Interview: Tian Daxia, Ru7; Article: Tian Daxia

In the world of blockchain, the trends rise and fall like the tide, speculators flock in, and hot money flows like the tide , creating the myth of getting rich overnight but also burying countless dreams.

Some people are obsessed with short-term arbitrage and chasing the next wave of opportunities; others choose to be patient and look for long-term value in the hustle and bustle. Haze, co-founder of GMGN, wants to be the latter.

Haze, known as "Brother Ji" in the industry, was born in 1985. Compared with the entrepreneurs born in the 2000s in the Web3 industry, he is more calm and sophisticated. Haze grew up in Hunan, where the water of the Xiangjiang River gave him the unique resilience and enterprising spirit of Hunanese people, and also gave him a keen sense of opportunity.

Today, we will write about the story of Haze “Brother Ji” and GMGN.

Exclusive interview with GMGN co-founder Haze "Brother Ji": Stay sharp and focus on long-termism with the team

 Haze himself did not want to share his photo, but attached a Twitter profile picture (X: @haze0x)

No matter how big the world is, there are still "9 to 5"

Before starting GMGN, Ji Ge lived a standard 9 to 5 life like most people. He said that he didn't have any lofty ideals at the time, nor was he a technical genius, he just wanted to make money.

"At that time, I thought that work was just about doing the work and getting paid, and that was the end of my life."

Around the end of 2017, by chance, he saw a report about Bitcoin in the news. Although he didn't know the specific use of Bitcoin at the time, he intuitively thought it was an opportunity worth trying.

In 2018, he joined a quantitative trading company that does grid trading out of interest and began to systematically learn about blockchain and quantitative trading. This experience gave him a deeper understanding of the blockchain industry and laid the foundation for his subsequent entrepreneurship.

The time came to June 2023. At that time, the Meme Coin market had not exploded, but Brother Ji himself observed the development trend of Meme Coin when trading on Ethereum.

So there was GMGN.Ai, a platform focused on tracking and analyzing Meme tokens.

Brother Ji explained that the name GMGN is taken from the abbreviation of "Good Morning and Good Night", which means that the team hopes to provide users with round-the-clock services.

PvP culture created by memes

At that time, Meme Coin had not yet become the mainstream of this cycle, and many people even thought it was just a "flash in the pan" hype, but Brother Ji had a completely different opinion.

In his opinion, Bitcoin was originally a peer-to-peer cash payment system, USDT became the mainstream tool for cross-border payments, and Ethereum opened a new era of asset issuance. Meme Coin can be seen as an upgrade in the efficiency of blockchain asset issuance.

“It has low cost, high efficiency, and can quickly issue assets based on hot spots and sentiment. This is not just a sector of blockchain, but also the ultimate embodiment of asset issuance methods.”

Brother Ji said that the hype of VC coins and application coins in the last cycle has been falsified by the market, and new investment thinking and user groups are emerging. Young users are not very interested in the hype logic of traditional "fundamental analysis", but are more concerned about community resonance and entertainment value.

It is this entertainment value that has created the PvP culture of this cycle.

Exclusive interview with GMGN co-founder Haze "Brother Ji": Stay sharp and focus on long-termism with the team

"Coin circle PvP culture" refers to a competition and gaming phenomenon in the cryptocurrency circle centered on "Player versus Player" (PvP). This culture is mainly reflected in the mutual gaming between participants through transactions, hype, project competition, etc.

Because of this culture, terms such as "P Xiaojiang" that are widely used in the Chinese community have also emerged. It usually refers to small investors or high-frequency players who are active in on-chain transactions (especially meme coins or small-cap tokens).

Brother Ji thinks that the new trading tool may make the chip structure of Meme Coin more transparent and fair, and provide a better trading experience.

By analyzing the changes in market sentiment, infrastructure, and user groups, Brother Ji predicted at the time that the Meme Coin market might explode. GMGN was born to meet these pain points.

Exclusive interview with GMGN co-founder Haze "Brother Ji": Stay sharp and focus on long-termism with the team

In 2024, with the full outbreak of the Meme Coin market, GMGN quickly won wide favor in the market with its efficient and stable trading functions and user-friendly design.

Many users successfully participated in the early Meme Coin project through GMGN and received generous returns, making GMGN the focus of the industry.

Pretending to be an E person, forced to come out to do community building

Don’t be fooled by the fact that Brother Ji is usually active on Twitter like an E-personnel, but he is a pure I-personnel. The team has to operate and speak out, and he joked that he has to "pretend" to be cool and "E to the extreme" to do marketing.

His MBTI is INTJ-A, which means he is rational, independent, has strong strategic thinking and strong execution ability, but his E-person element is also forced out.

Brother Ji admitted: " When the team has dinner together, we basically don't talk. Most of our company used to be technical people. If we don't drink, we will be very quiet and it will be awkward to talk."

As we all know, in the Meme Coin circle, atmosphere is extremely important, and Brother Ji has gradually found some methods that suit him.

In April and May, after GMGN went online, Brother Ji said that he promoted it on Twitter, and users gave feedback that the dashboard function was very useful. They can use this function to dig deeper into smart money addresses, analyze the operations of large holders, and conduct address research and data analysis.

During this period, GMGN gradually accumulated a group of seed users. With these users, product updates and iterations became closer to actual needs.

Brother Ji said that what really made GMGN popular was the "rat trading" feature. This feature was inspired by user feedback and our direct observation.

