The blue light from the computer screen at midnight reflects my weary face. I stare at the plunging curve on the candlestick chart, my fingers unconsciously rubbing the cracked edge of my phone—this is a souvenir from the night of last year's liquidation. When the alert tone for my account balance hitting zero rings out, I suddenly realize that the 2 million virtual assets I frantically amassed in the digital world pale in comparison to a smooth breath in the real world.
Three years ago, on a spring night while working overtime, the QR code handed to me by my colleague Old Zhang changed the trajectory of my life. The "blockchain wealth password" he mysteriously showcased turned a 2,000 principal into a four-digit sum in seventy-two hours. When my bank account balance first broke into six figures, I stood on the circular bridge in Lujiazui, watching the golden light web woven by the flow of traffic, and I hazily saw myself standing at the forefront of the times.
At that time, I was like a possessed gambler, charging through the maze of decentralized finance. The trading room at three in the morning is filled with instant coffee packaging, and with each tick of the contract position number in the bottom right corner of the screen, my heart trembles. From Bitcoin to Dogecoin, from Shiba Inu to a certain domestic public chain token, I hoarded various "digital gold" like collecting stamps, even mortgaging my parents' property to open a high-leverage account.
The plunge on Black Friday came without warning. At four nineteen in the morning, a certain emerging public chain project suddenly announced the halt of its mainnet upgrade, and the coin price instantly halved. I frantically searched for a buyer in various social groups, and my phone automatically shut down after dialing 27 calls consecutively. When dawn breaks through the curtains, 283 liquidation notifications pile up in WeChat like bloody epitaphs.
Now I sit at an internship desk in a certain investment bank in Lujiazui, staring blankly at the risk warning phrases on the compliance department wall. The survival rules I learned in the cryptocurrency world—position management, stop-loss discipline, stress testing—are becoming the professional jargon in the white paper I write for clients. Every week, when I accompany my parents to Longhua Temple to pray for blessings, the rising incense always reminds me of the last message sent by Old Zhang before he went missing: "Cut losses early; life is more important than money."
I still believe that blockchain technology will change the world, but I understand more now that true wealth accumulation is the heartbeat that allows one to sleep peacefully at the close of each trading day. When my colleagues discuss Layer 2 scaling solutions, I often gaze out at the shimmering waves of the Huangpu River—amidst the ebb and flow, there are always things more worthy of awe than code, such as the insatiable greed and fear deep within human nature, and the ever-scarce warmth of humanity in the digital torrent.
The market continues to change, and we closely monitor the market to seize new entry opportunities. Like and comment, let's traverse the bull market together and seize this round of great opportunities.
