From BTC Trading Partners to Commodity Partners
Updated: Sep 26
How an Old Connection Opened a New Door to Critical Minerals & Advanced Materials.
Sometimes, a business relationship does not make sense immediately.
Sometimes, a transaction fails.
Sometimes, you think you have already closed that chapter.
And sometimes, a relationship you almost gave up on comes back years later in a completely different form.
This is one of those stories.
Three Weeks of BTC Trading
I met James Wang and Hirotoshi Kaneda in June 2024, just one month before I moved to Australia. At the time, we were working together as a team to facilitate a BTC transaction for a seller, Graham Andrews, from the UK.
For about three weeks, we worked together closely.
Calls. Messages. Buyer discussions. Follow-ups. Procedures.
And, ultimately, no successful transaction.
To be honest, I was frustrated.
After several unsuccessful transactions, I was becoming increasingly tired of the process. I also found the business culture and way of working with some of the Mainland Chinese buyers very different from what I was accustomed to.
After those three weeks, I made a decision: I was going to give up.
At least, that was what I thought at the time.
But We Stayed in Touch
What surprised me was that although the transactions did not work out, the relationships did not disappear.
After I moved to Australia, James, Hiro and I continued to keep in contact.
There was no immediate business opportunity.
No successful BTC deal to celebrate.
No transaction that brought us together again.
But we stayed connected.
Looking back, I think this is something I have learned repeatedly through commodities: A transaction can fail without a relationship failing.
And sometimes, you only understand the value of that relationship much later.
A New Direction for JCG
Fast forward to August 2026.
My investor was extremely busy, so I had a little more time available.
I decided to use that time to step back and look at JCG as a whole.
I updated my entire website and refined the direction of the business around three pillars. One of those pillars was Strategic Commodities.
At that stage, my Strategic Commodity Portfolio was still relatively small. I had only three product categories.
I started introducing the new Strategic Commodity Portfolio to people in my network through WhatsApp, just to see how the market would respond.
James contacted me two days later.
Instead of talking about BTC, he asked whether we could source several Critical Minerals & Advanced Materials.
He sent me seven products:
Tungsten Carbide (WC)
Iridium Chloride
Gallium Oxide (Ga₂O₃)
Copper Oxide
Tungsten Powder
Tungsten Trioxide (WO₃)
Ammonium Paratungstate (APT)
I looked at the list.
And immediately thought about our China Strategic Sourcing.
I passed the product requirements to Hary Mak.
Hary came back the same day.
His response was essentially: “Yes.”
According to the information he provided, these products could potentially be supplied from China for shipment to Taiwan and South Korea, subject to the applicable regulations and conditions.
And that was the moment I thought: OMG. Maybe we have something here.
That conversation became the reason I expanded JCG's Strategic Commodity Portfolio to include Critical Minerals & Advanced Materials.
Since then, I have received new Purchase Offers for Critical Minerals & Advanced Materials every week through referrals.
Sometimes the Pieces Are Already There
What interested me was not simply the seven product names.
It was the connection between the people.
James had the market enquiry.
I had the JCG platform and commodity network.
Hary had the China-side relationships and sourcing capabilities.
And suddenly, the relationship that began with a failed BTC transaction in 2024 was connected to one of JCG's newest strategic commodity categories in 2026.
That was unexpected.
I had not planned it.
I did not create the opportunity through a five-year business strategy.
It came from a relationship that had simply stayed alive.
From BTC Trading Partners to Commodity Trading Partners
This experience reminded me of something I have learned during the past few years.
In commodity trading, not every conversation becomes a transaction.
Not every buyer becomes a buyer.
Not every seller becomes a seller.
And not every opportunity works the first time.
But that does not necessarily mean the relationship has no value.
Sometimes people move into different markets.
Sometimes their needs change.
Sometimes your own business evolves.
And when those things eventually meet again, a completely different opportunity can emerge.
James, Hiro and I started as a team trying to trade BTC.
Today, we are still connected — but the conversation has moved into strategic commodities.
And that is something I am genuinely grateful for. From BTC trading partners to commodity trading partners.
Maybe the first transaction was never the whole story.
Maybe the relationship was.
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