After the Divorce, I Found a Thousand Bitcoins - Chapter 12

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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I Got Divorced and Found a Thousand Bitcoins Episode 012

[Harvey Goldwin’s announcement of mutual tariffs shocked stock markets worldwide.

The NASDAQ Composite fell 4%, the Dow Jones dropped 2.08%, and the S&P 500 declined 2.7%.

Bitcoin, the leader of cryptocurrencies, fell 16 percent from its peak, shocking the world.

Meanwhile, President Harvey Goldwin stated in an interview that “these mutual tariffs are the first step toward making America truly American,” expressing strong determination to implement them.]

The world was literally turned upside down.

Mutual tariffs.

It was a card no one had expected.

“Has he really gone senile or something?”

Kwangho agreed with Kim Seong-won’s words.

“I knew he was originally unreasonable, but I didn’t think he’d do something this crazy.”

“That’s the perfect expression. Crazy behavior. Among financial professionals worldwide, most are saying they never thought Goldwin would go this far.”

“A truly unprecedented president has emerged.”

The mutual tariffs were literally a notification.

A notification that if you don’t comply with this, don’t even think about trading with the United States.

There were also assessments that the United States, once the world’s police, had turned into the world’s bully.

“How long do you think this will last?”

“Well. If he’s announced it globally like this, won’t it last long like the past US-China trade war?”

During Harvey Goldwin’s first term, he had declared a trade war with China.

As he drastically raised tariffs on China, China also proceeded with retaliatory tariff increases on the United States.

Naturally, the market was shocked by the tariff war between two countries that controlled global hegemony, and indices plummeted.

Kwangho, who had been on the scene at the time, had that terror etched into his bones.

“The stock markets will fall significantly due to these tariff increases.”

“It could go like during the first trade war. That’s why the market is showing movements to take short positions.”

The market was already moving.

As Asian markets opened, the KOSPI, Japan’s Nikkei index, China’s Shanghai Composite, and Hang Seng indices all fell simultaneously.

Additionally, the dollar’s sharp rise caused rapid changes in foreign exchange as well.

“Shouldn’t we quickly establish our positions too?”

Kim Seong-won was right.

When such big events erupted, investment companies would set aside their current work and move to secure insurance.

Only a very few places aggressively took short positions, but they purchased put options and established long positions on VIX.

There was one reason they didn’t aggressively take short positions.

“Other places are probably in a hurry since many of them already bought spot assets and took long positions, but we’re mostly in cash, so we’re fine. If we go aggressively here and Goldwin says something strange again, we’ll be hit immediately.”

It was precisely because of policy volatility.

This decline occurred because of Goldwin’s announcement.

However, during his first term, Goldwin often did the abnormal thing of changing policies he had announced overnight.

Therefore, they couldn’t easily use leverage or take short positions.

If they established positions and Goldwin changed his words overnight, it would mean immediate liquidation.

“But this won’t lead to cascading negative factors like the coronavirus after the US-China trade war, will it?”

“Cascading negative factors?”

“Yes. Like connecting with the AI bubble that the CEO instructed us about this morning…”

The US-China trade war shocked the stock market significantly, but recovery was also achieved quickly.

Moreover, reconciliation gestures appeared intermittently, lessening the market’s shock.

This was why expectations poured in that the market would recover quickly after the two-year trade war ended.

However, two months later, an epidemic that originated in Wuhan spread rapidly worldwide, and the market received a second shock.

At that time, NASDAQ fell 30 percent and the Dow Jones dropped 37 percent, with the market gripped by fear in just one month.

“If such a thing happens again this time, the market will literally be devastated.”

The AI bubble was currently the core sector leading the market.

Whether there was a real bubble or not was unknown, but if such negative factors erupted consecutively, the market wouldn’t be able to withstand it.

It could bring an even bigger shock than the 2020 coronavirus crisis.

“If the CEO saw this far ahead and asked us to write the report, he really has amazing foresight.”

While agreeing with Kim Seong-won’s words, he also had doubts on one hand.

‘The AI bubble is something everyone’s thinking about, but it’s not something worth instructing as the start of first tasks. What on earth is that guy thinking?’

He couldn’t read the thoughts of his closest friend.

That’s when it happened.

Clank!

