A wealth game even crazier than madness, relying on a single ‘unlucky click’.
1. "I just want the money for a cup of milk tea"
In August 2021, the temperature in Beijing was still hot and annoying.
Yang Hao, a 25-year-old delivery worker, was running down the stairs of an office building, holding two lunch deliveries that were already 5 minutes late. He had been working for nearly ten hours, sweat mixing with the hot wind, dripping onto the delivery box.
After completing this order, he sat on his electric bike in a daze, when his phone popped up a notification: "SHIB coin surged 3000%, someone became a millionaire in three months!"
He clicked on the article, muttering as he read: "Who would believe such nonsense."
But due to an inexplicable gambling mentality, he opened a trading platform account he had registered just a few days ago, looking at the 18.5 yuan remaining in his account. That was the compensation from the platform after he canceled a milk tea order he couldn't deliver two days ago.
"How about treating it like a lottery?" he said, buying the newly launched, little-known 'GXC coin' - a virtual currency claiming to create an anonymous trading system for the metaverse.
18.5 yuan, he bought nearly 900 million.
He turned off his phone and went to deliver the next order.
He didn't realize he was no longer the person he used to be.
2. Overnight, two zeros appeared in his account.
At 2 AM the next day, Yang Hao placed his last order, bought a bottle of mineral water from a convenience store, was about to scroll through Douyin to prepare for sleep, when suddenly his phone popped up with dozens of trading alerts.
He looked confused as he opened the app.
[GXC/USDT: Price increase +1200%] [Trading volume exceeded 10 million USD] [GXC coin topped Reddit hot search]
He stared at his account balance that could barely buy instant noodles —
45,200 yuan.
"I... what?" He pinched himself hard.
It's not a dream.
The coin price is still rising. Constantly refreshing and increasing, a new price every five seconds.
At 3 AM, his account balance had already surpassed 300,000 yuan.
"I'm not sending anymore!" He threw down the helmet, laughing as he lay on the bed, like a wild dog that just escaped from a cage.
3. Dark horse coins, airdrops, and the heavenly 'crypto friend circle'.
After becoming a sensation, GXC was integrated into major platforms, and a Chinese community was established.
Yang Hao transformed into an 'early investor', revered as a god in the group - people called him 'Brother Hao' and sought his insights on crypto trends and potential projects. He just smiled foolishly: "It’s luck."
He used the money he earned for the first time to fully invest in another newly launched project, 'KALA coin', which was said to be a Web3.0 cross-chain protocol project. He didn't even read the white paper; he just jumped in because he heard Sequoia Capital was backing it.
In less than 10 days, KALA coin skyrocketed from 0.0001 to 0.3 USD.
After this surge, his total assets in the account surpassed 12 million yuan for the first time.
That day, he posted his first 'show-off' update in the friend circle:
"In this world, nothing is impossible."
Some liked it, some messaged him for money. Even former colleagues invited him to dinner, saying, "You couldn't afford me before, now it's your turn."
From delivery worker to 'crypto god', he put on a suit and drove a Porsche 911. He no longer worried about rainy days, nor did he have to wait for the elevator in the office building hallway.
He became the 'closest person to freedom' in his friend circle.
4. The madness after getting rich: loss, gambling, and traps in the crypto space.
Money came too quickly, like a typhoon sweeping away all rationality.
Before the Spring Festival in 2022, Yang Hao became obsessed with the 'DEGEN track' in the crypto space - those new coins with unknown origins, no real applications, reliant on FOMO emotions for hype.
He participated in a private placement for a new project called "FOMOX". The team claimed to be from Silicon Valley and even presented a fake contract saying they were collaborating with a top exchange. He invested 3 million yuan.
A few days later, the project ran away, the website was shut down, the WeChat group was dissolved, and even the logo couldn't be found.
He realized for the first time, "The air in the crypto space can truly turn into a vacuum."
In the summer of 2022, the crypto market entered a bear market, with Bitcoin dropping from 60,000 USD to 20,000 USD, and countless altcoins going to zero.
GXC also fell from 0.05 to 0.000003.
His account assets shrank from 12 million to less than 200,000 within six months.
5. Rebirth from the bottom: The miracle of that night.
Just when he thought it was all over, in March 2023, an anonymous project team messaged him on platform X (formerly Twitter):
"We plan to airdrop a batch of 'GhostChain' to early GXC holders. Please check your old wallet address."
He half-believingly opened the long-sealed cold wallet.
Stunned.
His wallet suddenly had 18,000 GhostChain tokens, and these tokens were already listed on Coinbase, real-time price - 162 USD each.
He almost cried.
He liquidated some of these coins and got his second chance at 'getting rich'. He didn't flaunt it anymore, nor did he 'all in'. This time, he established his own blockchain project studio and rented a co-working space in Hangzhou.
He said: "I once relied on luck to earn my first bucket of gold, but only those who truly understand how not to lose deserve to have freedom."
6. Conclusion: The crypto space does not believe in tears, and it's not just about luck.
Yang Hao's story is like a dream. The madness comes quickly, and the dream ends just as fast.
But he also proved one thing:
In this world, there are always people at 3 AM who change their fate with a click.
Maybe it's not you, maybe it's not now. But you have to admit, the story is real.
However, most people only see 'getting rich' but do not see the 'near-death experiences' behind the stories.
Many people in this market only thought of improving their perception when they were really at their wits' end and had little left.
I organized a basic guide for using crypto indicators.
@Crypto大東
