DDC and Bitcoin, Two Strangers on Stage

The "mainstream" face was once clearly defined to almost be stereotypical: a founder with an investment banking background, dressed in a sharp suit, speaking reservedly; projects certified by an incubator, following a standardized funding path and growth trajectory; pre-IPO, the capital structure had already been arranged, detailing who enters, who exits, who provides liquidity, all written in a single table.

The "mainstream" has its own narrative style, stable, replicable, trustworthy. The "mainstream" also has its own operational logic, where the system selects qualified players, and then the system determines how much they are worth and how far they can go.

This mainstream system has indeed begun to loosen up in recent years. Many niche cultures have slowly started to seep in, and the once firm boundaries have become less certain.

You can see graffiti entering art galleries, punk appearing at fashion weeks, and Hip-hop becoming a big winner at the Grammys. Bitcoin, once seen as a "criminal tool," has also transformed into a key topic in Federal Reserve research reports and an item on BlackRock's asset allocation table.

Niche cultures are infiltrating the mainstream system, but their approach is not to become more "conventional" but to force the mainstream world to acknowledge that their existence has a stronger grassroots base and cultural influence.

In this process, the existing authority is not as effective, and standards are no longer the only ones. Those things that were once marginalized are beginning to have their own voice. The capital markets also have to accept a new logic: not everything from a traditional background is more reliable, and not everything endorsed by an organization will inevitably succeed.

In recent years, what has become popular is not those conventional projects that follow the rules but a group of initially underestimated "atypical" ones: GameStop, which rose to fame through memes; AMC, which rewrote the narrative with the help of a retail investor community; Pinduoduo and Teemall, which broke through user communities with their ultimate product paths.

Niche entities can break through not because they are stronger than the mainstream but because they are closer to "people." They are not planned from the top down but grow naturally from the bottom up. They often carry a raw sense of beauty, they can be seen, liked, believed in.

The Onslaught of Bitcoin, the Belief of Outsiders

Bitcoin has always been the outsider of the "mainstream" system.

Being an outsider means not speaking the mainstream's language, not accepting mainstream disciplines, and not following mainstream rhythms. In the real world, "outsiders" are usually hard to be heard. Their intentions are easily misunderstood, their ways are seen as threats, and their challenge to the existing order is labeled as "dangerous" or "barbaric."

Bitcoin is exactly that. Technologically challenging central nodes, challenging sovereign currency forms, challenging authority systems culturally, it is not a financial asset created by financial elites but the victory fruit of a niche culture, the most aggressive collective belief of the Internet age.

In its first decade, Bitcoin circulated within the geek community, cryptography forums, survivalists, and anarchists during its early stages, like a parallel-world currency system that was fundamentally not taken seriously by the mainstream.

Bitcoin truly entered the public eye for the first time during the 2017 bull run. At that time, its meteoric rise garnered global attention, triggering both excitement and regulatory concerns. However, that was just hype, far from genuine recognition.

It wasn't until after the 2020 pandemic when global quantitative easing plunged traditional finance into a crisis of trust, with the surge of the US stock market, the devaluation of the US dollar, bank runs... Bitcoin reentered the mainstream spotlight, this time not just as a speculative asset.

That was the first time Bitcoin was widely seen as a hedge against inflation and became a way for ordinary people to protect their assets. During that time, it transitioned from the geek community to a larger public market, gradually evolving into a symbol of retail investors fighting against institutions, becoming a core symbol of an "anti-authority narrative."

At that time, Bitcoin was like a flag—not a product, but an attitude.

Today, Bitcoin has entered its third stage: being "accepted" by the mainstream, yet remaining a "stranger."

It appears in ETF products, is included in asset allocation reports, is openly discussed by presidents, central banks, hedge funds. But it has never truly changed itself, with no regulatory oversight, no organizational endorsements, no individual control.

The mainstream market has accepted its price, accepted its liquidity, it has become part of passive income, but it has not accepted its spirit, and it is no longer questioned what it truly represents. It has been accepted, but it has no belonging, and it doesn't need one either.

So we say, Bitcoin is the most successful incursion of a niche culture into the capital market. Not because it sought permission, but because it never sought permission and yet arrived at its current position.

DDC, Another Niche-Culture Breakthrough in a Different Direction

Norma Chu does not fit the mainstream definition of the "entrepreneurial archetype." She carries too many marginal labels: female, Asian, content-oriented, non-technical background...

In 2012, Norma Chu returned to Hong Kong from the United States and found that there wasn't a true Chinese cooking platform targeting young people on the internet. Her first job was as a stock analyst at UBS, and she could have chosen to continue climbing this clear financial industry career ladder. But she didn't. She turned around and entered the kitchen, starting to write recipes, take photos, shoot videos, not for riding the wave of traffic dividends, but out of the most basic motive: "I love cooking, and I love eating, I love cooking."

