Salt tickets and Bitcoin, a game of power.

The credit of Crypto Assets appears to be in Decentralization, but in reality, it still lingers under the shadow of national laws.

Written by: Liu Honglin

Summer of the Salt Pool

In the summer of the 42nd year of the Qianlong reign, the surface of the salt pond in Yuncheng lost its past blue hue, revealing layers of glaring salt crusts, as if the earth was shedding its old skin under the scorching sun.

Cao Dehai stood at the entrance of the salt field by the pool, watching the workers carry basket after basket of salt into storage, but inside he felt as dry as the water in the pool. Tomorrow is the day when the Salt Transport Office comes to collect the salt tax. Without that half-foot-long salt ticket, no matter how much salt he has, it is just contraband; it cannot pass through the checkpoints and cannot leave the transport city.

In the world of salt lakes, salt tickets are passports, keys to wealth, and shackles of the government. Salt tickets are made of jute paper, printed with the red official seal of the "Hedong Salt Transport Office". The back is inscribed with the merchant's name, ticket number, and tax amount. They seem light, but they are the lifeline for salt merchants for a whole year.

Historical records show that the salt lake in Yuncheng produces nearly five million piculs of salt annually, accounting for about one-tenth of the total national production. The salt tax from Hedong accounts for 30% of Shanxi Province's finances ("Compilation of Historical Materials on Salt Administration in the Qing Dynasty", Volume Five). The salt from the salt lake is not only a seasoning on the tables of the common people but also the military pay for the government and the lifeblood of the dynasty.

Qian Mu wrote in "Introduction to the History of Chinese Culture": "Yuncheng Yanchi has become a common goal of all tribes in the Central Plains." More than 4,700 years ago, after the Yellow Emperor defeated Chiyou, he moved the national capital to the vicinity of Anyi Salt Pond, which opened the development and utilization of pond salt and laid the first pile for the foundation of China. Since then, Yao, Shun and Yu have built their capitals here. In the Spring and Autumn Period, it was called "Yanyi", in the Warring States period it was called "Yanshi", in the Han Dynasty it was called "Si Yancheng" and "Yanjian City", in the Yuan Dynasty it was called "Phoenix City", and in the Ming Dynasty it was also called "Yunsi City". The city was established because of the salt transport, which is the only place in China.

Cao Dehai remembers his father saying before his death: "What we are doing is not a salt business, but a salt ticket business. Without salt tickets, no matter how much salt you carry, you are just carrying a knife."

The Downward Pull of Salt Merchants

The establishment of salt tickets can be traced back to the "Kaizhong Law" during the Hongwu period of the Ming dynasty. Since then, the state has held the wealth of the salt pools in its hands with a piece of salt ticket.

Salt tickets were not only a circulating certificate but also a receipt for the salt tax of the court, serving as the lifeblood of the national finance. However, during the Qianlong period, with the rise of ticket houses and the prosperity of postal routes, the nature of salt tickets quietly changed: they were no longer just certificates for exchanging salt, but also became objects for merchants to resell.

Salt merchants learned a new business: instead of rushing to exchange salt after obtaining salt tickets, they sell them to others for a profit. The tickets are transferred, pooled, and resold, circulating in tea houses and taverns, becoming another type of "financial ticket" that operates in a gray area.

The "Compilation of Historical Materials on Salt Administration in the Qing Dynasty" records: "The custom of ticket merchants engaging in reverse drawing has become increasingly entrenched, to the point where silver tickets and salt tickets are exchanged, causing repeated losses in official assessments." Salt tickets were originally tools for the government to control salt pools, but they grew branches in the gaps of the market. In the thirty-seventh year of Qianlong, a major case of reverse drawing broke out in the Yuncheng salt pool, and even officials from the salt transport department were implicated. The memorial stated: "In the case of reverse drawing, dozens of officials were implicated, hundreds of merchants were involved, salt assessments were disrupted, and the treasury suffered a shortfall." ("Collected Documents on Salt Administration in the Qing Dynasty", Volume 32)

But the government's算盘 has never stopped.

The reverse引 has disrupted the market, but it has also become a lubricant for the finances. The "handling fee" of reverse引 transactions and the officials' profits have become a hidden source for local salt taxes. The Salt Transport Commissioner of Hedong wrote in a memorial in the 42nd year of Qianlong: "Although reverse引 is a problem, tax silver can still be collected. Harsh prohibitions may lead to a break in the flow, and there is a fear that the use of salt引 will not continue."

The state and the market thus repeatedly probe under the red seal of salt tickets. The state uses salt tickets to maintain military salaries and the officialdom; salt traders convert red tickets into flowing silver through reverse and joint inducements. The credit of salt tickets ultimately rests on the authority of the officials and the might of the salt police; while the power of the market can always navigate tirelessly through the gaps of authority.

Those porters and ticket numbers caught in the crevices of salt tickets may understand this principle best: in this world, there is no pure freedom, nor is there an absolute prohibition.

The Recruited Crypto Assets

Some say that Crypto Assets are decentralized and represent the ultimate challenge to the state's authority over currency issuance. The consensus of algorithms, distributed ledgers, and anonymous wallets seem to allow wealth to finally break free from the shackles of the nation, flowing freely like the wind over a salt pool.

However, the history of the salt pool has long written down the answer. The reverse pull was originally a disease that disrupted the monopoly, but it became a lubricant in the government’s account books; the red seal of the salt ticket is both a prohibition and a permit. Behind the ideal of Decentralization, there are always the tentacles and shadows of the state.

People think that Crypto Assets are the ultimate challenge to national currency issuance rights, but as the industry has evolved to today, embracing regulation has become the main theme. KYC, AML, exchange compliance, tax transparency—these terms cover the four characters of "Decentralization" like layers of salt frost in the wind.

The state's abacus can always incorporate the ideals of freedom into the framework of the system.

In 2025, at the Bitcoin Conference, U.S. Vice President Vance stated bluntly: "Bitcoin is a tool against bad policies, regardless of which party's policies it is." "The Chinese government does not like Bitcoin... Since China is moving away from Bitcoin, maybe we in America should move towards Bitcoin." "We have established a national Bitcoin reserve, making Bitcoin a strategic tool for the U.S. government." "Stablecoins pegged to the dollar will not weaken the dollar; instead, they are a multiplier of American economic strength."

Just like the salt tickets in the past controlled the circulation of salt in salt pools by the state's red seals and writing instruments; today's regulatory agencies hold the flow of wealth at their digital fingertips with compliance licenses and on-chain monitoring. The state may have lost its monopoly on paper tickets, but it has rebuilt an invisible wall with laws, licenses, and on-chain monitoring. The regulatory hand reaches into every wallet address, and the public transparency of on-chain data has instead become the state's new weapon.

The hand of the state has never truly loosened the reins of wealth.

Game of Thrones

The story of the salt pool has faded away, and salt tickets have become the yellow pages of history books. Yet, on those sheets of yellowed hemp paper, traces of the collusion between the state and the market still remain. The circulation of wealth has never been merely a simple exchange of goods; it is a game between the state and the market, a contest of credit, and the scepter of the system.

The credit of salt tickets ultimately relies on the authority of the government; the credit of Crypto Assets appears to be based on Decentralization, but in reality, it also lingers under the shadow of national laws. Without regulatory permission and without tax channels, no matter how many nodes there are for Crypto Assets, they can only operate in a gray area.

Standing by the salt pond in Yuncheng, as I gaze at the layers of dried salt frost, I seem to see the underlying color of wealth: half is the desire of the market, and half is the shackles of the system. Salt tickets, paper money, Bitcoin, their forms have changed, but the essence of power remains the same.