement: Peter_Techub News

As a pioneer and long-term witness of the blockchain industry, Du Jun's name runs through almost every key wave: from co-founding Huobi in 2013 to promote the early popularization of Bitcoin in China; to creating Golden Finance, becoming the central node for information circulation in the industry; and then as a founding partner of Node Capital, accurately capturing multiple cyclical outlets. With his keen judgment of technology trends and long-termism in capital operation, he has written countless classic cases in the industry.

Today, he has founded Vernal, an incubator focusing on cross-innovation between AI and Crypto, and is still active at the forefront of the industry - at the crossroads where the Bitcoin ecosystem, stablecoin changes and the AI wave intersect, he continues to explore the boundaries of technology and is firmly optimistic about the rise of Chinese people in the global technology landscape.

In June 2025, Alma, the founder of Techub News, had an in-depth conversation with this benchmark figure who has gone through bull and bear markets. In this ideological confrontation about the future, Du Jun not only shared his in-depth analysis of the underlying logic of blockchain, but also publicly explained for the first time why BitVM is regarded as a ⌈key transition⌋ in the Bitcoin ecosystem, and predicted that 2026 will be the ⌈first year of programmable Bitcoin⌋. When talking about the game between the Hong Kong stablecoin sandbox and the US regulation, he calmly showed the calm judgment of a capital strategist.

The following is the complete conversation that spanned the cycle. In the twelve years of industry experience, Du Jun has not only adhered to the belief in decentralization, but also has a deep respect for technological trends and market laws - this may be the ultimate code for Du Jun to always stay ahead of the trend.

The Golden Age of Chinese Technology

Alma : Mr. Du, you mentioned that now is the best time to invest in Chinese people. Why do you think so?

Du Jun: This is indeed an era of great opportunities. Chinese people are in a leading position in the world in many cutting-edge technological fields, especially in the blockchain industry, where their advantages are particularly outstanding.

Exchanges are almost dominated by Chinese, and the same is true for mining machine manufacturing. Public chain projects such as TRON, Ethereum, Solana, and BNBChain also have a large number of Chinese backgrounds in their founding teams and executives. Looking at the circle of friends, whether it is exchanges, mining machine manufacturers, or wallet applications, you can almost see Chinese people.

This influence has expanded from blockchain to a wider range of technology fields: in Silicon Valley, Chinese leaders have frequently emerged in the AI and semiconductor industries, such as Lisa Su, Jen-Hsun Huang, etc., who are playing a decisive role in their respective fields. Compared with the era dominated by Indian engineers ten years ago, today's "Chinese dividend" is becoming a new theme. For this reason, I choose to stay in Silicon Valley frequently to personally experience and participate in this structural rise.

In Du Jun's view, Chinese people not only have technological innovation capabilities in key technology tracks such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and new energy, but are also gradually moving towards capital decision-making and industry dominance. This comprehensive rise marks the arrival of the "golden age of Chinese technology", and also means that Chinese people will play an increasingly important role in the global technology competition landscape.

The positioning and future of public chains

Alma: You mentioned that there are only four major public chains at present. What are they? Will there be a need for more public chains in the future?

Du Jun: I think there are only four core public chains that have truly gained a foothold: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tron, and Solana. Their advantages lie not only in the technology itself, but also in their clear market positioning:

• Bitcoin is digital gold, that goes without saying;
• Ethereum becomes the de facto standard for DeFi infrastructure;
• TRON focuses on stablecoin transfer and settlement, and has strong application scenarios in the payment field;
• Solana, on the other hand, is positioned as a high-performance, low-latency Meme public chain, focusing on the ultimate user experience and liquidity hotspots.

The reason why these public chains can get to where they are today is not because of the ⌈panacea⌋-style feature packages, but because of clear strategic choices. In contrast, many other public chains have either vague positioning or mediocre technology, and it is difficult for them to cross the cycle and achieve breakthroughs.

As for whether new public chains will be needed in the future? My judgment is: not necessary in the short term. Today, Ethereum's Layer 1 solution has significantly improved scalability, reduced costs, and enhanced interoperability between assets. Except for a few Layer 2 projects like Base, most of them have long disappeared. It's like a Swiss Army knife, with only a few functions that are really used frequently. The market's desire for ⌈new public chains⌋ is often a pseudo-demand magnified by imagination. At least in the next five years, I don't think there will be too many new public chains - even five years later, we may not see structural changes.

Du Jun emphasized that the core competitiveness of public chains lies in the closed loop of strategic positioning and real use scenarios, rather than concept stacking and quantitative expansion. His analysis of the current public chain ecology reflects the industry's higher requirements for efficiency and practicality.

Exchange Reincarnation and Investment Missed

Alma: You once said that the industry has a cycle every four years, and in each round, there will be exchanges that stand out. You have successfully invested in many popular exchanges. Which exchange do you think will be the best in this bull market? Have you invested in it? If not, what is the reason?

