Exclusive Interview with Hannah Ye, PR&IR Director of Cango: No Need to Set Limits, Time Will Tell

This is someone who can navigate effortlessly in all types of relationships, possessing the ability to make everyone feel comfortable. Whenever you meet her, she is always speaking—smartly, charmingly, effectively, reflecting attitude and position... Juliet Ye always tells everyone that she is a "Bitcoin elementary school student." In November 24 years ago, she was still in the automotive industry. When mentioning her, many inevitable labels on her are brought up: female executive of a listed company, journalist, content-first, non-technical background.

Let's rewind to 2004, Juliet Ye graduated from the University of Hong Kong with a master's degree. Her first job was as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal. During the golden age of print media, journalists had a natural mission of justice. As a journalist, she had a precious drive. She did not like stability and was not used to lying flat. She told herself to try to report more complex stories, daring to step out of her comfort zone. With this determination, she created many impressive reports, such as the Beijing Olympics and the Wenchuan earthquake. Five years later, she joined FTI—a globally leading independent business consulting firm. "This is the opposite of a reporter. Your perspective will be very different. You need to speak from the company's point of view, which is very conflicting, but it often helps you see deeper into the society and those subtle pixels in the capillaries of these companies."

At this time, Bitcoin had just begun to show itself, quietly circulating among the geek community, cryptography forums, survivalists, and anarchists like a parallel world's monetary system, not taken seriously by the mainstream at all. Bitcoin truly entered the public's view during the 2017 bull market, and its skyrocketing price made the world take notice, also drawing regulatory attention.

One year after this, in 2018, after working at FTI for 8 years, Juliet Ye left. She wanted to explore a newer, more challenging world. With her accumulated valuable experience, Juliet came to Cango as the PR&IR Director. At this time, Cango was China's leading automotive finance company, and Juliet's arrival coincided with the company's preparation for listing. "This company was too low-key, the outside world knew nothing about it. The capital market needs the company to speak out and be seen. No company can afford to be ignored." Starting from scratch, Juliet began to build the company's publicity path, making more people aware of Cango and presenting Cango before investors.

In 2020, as the macroeconomic environment changed and the automotive industry underwent structural adjustments, Cango began to seek transformation, gradually shifting its focus to automotive transactions. It was also in this year that the global finance sector faced a financial crisis, with US stocks rising, the US dollar depreciating, bank runs... Bitcoin, once a minor player, was thrust back into the limelight, this time seen as a tool to combat inflation.

Four years later, Cango had a new intersection with Bitcoin. For Juliet Ye, hearing that the company was transitioning from industry to Bitcoin was surprising because this was a completely niche industry outside the mainstream. Growing up in a mainstream career path, this was a completely new challenge for her. However, she quickly embraced this change, confidently stepping out of her comfort zone. "Actually, there is a reasonable aspect to it. Cango has always been a company of continuous change, always searching for its own course in a changing market. And there is one thing that Cango has always pursued, which is new energy. Bitcoin to some extent has financial attributes and is also a new energy that can flexibly regulate the power grid."

「It will be messy, but returning to the initial goal, truly sinking in, clarifying thoughts, getting close to the truth, you can seize every possibility.」 She started again from scratch, building her and her team's new understanding of Bitcoin, breaking away from past experiences accumulated in the mainstream path, stepping out of the comfort zone, and engaging with the outside world to learn.

Juliet used herself as an anchor to reunderstand, build new trust, rewrite a new narrative for the company, allowing Cango to better emerge in the eyes of investors and analysts. 「It will be distressing. This is really a world that is so different from the past. A major pain point is: telling my story to you. How to adequately communicate our investment story to the industry and the investment community in order to garner public opinion and capital support for the company's ongoing development. From traditional finance to digital assets, the span is huge, but as a publicly traded company, the essence is the same: to continually create value for shareholders. This is something we will continue to do.」

「Rather than self-torment, it's better to accept change and blend with it.」 Juliet believes that the most different aspect compared to the past is that this is an industry based on trust, and the starting point for everything is that you must acknowledge the logic of Bitcoin in order to open the door to this industry.