The door to the Executive Office opened and Kang Hyeon came out.

When everyone’s attention naturally focused on him, Kang Hyeon spoke.

“Manager Lim, did you get in touch with JP Morgan?”

“Ah, yes. We decided to create an account with JP Morgan Singapore, and they said they’d reply about the due diligence schedule by tomorrow.”

“Contact them again and ask for a reply by today. And tell them we’d like the due diligence done within this week.”

“Within this week?”

“Yes. If they say it’s difficult, tell them we can increase the initial deposit to 40 billion.”

The deposit currently proposed to JP Morgan was 20 billion.

This could be seen as a large client, but from JP Morgan’s perspective, they had many such clients.

However, doubling the initial deposit size didn’t just mean a simple balance increase, but that they had cash reserves to inject more operating funds at any time.

From JP Morgan’s perspective, it was sufficient reason to prioritize this client and conduct direct due diligence.

“Understood. I’ll contact them right away.”

“And we need more account openings. Contact Morgan Stanley as well and make the request.”

“Morgan Stanley? Not Goldman Sachs?”

Kim Seong-won asked.

Traditionally, when creating accounts with JP Morgan, they often contacted Goldman Sachs afterward.

They were essentially the two pillars of the IB industry.

But bypassing Goldman Sachs and seeking Morgan Stanley first didn’t make sense from Kim Seong-won’s perspective.

Kang Hyeon simply explained to Kim Seong-won.

“For the trading we’ll be doing, Morgan Stanley responds faster than Goldman Sachs.”

“Ah…!”

Both were Wall Street giants, but the nature of their expertise was different.

If Goldman Sachs was more about designing overall market flows, Morgan Stanley was closer to actually carving out profits amid volatility.

What Kang Hyeon needed for this game was not the former, but the latter.

“Do you think market volatility will increase going forward, CEO?”

At Kwangho’s question while listening to the conversation, Kang Hyeon nodded.

“Since Goldwin has started running his mouth. There will be considerable volatility. Seong-won will be busy, so keep your hands warmed up.”

“Yes! Understood!”

Seong-won’s heart began to race at the mention of being deployed for full-scale work.

* * *

Lee Jong-hyeok from JP Morgan Korea was displeased with the sudden schedule change.

“The market’s already busy with increased volatility. The deposit went from 15 million to 30 million? Why is Singapore paying so much attention to this level?”

Singapore had contacted directly to discuss the schedule change.

In other words, the higher-ups were quite concerned about this company.

“It’s not even a name I’ve heard of in Yeouido.”

Before going out for due diligence.

He checked KH Capital’s personnel.

But there wasn’t a single familiar name.

Just in case, he asked his acquaintances.

“This person Lim Kwang-ho seems to have worked in derivatives. But that’s not a level that would move Singapore, right? Above all, the CEO is too unknown.”

CEO Choi Kang-hyeon.

No one among his acquaintances knew his name.

There was talk of looking into it more deeply, but he shook his head.

If it wasn’t a name that immediately came to his acquaintances’ minds, it probably wasn’t that important a name.

“I don’t understand the reason.”

While dissatisfaction was building up, the car arrived in Seongsu-dong.

Lee Jong-hyeok arrived in front of the building, looked up at the old building, then went inside.

The 5th floor he reached by elevator gave a neat impression.

When he arrived in front of the door, an employee immediately opened the locked door for him.

“How may I help you?”

“I’m Manager Lee Jong-hyeok from JP Morgan. I’m here today for due diligence.”

“Ah! Please come in.”

The interior he entered with the employee’s guidance had clearly been recently renovated, giving a completely different image from the exterior.

However, Lee Jong-hyeok examined the internal situation rather than such superficial things.

‘There aren’t many permanent staff. That side is back office, this side is risk management… or it could be research.’

Befitting someone in charge of due diligence, his eyes quickly checked the office situation.

After passing through one more door and entering inside, he could see the trading space.

“Please wait a moment.”

At the words of the employee who had been guiding him, he stopped walking and examined the interior.

‘There are two employees doing trading, and is that the executive office over there?’

Even for a family office of this scale, having only two traders was excessively few.

At minimum three people, ideally four.

That way position management, hedging, and monitoring could all operate simultaneously.

Then a tall man approached.

