A Well-known Hero in The Making

“My name is Mengjun Jiang. Mengjun was referred to Lord Mengchang in Spring and Autumn Period, but I prefer people to call me Ivan.” This is how he introduced himself after giving me a big hug.

At the end of 2017, Blockchain caught the world’s attention. Since then, it has shown great momentum. But the disputes about Blockchain has been equally eye-catching. It seems that Blockchain has become a frequent topic for entrepreneurs of whom many have bravely embarked on the journey. Ivan, as far as I am concerned, is undoubtedly the most promising talent to become the leader of the industry.

“The Chief Hugging Officer”

Ivan is a friend to many. He jokes that he is a “human connector” because he has established true friendships with many people who share same ideas. Professor Yan Gong from CEIBS Entrepreneurial Leadership Camp may have offered the most accurate description of Me Ben — “The most crucial role of Ben is Chief Hugging Officer”. Ivan always greets new friends with broad smiles and heartfelt hugs, and he never fails to break the ice. Owing to his trustworthy personality, Ivan has befriended many people. Within two years, he has had in-depth conversations with over a thousand entrepreneurs. His passion and sincerity are well received and appreciated by many.

Building Blockchain business faces many challenges and traps, and therefore it requires passion that is continuous and independent from values of coins. Such passion shall show faith and be passed onto others. Without a determined mind and unyielding passion, any grand vision would remain mere imagination.

Ivan, the “Chief Hugging Officer”, is opening his arms to embrace the grand Blockchain era where the unknown is to be explored.

“Break through with Strength”

When a new industry is emerging with unstoppable momentum, there is likely to be scams and speculations in disguise. Ivan once said, “the Blockchain industry is a stage with the wisest innovators and the most shameless deceivers are standing in the middle” — exactly why the industry is stigmatised a praised at the same time. The existence of air coins and “leek-cutting” speculations has further contributed to the notion that the co-existence of Coins and Blockchain is seemingly impossible. However, we must see that when disruptive technologies are to emerge, there is bound to be disputes and misunderstandings. The same philosophy applies to revolutionary opportunities too. When asked about strategies, Ivan’s answer was short and sharp — “Break through with strength”.

Breaking through with strength means to uphold integrity and build new landscape. In Ivan’s mind, Blockchain technology will ultimately “reset the Internet where everyone will have an opportunity to thrive”. In this new picture, oligopolists will cease to exist, and the world will see an Internet of value formed by hundreds of millions of medium-small companies. The users’ experience will be so vivid that everyone becomes a “stakeholder”. Towards such goal, Ivan has been all in for Blockchain business. Hopefully, Merculet will be the doorway through which hundreds of millions of companies, users, and capitals will enter the era of Blockchain.

Ivan’s courage and vision have attracted investment from many leading Blockchain companies including Distributive Capital, Danhua Capital, Agreement Laboratory of Mars Finance, OK Capital, JRR Crypto, Krypital Group. Apart from companies, Merculet has also welcomed influential individuals from the industry, including Mr Bo Shen (Fenbushi Capital), Mr Xiangyang Yang (a famous investor), and Roger Lim (Core partner of NEO Global Capital), and Feng Wang (founder of Mars Finance). As the proverb goes, “No making is possible without breaking”. There is no doubt that Ivan’s breakthroughs are about to draw a new landscape for the industry.

“Obsession of An Technology Guy”

Blockchain technology is, in fact, the revolution of perceiving the world.

Different perspectives on Blockchain will lead to different product and value.

Ivan shared his initial understanding about Blockchain from the perspective of a science and technology expert — “I started out as a technology guy, and I understand that Blockchain technology was initially linked with issuing of tokens. I used to think that the so-called Blockchain is a scam where speculators profit by others’ toil, and therefore I shall not get anywhere close to it.”

However, once a technology elite has seen the actual value of Blockchain, he would show unrivalled passion and obsession for it.

Blockchain technology is well known for its capability to change relations of production profoundly. The significance of Blockchain to the society, however, is far beyond technology level. Blockchain technology has multi-dimensional values, and its development will offer us more perspectives such as philosophical, social, economic… Nonetheless, the fundamental driving force of the development of Blockchain is technology. As a technology expert who has worked in the Silicon Valley for almost three years, Ivan keeps a very clear mind when making decisions.

In the second half of 2017, Ivan and the team started to look into Blockchain technology in a detailed manner. Faced with uncertainties, they believe that the best way to move forward is to have good products and to lead the market with value.

Ivan spares no effort in realising Merculet that provides Internet companies with ready access to token-based operations and endeavours to join hands with companies and users to achieve better products and to form new relations of production. Merculet announced its plan in March and launched Merculet 1.0 on the 11th of May this year. So far, the product has found users in 107 countries.

“An MVP At 3 AM”

During Spring Festival this year, the “3 am” Blockchain online discussion group attracted many people’s attention. However, with the cooling down regarding trades of coins and ICO, how many people are still passionate about making a difference in Blockchain industry?

Among all the Blockchain entrepreneurs I know, Ivan is the only one who works at 3 am on a daily basis. At this hour, he has seen the night views of many places — Shanghai, Beijing, Silicon Valley, Dallas, Japan, as well as Tokyo, St.Petersburg, Seoul, Ho Chi Minh, Manila, Shenzhen, Chegndu … After Ivan is all in for Blockchain business, his workload has become much higher. He attends high profile forums in different places in the world to introduce his projects, pays visits to various experts and invite them to join the company, discusses cooperation models with global partners, and introduces Merculet to investment institute with unyielding confidence.

Kobe Bryant is an MVP of NBA, and he is also a hero to many people. Interestingly, the token that Merculet issued is also named MVP. Kobe has a famous remark — “Have you seen Los Angeles at 4 am?” Perhaps Ivan has the best position to answer this question, and he could say “ I known how 3AM looks like in each city as long as I been here.”, Ivan is another MVP.

If Ivan cannot make it a success, then fairness doesn’t exist.

Lord Mengchang could be seen as a SuperNode. He once had over three thousand retainers, and no other could have half of his influence. Ivan might understandably want to be another Lord Mengchang, but I believe that his preference of being called Ivan is rooted in his pure, earnest, and effective strength. Perhaps Ivan aims higher than just becoming another Lord Mengchang.

Driven by a grand dream, Ivan has joined hands with many same minds. In the massive wave of Blockchain, Ivan is bound to be a well-known hero.