The Web3 world has its own unique perception, preferences, and requirements for content. As the waves of the era surge forward, how can we find a new balance between Cango's past history and Web3? Juliet's past work experience tells her that the capital market mainly observes a Bitcoin company from several aspects: first, whether the company has self-operating capabilities; second, the company's future development direction; and third, the management team's capabilities and execution.

Based on these three points, she also provided Cango's answers:

1. Cango's Compliance DNA and Strong Cash Flow

The mature compliance system accumulated during the 2018 NYSE listing (such as SEC disclosure standards, cross-border regulatory responses) is being fully transferred to the new business. Currently, Cango's cash flow security mainly comes from three aspects: first, an adequate cash reserve—holding $118 million in cash and cash equivalents as of the Q2 2025 report. Second, a low-cost expansion strategy, focusing on second-hand mining machines instead of self-built mining farms, while extending to the green energy end to achieve low-cost or even zero-cost mining. Finally, we are actively expanding financing channels in the capital market. Currently, our debt-to-equity ratio is very low, leaving room to increase debt. We will prioritize debt financing over equity financing. Therefore, at least in 2025, we can support the company's strategy through our liquidity and debt financing.

2. Cango's Asset-Light Path and the Future Direction of Green Energy and HPC

By quickly entering the industry through the acquisition of second-hand mining machines (single-coin depreciation cost is only $15,000) and establishing strategic cooperation with key industry players including Bitmain and Antalpha.

Cango's short-term goal is to unlock the value of 50 EH/s of computing power through operational efficiency improvements, machine upgrades, and selective acquisition of low-cost electricity mining farms to reduce the per-BTC cost.

The medium-term goal is to build a dual-drive of "Energy + Computing Power": piloting "Green Energy + Energy Storage" projects in renewable energy-rich areas, which not only can reduce the electricity cost of some mining farms to near zero but also can convert surplus electricity into a source of income. At the same time, reusing mining facility infrastructure to provide HPC services to AI enterprises, opening up a second growth curve.

The long-term positioning is to become an elastic computing power scheduler: dynamically allocate resources to BTC mining and AI computing, forming a composite business model of "Mining Income + AI Service Fee + Green Energy Trading."

Three, Cango's Strategic Strength

The management team has solid industry experience, and the company has risen to the world's second-largest computing power in just 9 months, thanks to the management team's executive drive. Adhering to the cash flow quality priority principle, focusing on the hard power construction of computing power efficiency and energy infrastructure. In our view, the essence of traditional enterprises entering the Web3 is to exchange physical resources for on-chain value anchoring. Only through a triple breakthrough of technology, compliance, and economic model can we leverage strengths and avoid weaknesses and move steadily and far.

Mainstream vs. Niche Collision

Juliet has no definition of herself and does not want to be entwined by so-called "labels." As the market ebbs and flows, opportunities and changes coexist, amidst which she constantly feels, constantly breaks through, and reshapes herself in this process, finding her own role in the torrent of the times. Juliet does not like repetition and staying the same. "This industry does not have the craftsmanship of past mainstream industries and is full of different expressions and rough edges, which is the charm of this industry."

Juliet and Bitcoin, two lines in parallel worlds, now have a convergence this year because of Cango. When mainstream and niche collide, new sparks are generated. As for where the future boundary lies and what it will be like, Juliet no longer dwells on it—she settles down, and time will give a better answer.

In a challenging market environment, there are many young people who are confused. She always thinks that sinking down is truly important for them, insisting on their interests, following their hearts. The compounding effect of time is not always within reach, but it will come. She is convinced that the accumulation of time will give Bitcoin and Cango the strength to move towards a better future.

In the cold winter, almost all plants are dormant, but only a kind of orchid called "Liteng" can feel the stirring of sunshine, sprouting new shoots in the ice and snow, finding the hope of vitality. The small orchid may not have the majestic presence of a tall tree, but it has its own strength. Victory is not only achieved by growing into a towering tree; even small orchids have their value.

「As long as we are willing, we can become all, because everything has its own value. Do not seek the only answer, seek your own answer.」