It is precisely because of this that DayDayCook (DDC for short) did not follow the standard consumer product route from the beginning. It did not adopt a business model that deduces brand positioning from the supply chain, nor was it a capital-preferred traffic project. Instead, it relied on content, interaction, and time to gradually accumulate community trust.

In the beginning, she simply wanted to show more people the process of cooking and never thought it would come this far. However, starting from various food content, she slowly built the foundation of the brand, and then established her own product system in the process of e-commerce. Later on, she sold products in North America, established a strong presence in the U.S. market, and eventually led the company to go public.

Norma recalled the early days of entrepreneurship, saying, "When I started a business in Hong Kong, both fundraising and hiring were very difficult; entering the mainland also faced a high learning curve." She did not consider herself the type of person who could draw a complete blueprint from the beginning, but she always had a bottom line: putting 'people' first, first understanding the users, then considering the channels; first ensuring solid content before discussing budget allocation; the strategy always serves the narrative, rather than the other way around.

This slow pace was not well received in the early days of the capital market. It was not fast enough, not sexy enough, and did not have an obvious breakthrough point. However, Norma proved one thing over more than a decade: a community built on content and companionship can also become a sustainable brand.

She said, "We didn't even calculate GMV at the beginning; what I cared about more was whether this user stayed because they liked us."

It may sound somewhat emotional, but it was precisely this emotion that led DDC to its current development stage. It did not attract consumers by telling stories but by accompanying users, turning content into a relationship that encourages repeat purchases, shaping a sustainable content-consumption loop.

So, when she first bought Bitcoin in 2021, it was not at all out of place; it could even be seen as a natural progression. By that time, she was already a seasoned entrepreneur who had been deeply involved in community content for ten years, facing the Z-generation users, creating emotional content emphasizing resonance — and these were the early colors of Bitcoin's narrative.

That year, Hong Kong was becoming a transition point for Bitcoin funds and talent. Her circle of friends began frequently mentioning ETFs, Coinbase, and stories of MicroStrategy. An early shareholder advised her to seriously study a Bitcoin strategic reserve and introduced her to MicroStrategy's growth trajectory. After reviewing the information and reading Michael Saylor's book, she began to re-examine the company's financial structure.

She said that what really made her start thinking about this was not the hype, but the structure that attracted her. "If I didn't have a background in stock analysis and didn't have the personal investment experience of 2021, I might not have taken that advice seriously at all."

But not only did she listen, she also decided to execute.

At the beginning of this year, Norma formally proposed a transformation strategy to the board—to incorporate Bitcoin into the company's balance sheet and use DDC's operating cash flow to hold BTC as a long-term reserve. By May of this year, they completed the first batch of purchasing 100 bitcoins and quickly closed a funding round, making DDC the world's first Bitcoin strategic reserve company driven by a female founder.

She didn't treat this as some kind of labeled "breakthrough in female entrepreneurship." When asked, she simply said casually, "Sure it's cool, I'm the first. But more importantly, is this decision in the best interest of the shareholders."

This is not a pretty catchphrase, not a packaging of the story, but a set of judgment that she had long established. The reason she made this transformation was not because the playbook of Bitcoin reserves became hot, but because she had spent ten years understanding users, building trust, and maintaining a narrative—and these are precisely the starting point of Bitcoin's existence.

Her understanding of Bitcoin did not start from a technical whitepaper. Nor did it start from hype, getting rich quick, or anonymity. Her path of understanding started from "trust": why would someone be willing to trust something they can't see or touch? In fact, this has been the issue she has been dealing with for the past ten years—in content, in branding, in the community.

DDC's users are not fleeting traffic visitors, but those who are willing to pause, click on a cooking video. Norma is not creating sensational content, but a kind of emotional expression. She narrates in the first person, bridges the distance with a sense of companionship, and slowly builds a trust relationship unique to DDC. "Many people think we are a content e-commerce platform, but what we have been operating is emotional trust." She said.

This high sensitivity to "trust" has also become her starting point for understanding Bitcoin.

Prior to transforming into a Bitcoin strategic reserve, Norma began to re-examine the company's marketing approach. She said that in the past, advertising and discounts were used to drive traffic, but these methods were becoming increasingly difficult to retain users. Later, she began to think about whether part of the budget could be used to incentivize users in a Web3 way. "Web3 is a new way that allows users to receive rewards in the process." She said.

She is facing Gen Z users, who are used to watching one-minute cooking videos on TikTok and will leave behind their own recreated dishes on Instagram. They believe in brands, but care more about whether the person behind the brand is sincere. Their consumption decisions are not always rational, but often stem from emotional identification or value expression.

