I have a childhood friend whose brother came to Beijing to make a living right after graduating from college, living in Shuangjing, working in Gehua Tower, near Yonghe Palace.
Back then, the Web3 concept was hot, and he joined a company making blockchain games as an operations position, but actually did everything—product testing, community building, translating white papers, and sometimes had to send system lottery themed toys to users in bulk.
He often says, go to Yonghe Palace and pray for blessings for your wallet address.
From time to time, we find restaurants along Line 2 for gatherings, from Dongzhimen, Andingmen, to Gulou Street and Jishuitan, one stop, one meal. Usually, I host, but when there's an airdrop, he always remembers to send me voice messages, telling me which project can explode, which track to avoid, and at the end says: Brother, the next meal is definitely on me.
There was a time when he really made some money, relying on LayerZero and Wormhole airdrops to earn over forty thousand dollars. He told me he was optimistic about both bridges, if he holds on a bit longer, he could return home and buy a house.
You are all familiar with the later trends.
What you are not familiar with is that after the price of coins plummeted, his company also started laying off employees. He jumped to three more companies, and the last one didn't even pay him the full salary during the probation period. He said he was almost out of breath, turned around, dragged his luggage home, and started preparing for civil service exams.
I tell this story because he called me last night, saying he felt very sad after reading what I wrote (逃).
I feel even sadder; I write to resonate and heal, not to cause depression.
I asked him if he regretted it.
He said regretting is useless, at least now he can sleep well, and his parents are no longer fighting.
Many people say Web3 is a human nature amplifier.
But for me, it feels more like a mirror.
It reflects the lowest level of workers in this era, not because we're dumb or not working hard, but because—there are no collaborative resources, we can't come up with stable strategies, and we can only rely on emotions to survive on-chain.
This article does not talk about opportunities, does not teach arbitrage, and has no wealth formulas.
You know I have always hated talking about how to get rich; if I were to talk about it, at least wait until I get rich first; otherwise, how can I speak about something that doesn't exist?
I just want to say one thing:
How do the poor in Web3 survive?
Your struggles aren't failures; they are early exposures of the limits of ordinary people.
In Web3, the most dangerous mindset is not FOMO, but fantasy.
You always think the next bull market will help you turn things around, that the next opportunity is your lifeline. You've experienced L2, jumped on Eigenlayer, stumbled on Babylon, made some small money on Kaito, but find you haven't really gotten stronger, and making money seems just a matter of luck, while losing feels like a sudden enlightenment.
Getting rich is just a miracle for a very few people, not a path for ordinary people.
You are desperately brushing Sahara, but the experts have long crossed the Rubicon; your shepherds cannot stop at the same finish line.
Many people say they are 'persevering', but in reality, they are 'indulging'.
Indulge yourself in wasting time, let fate be left to luck, and let uncontrolled positions affect your emotions.
You are jumping between Alpha Point, Cookie, and Monad while still thinking about the Virtual points system and the overwhelming number of seemingly sprouting airdrop projects—and they are issuing airdrops.
The most scarce resource on-chain is not money, but attention.
You think you are losing capital, but what you are actually overdrawing is emotion, time, and health.
You think Bitcoin is too expensive, ETH feels like a fading hero, so you try some small coins that everyone is shouting about, and then you get deeply trapped.
If you don't sell, it doesn't move; if you smash it, it first gets cut in half.
Not following when it rises, dropping quickly, and being accurate and stable when it underperforms.
You know very well that it has no narrative, no liquidity, yet you have it in your wallet, feeling like you are carrying a time bomb. You don't even dare to rest or disconnect from the internet, fearing it might really take off one day.
The reality is: it has never moved, yet you are already exhausted.
10% of your position, 100% of your anxiety, is the most precise hell on-chain.
So please make sure to learn 'to live at low cost':
Join fewer projects, and don't touch the ones you don't understand;
Join fewer groups, block the useless ones;
Remove temptations and focus on what is valuable.
You are not a robot of the exchange, not a retweet machine on Twitter, and certainly not free labor for the project.
You are a living person, you have the right to choose not to be consumed.
If you can't make money, it may not just be due to poor skills, but also because you haven't reviewed anything.
Have you kept records?
How many projects have you actually participated in? How much gas did you spend? How many have you broken even on? Which protocols are stable? Which ones are scams? Which meme trades were due to being called out by KOLs? Which memes were your own analysis?
If not, this is the problem.
Many people make judgments based on 'feelings', thinking this wave can be entered, that wave should be heavily invested—resulting in them taking the elevator daily without daring to get off.
You think the market is unreasonable, but in reality, you haven't kept records and have no principles.
What I fear the most is not making the wrong judgment, but living forever by instincts.
And you can't walk this road alone.
You need someone to pull you up, remind you not to rush blindly, and you also need someone to accompany you through the days with no market.
Find three to five reliable people and form a 'mutual rescue group':
Share insights, share judgments;
Help with the review and exchange of warnings;
Emotional mutual assistance, information sharing.
Don't chase after the big shots, and don't isolate yourself.
If you mix on-chain for a long time, you will know:
What allows you to persist until the end is not critical hits, but companionship.
We, the Web3 workers of this generation, are not rolling up our sleeves because we're lazy, nor are we losing because we're stupid.
but because you learned too early to 'pin hopes on the next round', yet never practiced 'living steadily'.
You do not exist for this market.
Market conditions are just a part of your life, not the whole.
Don't let price fluctuations define your mood, and don't let anxiety eat away at your remaining small joys.
Web3 should be a way out, not a trap that confines you.
The real positive cycle is that when the market is stagnant, you still have some other income, and can live like a person.
When you can live a stable life without looking at charts, and sleep well without rushing for project pre-sale shares, you've already won half.
When you start to return your attention to yourself, learn to take root in the real world, the on-chain world will slowly open up to you.
If you are at your lowest point, don't blame yourself, and don't rush to win.
Take it slow; as long as you can keep going, that's good.
Promise yourself, just live through one cycle, and you will know that under the dazzling sunlight, there really isn't much new.
The poor in Web3 also deserve a future.
Treat yourself sincerely, you won't suffer losses.