In the previous article, I had detailed the books I read by the two gentlemen, Buffett and Munger, in 2024. Some readers have repeatedly asked about this, so I will list them again here.
The main books I have read are: the transcripts of Buffett's speeches at the shareholder meetings, Buffett's letters to shareholders, "The Way of Munger," and "Poor Charlie's Almanack."
My approach to these books has mainly been to understand the investment philosophies of the two gentlemen. The most enlightening part for me has been Buffett's speeches at the shareholder meetings.
These speeches essentially answer all the questions investors have when trying to understand the investment processes of the two gentlemen. The books are excellent, but the only issue is that they are quite thick, and I estimate that very few people can patiently read through them.
However, if one can thoroughly read these speeches, I believe it not only provides a general understanding of the gentlemen's investment methods but also helps to grasp their series of actions in the investment market (such as the recent large-scale sale of Apple stocks and the significant purchase of XX company's stocks), without being led astray by various speculations and conjectures from self-media.
Nonetheless, I believe these books also have limitations (I am not saying the two gentlemen have limitations, but rather that the scope of the books themselves is limited). They still reflect the gentlemen's judgment methods in the micro field, especially regarding specific companies and projects.
I always hope to stand at a higher perspective, using methods that step outside of investment itself to understand the tracks, assets, development, and trends of our investments.
This year, I read another book that gave me a bit of this feeling—it made me more convinced of the future of the crypto track and more certain that the crypto ecosystem is the future for countless ordinary people like me.
It is "The Great Game: The Rise of the Wall Street Financial Empire" (CITIC Press).
This book narrates the development of Wall Street from nothing to becoming the financial center of the United States and even the world.
In the early days, Wall Street was a completely unregulated, chaotic market. The market was filled with disreputable forces, and people came to Wall Street not to buy good companies but to raise money, cash out, and commit fraud.
In the early days, even the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury colluded with Wall Street speculators, and even Supreme Court justices were bribed by speculators to serve their interests.
At that time, Wall Street was seen as a thorn in the side of many U.S. presidents.
But despite being such a chaotic market, its freedom attracted financial capital from all over the world, and this capital continuously fueled the vigorous development of American industries and the economy during every technological revolution and industrial wave experienced by the U.S.
In the early days, every industrial revolution in the U.S. became a subject of speculation for Wall Street without exception. Countless speculators on the street would paint the narrative space in a magnificent way, and they would glorify financial bubbles as luxurious and dazzling. Among 100 companies that went public, perhaps only 2 were genuinely doing business, 3 were barely doing business, 25 were misnamed, and 70 were outright shell companies.
Each of these bubbles would change the fate of countless "poor and destitute" individuals, while the severe depression following the bubble's burst would lead to the ruin of many "big players," even triggering societal upheaval and crises.
Whenever such upheavals and crises affected society as a whole, the American people would use their power to compel the U.S. government to take measures to regulate the illegal activities within.
On the other hand, the vested interests of Wall Street were unwilling to be openly restrained; they would always maneuver and negotiate with the U.S. government using their money and influence, struggling for survival.
The compromise resulting from the tug-of-war between these two forces led to the outcome that, on one hand, illegal activities that incited public outrage were regulated, while on the other hand, the freedom of financial innovation continued to remain on Wall Street, planting the seeds for the next wave of innovation.
It seems that Wall Street is the source of repeated disasters, repeatedly cursed and scorned by society, yet it manages to rise from the ashes after each disaster, once again becoming a home for "dream chasers," and once again leading the technological and industrial revolutions in the U.S. financially.
This mixed market of good and evil, with its vibrant freedom, possesses qualities unmatched by any other financial market in the world, ultimately making it the financial center of the globe.
The crypto ecosystem is essentially a virtual-world replica of Wall Street.
The current sordidness of the crypto ecosystem resembles the dirtiness of early Wall Street, the chaos in the crypto ecosystem mirrors the disorder of early Wall Street, and the lies scattered throughout the crypto ecosystem are akin to the rampant fraud of early Wall Street.
Like Wall Street, every innovation explosion in the crypto ecosystem is not lacking in "wealth creation myths," and every bubble attracts "poor and destitute" dreamers.
What is fairer than Wall Street is that the crypto ecosystem does not believe in background or pedigree, has no biases, no barriers, no discrimination, and no censorship; it always opens its doors to adventurers, providing equal freedom and rights to all participants.
Wall Street has contributed a continuous flow of funds for every industrial and technological revolution in the U.S., and similarly, the crypto ecosystem has provided a continuous flow of funds for every revolution and technology that has erupted within it, from the early Ethereum to DeFi, NFTs, and now AI agents, without exception.
However, compared to Wall Street, the crypto ecosystem has incomparable advantages: all its gameplay is public, all transactions are transparent, contracts are the law, and they cannot be violated or interfered with.
Wall Street has played an immeasurable role in achieving the current status of the U.S., and I believe the crypto ecosystem will also make an immeasurable contribution to achieving the future status of the virtual world.
Over 200 years ago, outcasts, rogues, and heretics fled persecution, sought sustenance, and searched for hope in the new world, ultimately establishing a new nation.
More than 200 years later, ordinary people, in their cautious entry into the crypto world to change their life circumstances and realize their wealth dreams, will undoubtedly create an even greater and better new world.
We have registered a new Twitter account purely to keep a backup of our articles and to provide an open space for free communication with our readers.
Our new Twitter account is @Dao_Views.
This Saturday (January 4, 2025), we will hold our first online communication on this new Twitter account, and everyone can post their questions in the comments under the following link.
https://x.com/xiaoyan3171/status/1873556087359836200
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