"We are building a Bitcoin reward system," Norma said, "where you buy a product or engage in social media interaction, you have the opportunity to receive BTC rewards."

However, she emphasized that this is not a simple version of a membership system, but a structural innovation. She wants to transform Bitcoin from a transaction symbol into a part of the user's long-term experience.

This is her understanding of Bitcoin, not just as "digital gold," but as a credential of time and trust. Norma's focus has never been on Bitcoin's price, but on its 'Staying Power.' This is her favorite term to describe Bitcoin and the way she envisions DDC.

She said, "Bitcoin has endured so many downturns and doubts, but it's still here." She hopes DDC will be that kind of company—a company that can weather the cycles, survive through turbulence, and even emerge stronger.

She Embedded Bitcoin into the Company's Foundation

The Bitcoin strategic reserve is not just an asset allocation. For DDC, it is more like an attempt to fundamentally change the company's mindset.

Norma is well aware that the biggest challenge of a strategic reserve is not buying the coin, but continuing to buy; not financing, but turning financing into a positive flywheel. She seamlessly transferred the sense of rhythm she learned from content over the past decade into the Bitcoin allocation rhythm.

"I told the team, buying Bitcoin isn't just an action; it's a whole mechanism." She is not blindly investing money into it; instead, she has set up a comprehensive execution plan: buying in batches at a rhythm through financing tools like ATMs, seeking true long-term strategic investors, and starting to establish communication channels within the crypto community.

Unlike MicroStrategy, DDC does not have a huge cash balance. Norma's strategy is more restrained; it involves slowly holding onto Bitcoin through operations, gradually buying in based on real business cash flow.

"Essentially, we are still a food company; it's just that we choose to invest a portion of the profits into long-term value," she said.

While this approach may sound conservative, in the crypto market, it is a very rare path to take.

Norma is well aware that the capital market, when observing a Bitcoin strategic reserve company, looks at several core questions: First, whether the company can self-sustain in the long term; second, whether it has the ability to not sell coins when a bear market arrives; and third, whether the management team has a stable narrative vision and execution capability.

The answer she provided is DDC's three "atypical" advantages:

The first is a different funding foundation. Norma has accumulated many years of experience in both the Chinese and American capital markets, and is able to continuously top up through methods such as OTC, convertible bonds, and private agreements, without relying on the public market. "We are also in discussions with some family offices that have held coins for many years."

The second is a different Narrative advancement path. She chose to collaborate with Bitcoin OGs in the community to establish an "Influence Collective," where each member represents a community and a narrative channel.

The third is a different asset structure. DDC is not a financial black hole burning through money, nor is it a shell company whose valuation is propped up by hype. Its food business still maintains a 30-40% annual growth rate. In other words, it is a BTC strategic reserve company with "fundamentals," able to tell a narrative in a bull market and focus on cash flow in a bear market.

This balance is a rhythm she has honed over the past decade.

Norma said that without the patience of early content creation, without resonating with Gen Z users and building a community, and without the organizational rhythm that time has brought, DDC may not have been able to understand Bitcoin at all, let alone write it into the balance sheet.

Stranger Standing at Center Stage

Norma has never defined herself as a "Crypto person." However, those seemingly "alternative" labels on her unexpectedly resonate with the spiritual core of Bitcoin as an asset.

She is not anxious about the Bitcoin narrative being dominated by the West, nor is she worried about the absence of Asian capital on the main stage.

Her confidence also comes from structural changes in the real world. She sees regulatory loosening, capital shifting gears, the rewriting of funding structures, and Gen Z understanding value in a completely different way. "Stablecoins have educated the market, and only then has Crypto been truly understood." She says that investors who couldn't understand BTC a month ago are now discussing premium structures and coin-based asset allocations.

Norma is not the type to loudly proclaim the "decentralization revolution," but she is participating in this global wealth restructuring through a path that is highly realistic. And in this process, she has also completed a self-reconstruction of her identity.

Over the past decade, she has transformed from a content creator to a public company CEO, and has become the world's first female founder to advocate for Bitcoin as a strategic reserve. Once marginalized, she has now become a starting point for a new narrative due to her "non-mainstream" status.

"To exist is to be different, and difference is an advantage," she says. She is aware that her style of expression is different from that of many executives, and her pace is slower, but this "slowness," in a period of rapid capital turnover, appears more resilient. "I may not be smarter than others, but I am very persistent."

This is her commonality with Bitcoin—both are from the fringe, both are underestimated, and both have persisted for too long. One is a builder of brand and community, the other is a totem of a decentralized world. They were not originally part of the mainstream financial narrative, but at this moment, they are converging on the same balance sheet.

These two "foreigners" have now stepped onto the brightly lit mainstream stage.