Starting point: an initial investment of 8,000 to 'test the waters'
In November 2022, when FTX had just collapsed, the sentiment in the cryptocurrency circle was very poor. Binance was also rumored to have various negatives, and everyone was saying the bear market had come, and it was over.
I just happened to have 8,000, which I originally intended to pay for training, but later didn't enroll, wondering if I could 'test the waters' with it, treating it as a learning cost. At that time, my understanding of the crypto world was limited to the simple logic of 'buying coins-increasing-selling'; I completely didn't understand on-chain, project fundamentals, and airdrop interactions.
Stage One: Exploration and Trial and Error (8,000 → 20,000)
I started from contracts when I came in, and unsurprisingly blew up two small positions. Fortunately, I didn't play recklessly with leverage; I lost 1,500 once and 2,000 another time.
Later, I began to realize: short-term trading is not as good as laying low. So I started researching spot projects, following cryptocurrency KOLs, checking Discord, and participating in testnet projects. During that period, I was very restrained, dividing the remaining 5,000 into 10 parts, betting only 500 each time, without being greedy.
The first time I felt a sense of achievement was when I invested in the coin $HOOK. Before it opened, I learned through the community that Binance would have a round of spot surges after the IEO, so I made a short-term trade on the first day, netting 1,200 USDT.
In the following months, I gradually increased my funds to over 20,000 by participating in IEO launches and rotating low-market-cap projects.
Stage Two: Strategy Formation, Cognitive Improvement (20,000 → 120,000)
What truly transformed me from 'making a little money' to 'systematic thinking' was a failure. In March 2023, I heavily invested in a chain I thought would airdrop, but the official team changed the rules and didn't issue any coins. I regretted it at the time, having spent two months doing testing and paying a lot of gas fees.
But this time made me realize: airdrops are not free; you need to research the rules, observe team styles, and judge whether on-chain behaviors have 'value.'
So I began systematically learning about on-chain data, wallet analysis, and project structures. I learned to use DeBank to see interactions, use Dune to check activity levels, and use Twitter to track project movements.
I also participated in several early projects during this period, including:
Modular public chain of the Celestia ecosystem (testing interactions + community feedback)
Early interactions with Starknet (although there were no airdrops, the process accumulated experience)
Interaction with Arbitrum's DID project (profited 12,000)
At this point, I began to truly establish a 'portfolio thinking': no longer putting everything on one bet, but distributing bets across 10-20 projects, some for airdrops, some for listings, and some purely following early hype.
By the end of 2023, my assets had reached around 120,000.
Stage Three: Big Cycles + Correct Execution (120,000 → 1,000,000)
2024 will be the explosive period of my experience.
The ETH ecosystem and L2 ecosystem experienced an explosion. I laid out some potential coins related to Blast, ZkSync, and Eigenlayer in advance, especially since I deeply understood Eigen's Restaking concept, participating and locking assets half a year in advance, using a bunch of tools, and finally selling in batches as soon as the airdrop was released, with total earnings exceeding 300,000.
At the same time, I gradually learned to 'make waves using hot trends.' For example:
For instance, when Farcaster and SocialFi gained momentum, I bought coins related to the Lens protocol, tripling my investment in a month;
For example, during the hype of Solana Meme, I bought $BONK's previous round derivative coins, entering and exiting quickly;
For example, placing orders on Binance, tracking a few new coins that are likely to be 'hyped', and using small positions to grab the first-day gains.
The most critical moment was when I judged that BTC might be starting a bull run, so I took some ETH spot and made a wave of swings, along with a few accurate airdrop realizations and rotations, raising my total assets from 120,000 directly to 800,000.
The last transaction that took me from 800,000 to 1,000,000 was when I operated the LayerZero airdrop with multiple accounts at the beginning of 2025, successfully obtaining about 15,000 USD worth of coins through reasonable methods, further increasing my total assets.
Summarizing my journey:
1. It's not luck; it's the accumulation of small opportunities + correct execution.
I didn't rely on one big coin to multiply by dozens of times, but rather on the small gains from dozens of projects adding up. Some earned only a few hundred, some a few thousand, and some made a huge profit. The key is to persist in executing the strategy and continuously reviewing it.
2. I never go all-in, nor do I gamble on hot trends.
I almost never chase mainstream coins in the hotspots. I am better at laying out ecological branches, small coins, and participating in airdrops before the hype arrives.
3. Emotional management is more important than you think
I once lost 30,000 and couldn't sleep a whole night; I also floated after earning for three consecutive days, only to give back half. Later, I started keeping a review log, writing down the logic, execution, and results of each operation, and my emotions slowly stabilized.
4. Cognition is the only thing that can be accumulated
When people ask me how I went from 8,000 to 1,000,000, I say: relying on the lessons learned from every penny lost, on the logic of every wrong judgment, and on adjusting my thinking after each review.
In conclusion
The cryptocurrency world can indeed turn around, and it can also lead to zero. Growing from 8,000 to 1,000,000 is the result of the combination of timing, geographical advantages, and human factors:
The right timing is the bull market from 2023 to 2025;
Geographical advantages are the groundwork for early participation in new ecosystems;
People and things are about continuous learning, continuous review, and continuous correction.
If you are new to the cryptocurrency world, please remember one thing:
There are no shortcuts to getting rich here, only the compounding of information asymmetry + patience + execution.
If someone is confused by market fluctuations and doesn't know how to deal with a trapped situation, or feels misled during the operation, feel free to reach out!