“On-chain asset data is so transparent, and we think this transparency should be better utilized.”

I read "The Art of War" and product managers read "Tao Te Ching"

Some people believe that GMGN should have raised funds crazily when it was at its peak and then become bigger and stronger, but GMGN obviously chose the exact opposite path.

Brother Ji admitted that the team’s goal is not to quickly accumulate capital and cash out, but to improve products around core users and control the scale of manpower and product boundaries. He emphasized that if the goal is just to hit the right spot and make a quick profit, then the valuation should be raised, financing should be raised, and platform coins should be issued at a high point.

“ Our team has the same core values. We all believe that getting things done is more important than making money. We encourage team members to keep learning and growing. For example, product managers will read Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching and share their thoughts at weekly meetings. We focus more on the self-growth and cognitive iteration of our members rather than short-term economic benefits.”

He himself was obsessed with The Art of War, figuring out how to win by surprise. But he also joked on social media: "Our product manager often takes advantage of me! He likes to read Laozi, while I read Sunzi."

Exclusive interview with GMGN co-founder Haze "Brother Ji": Stay sharp and focus on long-termism with the team

GMGN values the opinions of the community and users' questions and feedback.

“If a user has a misunderstanding about us, I will fly over to communicate face to face if we are close to them.”

He mentioned that recently an overseas user asked a question about GMGN. The user happened to be in Hong Kong, so he immediately flew to Hong Kong and had an in-depth chat with the user for several hours. Such communication can be seen as a two-way trip, which helps users understand GMGN better and also allows product evolution to always resonate with user needs.

"I think it is very important to go deep into the front line. User feedback can not only improve my cognition, but also help us improve our products."

Brother Ji admitted that they also pay attention to security plans. In his opinion, the blockchain industry is changing too fast and attack methods are emerging in an endless stream. Instead of presetting imaginary enemies, it is better to maintain the ability to respond flexibly.

“We don’t spend too much energy on assuming who the adversary is, but instead focus on how to respond and resolve the problem quickly.”

This strategy of "countering challenges head on" is not only reflected in terms of security, but also runs through GMGN's entire product development process.

He emphasized that the core goal of the team has always been to improve infrastructure and product functions. The infrastructure should be more stable, smoother and faster, and product functions should be continuously improved according to user needs.

P The work and life of young entrepreneurs

As an entrepreneur, Ji Ge said there is no clear boundary between his life and work.

"Work and life are gradually integrated," he said, adding that although he tries to spend time with his children on weekends, he does not think work and life need to be completely separated.

He said that when he was in his twenties, his definition of himself was still vague, and he just wanted to show his talents in work and pursue user operations and user growth. His goal at that time was simple - to make money.

But now, the biggest change is that he has a clearer definition of himself. He no longer only focuses on money, but pays more attention to getting things done. It is difficult to get rich quickly and get things done at the same time, and he prefers the latter.

"I don't have any luck with making money. All my achievements have to be accumulated bit by bit through hard work. So, I will continue to redefine myself and confirm what I am doing."

I jokingly asked him when he would retire, and he mentioned that their product manager was older than him, but it seemed like everyone was ready to keep going.

"As long as I still have ideas and passion, I will continue to work. Age is not a limitation, thinking and cognition are the key."

Exclusive interview with GMGN co-founder Haze "Brother Ji": Stay sharp and focus on long-termism with the team

Although Brother Ji was born after 1985, he is also a rap lover. He has listened to everything from Eminem to Kendrick Lamar, and from Trap to Memphis Rap. This shows why he can integrate into the circle of young P players born after 2000. Because of his young mentality, his tolerance and love for multiculturalism have also subtly influenced his understanding of products and innovation.

As for the future of GMGN, his goal is very clear - continue to delve into on-chain transactions and achieve perfection. He firmly believes that the team will not blindly expand its business, but focus on the track it is best at and polish every detail to perfection.

He said: "Rap makes me feel sharp all the time, and when I work with the team, we also hope to maintain our sharpness."

In music, he pursues breaking boundaries and releasing passion; in the development of GMGN, he shows strong rationality and jumping. This seemingly contradictory characteristic is perfectly integrated in him, creating an image that is both interesting and reliable.

"Meme Operation Guide from 0 to 10 Million US Dollars"

Previously, GMGN teamed up with several well-known KOL bloggers, including @0xcryptowizard, @CryptoDevinL, @BTCdayu, @0xSunNFT, @hexiecs, @corleonefnf, @Unipioneer and @yuyue_chris, to complete a "Meme Operation Guide from 0 to 10 Million US Dollars".

This guide not only embodies the professional experience of the GMGN team, but also brings together the practical experience of many industry leaders. It can be called an "encyclopedia" in the Meme Coin field.

Exclusive interview with GMGN co-founder Haze "Brother Ji": Stay sharp and focus on long-termism with the team

Today, GMGN is gradually emerging in the blockchain industry, and Brother Ji has steadily grown from an ordinary entrepreneur to a highly regarded figure in the industry. In his view, the world of blockchain has just begun, and there are countless possibilities waiting to be explored in the future.

For Haze, blockchain is not just a career, but also a belief. He believes that through technological advancement and the joint efforts of the community, blockchain will eventually change the way the world works.

He and GMGN are willing to play the role of long-term value creators rather than short-term speculators in this transformation.

As he often said, "We are just at the forefront of the trend, and we still need to be cautious and do things well."

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