Du Jun : I was optimistic about Hyperliquid this round, but unfortunately I didn't invest. There are two reasons: First, they don't accept external investment. We have contacted them very early, and the team has almost no external funds. Second, I didn't buy their coins in the early stage. When I bought them, they had risen to $15, and I missed the best time. I used to be able to hit the right step in every round, but this time I was distracted by researching other fields such as AI, and my energy was not focused enough, and I didn't invest enough energy in the primary market.

Du Jun admitted that the exchange opportunities in this round of bull market were missed, which reflects the importance of focus in investment. He mentioned that institutions such as ABCDE have performed well in branding and investment, showing that the primary market still has potential, but it requires accurate judgment and resource investment.

Bitcoin Ecosystem: From Sentiment to Programmable Future

Alma : You have invested a lot in the Bitcoin ecosystem and have also incubated some projects. After all these experiences, are you still optimistic about the Bitcoin ecosystem? Is it necessary to build an ecosystem?

Du Jun : There is some sentimentality in the Bitcoin ecosystem. Before 2017, Huobi and OKCoin mainly traded Bitcoin and Litecoin, and in the early days, there was only Bitcoin. We often corrected the term "altcoins" and called them "competitive coins". At that time, we promoted Bitcoin's immutability, traceability, and distribution, but rarely mentioned programmability. After the emergence of Ethereum, the programmability and innovation space of blockchain were emphasized. The Bitcoin community was once divided into two factions: one faction argued for expansion, leading to forks such as BCH and BSV; the other faction hoped that Bitcoin could be programmable and functional like Ethereum.

For many years, the programmable route technology was immature. Until the rise of inscriptions and runes in 2023, I think it lacked long-term value support, so I did not participate. Later, the BitVM protocol proposed to achieve Bitcoin programmability through a white paper, which I found very interesting. Bitcoin is a $2 trillion asset, but liquidity is difficult to release. Ethereum has derivative financial products such as MakerDAO and Aave, while Bitcoin's WBTC relies on the centralized institution BitGo, which has the risk of running away. BitVM and other technical routes attempt to achieve decentralized casting and redemption, jointly verify with mining pools, create assets similar to YBTC, and apply them to on-chain scenarios. This is my dream. We have invested in BitVM, RGB++, Shishisuo, Lightning and other routes. As long as programmability can be achieved, I support it. Now BitVM has a clear route and high code quality. It is expected to achieve the first step of decentralized casting and redemption before September this year, and the complete plan may be seen next year. The development cycle is long, but there is a glimmer of hope. Among them, the Bitlayer team has 30 to 40 full-time technicians who are constantly iterating for a long time.

Alma : So you are optimistic about the programmability of the Bitcoin ecosystem and think this is a trend?

Du Jun: Yes, because these technical routes have begun to be realized and are not castles in the air. Last year, they were just slogans, but now there is progress. The programmability of the Bitcoin ecosystem is not only a technological breakthrough, but also the key to releasing its $2 trillion liquidity.

Bitcoin 's ⌈Religion⌋ and the Decentralization Debate

Alma : Some people think that Bitcoin is becoming more and more centralized, and the internal code has been changed a lot. Is there any coin that can become the ⌈second Bitcoin⌋ and achieve complete decentralization?

Du Jun: Logically, new coins may appear in the future, because nothing is impossible. But subjectively, I think it is difficult. Bitcoin and Ethereum are completely different concepts. Bitcoin is a belief, like religion, representing digital gold and priceless freedom. You can say it is worth 10,000, 100,000 or even 1 trillion US dollars, because it is irreplaceable and is a fundamentalist culture and belief. If Ethereum loses the DeFi project and the transfer volume drops from 5 million to 500,000, it may be sold off, but Bitcoin will not. In the early days, we shouted ⌈Recharge Faith⌋, which was the logic. In the short term, it is difficult for any currency to replace Bitcoin.

Du Jun compared Bitcoin to a religion, emphasizing its unique cultural and belief attributes, and believed that although its decentralized nature has been questioned, it is still difficult to be replaced.

Industry changes: from belief to naked reality

Alma : I entered the industry in early 2017, and you entered even earlier. What do you think of this round of industry changes? Why is it like this? Is it a turning point now? What will happen in the future? I think the logic of the past few rounds is that the project parties look for VCs, go to exchanges, and retail investors take over, but this round only Bitcoin has risen, other currencies have performed poorly, and the traditional path seems to be ineffective. Exchanges are more on-chain, such as GMGN, and the industry has become like a casino. Projects issue tens of thousands of coins a day, and centralized exchanges are either compliant or engaged in pyramid schemes or contracts. When I entered the industry, I believed in decentralization, but now I feel that there is nothing else except Bitcoin. What do you think?