He looked more like an athlete than a trader.

“I’m Manager Lim Kwang-ho from KH Capital.”

“Ah, I’m Manager Lee Jong-hyeok from JP Morgan.”

“Thank you for coming out quickly despite the urgent request.”

“Not at all. Is the CEO available by any chance?”

“Yes, he’s waiting. Let’s go.”

Guided by Kwangho, Lee Jong-hyeok headed to the executive office.

When he opened the door and entered, Kang Hyeon, who was standing, greeted him.

“I’m Choi Kang-hyeon, CEO of KH Capital.”

“I’m Manager Lee Jong-hyeok from JP Morgan. I’m in charge of this due diligence.”

“All the materials are prepared. Let’s sit down and review them.”

All preparations were already complete.

Guided by Kang Hyeon, Lee Jong-hyeok sat on the sofa and read through the prepared materials, checking if there were any issues.

‘It’s a company established with the capital of this man named Choi Kang-hyeon, as per the materials sent to us. I was wondering where such funds came from, and it turns out he made it with Bitcoin?’

IBs conduct detailed due diligence evaluations on companies before accepting them as clients.

They need to check where the funds they’re managing come from, and how much cash the company holds.

This way they can assess the payment capacity when accidents occur due to leveraged products.

‘Initial deposit is possible up to 40 billion, and the corporate account balance is…’

The most important thing was how much cash was in the corporate account.

The authority that could be granted to the corporation was determined by that cash.

Typically, it was common to hold about 3-4 times the deposit amount in cash.

Since KH Capital’s initial proposed deposit was 20 billion, he thought there would be at most around 80 billion in the account.

However.

[Balance: 120,000,000,000 won]

KH Capital held 120 billion in cash.

‘The company was founded less than a month ago. And it holds this much cash?’

The cash holdings were surprising, but what was even more surprising was the phrase written below.

[Fund Classification: Related Party Loan]

[FundingSource: Shareholder Loan]

In a single family office, there was only one case where it could be marked as a related party.

‘All 120 billion came from this CEO?’

Kang Hyeon, who had a kind-looking face, appeared different to him.

After reviewing all the documents, Lee Jong-hyeok asked Kang Hyeon.

“The document procedures are finished. Before that, I’d like to ask just one thing.”

“Yes, please ask freely.”

“In case of an unexpected accident, how much cash can the company mobilize immediately?”

He needed to clearly assess this part to determine the conditions.

Kang Hyeon also knew this, so he answered without hesitation.

“There’s about 50 billion more in cash that can be mobilized right now.

Combined with the corporate account balance, that’s 170 billion.

Including real estate and other broker accounts, we can manage up to about 200 billion maximum.”

Lee Jong-hyeok realized why Singapore had moved.

‘This isn’t Singapore level, this is a client that should be managed directly by headquarters.’

It was the moment his evaluation of KH Capital changed.

* * *

JP Morgan moved quickly.

“The account has been opened.”

The account was opened just one day after the due diligence ended.

The primary preparations were complete.

Now it was time to enter the market in earnest.

‘Opening an account with JP Morgan this urgently means he’s planning to enter aggressively, right?’

Kim Seong-won watched Kang Hyeon moving busily.

Therefore, he expected that he would participate aggressively in the market.

To participate aggressively at this point, taking short positions would be the most aggressive.

Naturally thinking that short orders would come out, at that moment.

“From now on, we’re entering long positions.”

An unexpected command came from Kang Hyeon’s mouth.

“Long positions? The stock market is still continuously falling. Isn’t it too early to enter long positions?”

Kim Seong-won’s words were close to orthodox theory.

However, Kang Hyeon was unwavering.

In his eyes watching the monitor, it was clearly visible.

The stock markets surging with red light.

“Mr. Kim Seong-won, will you ask questions like this even when the market is open?”

At those words, Seong-won’s face hardened.

“I apologize, I’ll proceed immediately.”

His assigned role was as an operator placing orders, and in that role, fingers had to move before the head.

Tap tap tap tap tap!

Watching Kim Seong-won’s rapidly moving hands, Kang Hyeon shifted his gaze to the monitor with a satisfied expression.

‘Now it begins.’

Having warmed up with cryptocurrency, it was now time to dive into global stock markets in earnest.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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