Web's trust begins with "code immutability" and ends with infinite repeated gaming
In the Web3 world, we think "immutability" is ultimate trust. But actually, that's just the entry threshold.
For assets themselves, indeed, the ledger doesn't lie, immutability is enough - Bitcoin's 21 million built confidence in the blockchain world An ERC20 balance, a Non-Fungible Token's ownership, a completed cross-chain transfer - as long as they are recorded on the chain, they are trustworthy enough - without human heart, without emotion.
But for merchants, money houses, protocols, and project parties, an immutable ledger is just a function, just a threshold. What truly makes people trust is not that it "cannot be changed", but that it "cannot leave" and "does not want to leave".
Web3's trust path is not in consensus mechanisms, not in nodes, but in transactions between money houses. Trust is generated through transactions.
Trust is a product of repeated gaming and an appendage of high breach costs. It is not a "consensus" that descends from the sky, but a tacit understanding naturally precipitated through multiple fund transfers and guarantee fulfillments.
In this Chaoshan land, the true "trust layer" is not only woven inch by inch through blood ties, geographical connections, and human relationships, but also established and constructed through repeated interactions. The underlying architecture of financial credit is not a ledger, nor "self-preservation" statements, but the tacit understanding after n times of gaming. Trust, like peace, only exists within the range of gunfire.
Chaoshan perhaps understood earlier than Wall Street that knowing the roots (KYC/KYB) is just an entry point: true trust does not reside in decentralized nodes, nor is it cultivated, but created through transactions of breaches and fulfillments.
I. High-Density Repeated Gaming and Cross-Regional Mutual Guarantee
The essence of Chaoshan underground money houses is a trust network accumulated through high-frequency, long-term transactions. Its customers are not limited to locals but cover Chaoshan immigrant communities from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur, from Singapore to California.
This cross-regional financial collaboration depends on a core structure:High-Density Repeated Gaming + Cross-Regional Mutual Guarantee Network.
A Chaoshan merchant operating overseas often transfers funds to domestic family or partners through money houses. Over time, they form long-term reciprocal transaction behaviors with intermediary money houses and agents. This structure is not one-time; it is built on the expectation of "I dare to give you 1 million because I know you will find me to exchange 1 million again next year".
These transaction networks do not rely on contracts but on trust locking structures: family reputation, word-of-mouth inheritance, and mutual guarantee mechanisms that enable "remote fulfillment" even across thousands of miles.
(Translation continues in the same manner for the rest of the text)Technology can create ledgers; systems can create order; but only game theory can create trust.
And the best trust is not based on "belief," but on the fact that you cannot help but trust.
Just like that classic song "Love and Struggle Leads to Victory".
Three parts destiny, seven parts hard work
Love the game to win
Be part of the Chaoshan family
Postscript
To make the article more readable, this text focuses on the discussion of "repeated game theory". Without knowing the details and high breach costs, forcing participants (mainly merchants) into a repeated game environment is also a local optimal solution.