Du Jun: I bought Bitcoin in 2012, and in 2013, I founded Huobi with Li Lin and others, and served as CMO to promote Huobi and Bitcoin. In the early days, we had to make users interested in Bitcoin by talking about its technical reliability and asset allocation. At that time, there were not many application scenarios, and the fluctuations were not large. We relied on technology and the concept of digital gold to attract users. In 2015, I talked about Bitcoin with the local government, and I was still talking about it in Singapore from 2018 to 2022. The sense of accomplishment gradually disappeared. It's not that the world has not made progress, but that we have not made progress. We have been talking about Bitcoin for more than ten years. Just like not talking about the HTTP protocol with parents, but talking about how mobile Internet makes life more convenient. Blockchain should also talk about application scenarios.

Two years ago, I found that stablecoins were a breakthrough point, with high efficiency and low cost for cross-border transfers. Traditional transfers take 1 to 4 days and cost $18 to $25, while Ethereum transfers are only $0.25 to $1. Last year, the total transfer volume of USDT and USDC was $27 trillion, exceeding the 25 to 26 trillion of Visa and Mastercard, showing the promotion of blockchain to economic efficiency. There are several key moments in history: the Bitcoin white paper in 2008, the Ethereum ICO in 2017 that gave equal rights to currency issuance, the DeFi Summer in 2020 that achieved decentralized finance on the chain, and the promotion of stablecoins from 2014 to 2017 (the 94 policy gave birth to Binance, etc.). But there was no innovation in this cycle, only Meme and Tap2earn projects, which harvested users instead of creating value, making the industry boring. Without incremental users and assets, it is difficult for exchanges to rise. New assets create new exchanges, such as NFT assets that gave birth to Opensea, and this round of Meme assets that gave birth to GMGN, Axiom, etc. If only Meme and Tap2earn are left in the industry, it may be ⌈game over⌋.

Du Jun reflected on the lack of innovation in the industry and believed that application scenarios such as stablecoins are the hope for the future, rather than pure speculative logic.

The success and future of stablecoins

Alma: You mentioned stablecoins. Why did USDT outperform? Hong Kong and the United States passed stablecoin bills. Will more stablecoins be needed in the future? Are there prospects for RMB or HKD stablecoins?

Du Jun: It is very interesting to study the history of currency issuance. In the early days, shells and gold were used. After the formation of the country, each country had its own currency. In the free market, the US dollar and gold won, and no one chose the Zimbabwe dollar or the Hong Kong dollar. The currency in a sovereign state is enforced by the government, but in global circulation, the US dollar is dominant. In the future, after breaking through sovereignty, there will be free competition, and the US dollar stablecoin has the most advantages. Gold stablecoins are unstable due to their investment properties. USDT wins because of its wide range of scenarios and high acceptance. Hong Kong banknotes are issued by three banks. The United States does not care who issues the US dollar stablecoin, as long as it is anchored to US dollar assets. The current usage scenarios of the Hong Kong dollar, the Singapore dollar, and the Cambodian riel are limited, and online expansion still faces challenges. Stablecoins need scenario support. If Tencent and JD.com issue coins without scenarios, it will be difficult to succeed.

Alma : The US dollar hegemony is facing de-dollarization, and the scale of stablecoins will increase from hundreds of billions to 3 trillion US dollars. Some people say that Bitcoin will become a stablecoin reservoir, and 60% of the value of stablecoins is anchored in Bitcoin. Do you agree?

Du Jun: It is possible, but at this stage, stablecoins are used for payment and arbitrage. The purpose of issuing stablecoins is not to buy other coins, but to arbitrage. In reality, the interest rate of the US dollar is 2%, and the interest rate of US bonds is 4%. The arbitrage on the chain can reach more than ten points. This has drawn away the funds of the altcoins and has an impact on the price of the coins. Whether it will become a reservoir in the future remains to be seen, and I am not optimistic.

Alma : The United States has the GENIUS Act, and Hong Kong allows the issuance of various stablecoins. Where would you choose to issue the US dollar stablecoin?

Du Jun: I haven’t studied it, because I have no plan to issue stablecoins. The most profitable things in blockchain are exchanges, stablecoins and public chains, but wanting to do something and being able to do it are two different things. Stablecoins need to be supported by scenarios. USDT and USDC won because of the scenarios, while dozens of other types failed.

Summarize:

This conversation shows Du Jun's extraordinary journey from the University of Hong Kong to a blockchain pioneer. With his deep feelings and forward-looking vision, he outlines the industry's changes and future blueprint. From Bitcoin's ⌈religious⌋ belief to programmable technological breakthroughs, his expectations for the Bitcoin ecosystem in 2026 are exciting; from the precise positioning of public chains to the dollar dominance of stablecoins, he analyzes the core logic of the market; from the lack of industry innovation to the rise of Chinese technology, he calls for a return to value creation and ignites new hope for the industry. Frequently shuttling between the United States, Singapore and Hong Kong, Du Jun not only witnessed the global influence of Chinese in the fields of blockchain, AI, etc., but also pushed the boundaries of technology with the layout of Vernal Capital and Xinhuo Technology.