A True Story of Falling into the Abyss Due to Cryptocurrency Speculation
The Opening Words:
My idol, China's Freud—'Brother Feng on the Run'—recently released a video describing the story of a senior state-owned enterprise official who lost 3 million in cryptocurrency speculation and ended up with a broken family. In fact, Brother Feng had previously interviewed a small fry who made over 100 million from trading cryptocurrency, but he didn't release it for fear of account suspension, negative impact, or lack of views.
After all, losses are something everyone is happy to see.
The following is the main text:
This video captures a painful monologue of a man who fell from a mid-level leadership position in a state-owned enterprise to a life of over a million in debt, barely surviving by driving for ride-hailing services. His experience is a typical tragedy of a complete collapse in life due to a speculative and gambling mindset, where 'crypto trading' was the key catalyst for his descent into the abyss.
1. Current Situation: Burdened by Debt, Struggling to Survive
The video opens with a powerful impact, showcasing the overwhelming collection messages on the man's phone. These messages come not only from various online lending platforms but also include threats demanding that he send videos holding his ID to family and friends, or else they would contact all his emergency contacts. This reveals the enormous pressure of debt collection and the risk of 'social death' he is currently facing.
By looking at his loan records, we can glimpse a small part of his debt iceberg:
Online lending platforms: AnyEase, Immediate Consumption, Fenqile, etc., with debts ranging from hundreds to tens of thousands.
Banks and Financial Institutions: Debt of 107,000 at Ping An Bank, 250,000 at a village credit cooperative, and 80,000 at Industrial Bank.
These are just the tip of the iceberg; his total debt has reached millions. To survive and 'run away,' he chose to drive for ride-hailing services, working 13-14 hours a day, and after deducting costs like car rental and charging, he could earn only about 100 yuan a day. Life is extremely difficult, with daily food expenses kept under 20 yuan, often making do with just a bowl of noodles. Even while eating, collection calls frequently come through his smartwatch, reminding him of the inescapable predicament.
2. Roots: From Winner in Life to Gambler's Downfall, Cryptocurrency Trading was the Fatal Blow
This man did not start with nothing. He was the deputy director of a large state-owned enterprise (Fortune Global 500) coal washing plant in his hometown of Handan, Hebei, a deputy section-level official, with a happy family, and was seen by others as a 'winner in life.' His downfall stemmed from a deeply rooted desire for speculation and gambling, and cryptocurrency provided the perfect breeding ground for this desire.
1. Early Speculation and 'Sweetness': Before getting involved with cryptocurrencies, he had already dabbled in highly speculative markets like 'postal currency.' Although he claimed that he did not lose money during that period and even made a small profit of one or two thousand, it undoubtedly fostered his desire for 'quick wealth' and a sense of luck.
2. Entering the Cryptocurrency Circle and the Illusion of Getting Rich: In 2020, he officially entered the cryptocurrency market. Initially, he started with small amounts, possibly just a few hundred yuan. Soon, he tasted tremendous success, achieving 40-50% returns in just a few hours. He mentioned that there was one day he earned 40,000 to 50,000 yuan. This 'getting rich overnight' experience completely plunged him into a frenzied state of only reporting good news and not mentioning bad news. Such enormous, unreal profits utterly destroyed his understanding of the value of traditional work, making him firmly believe that he had found a shortcut to life.
3. High-Leverage Contracts and 'Boiling Frog': After exhausting his initial savings, he did not stop but instead began borrowing from online loans and friends and family, entering even bigger gambling stakes. He started engaging in high-risk 'contract trading,' using 10x, 50x, or even 100x leverage. At this point, his mindset had shifted from 'investing to make money' to 'recouping losses,' which is typical of a gambler's mentality. He described his loss process as 'cutting meat with a dull knife' and 'boiling a frog in warm water,' losing a bit each day, like losing 20,000 today and borrowing another 20,000 to invest again tomorrow, continuously increasing his input between small losses and small profits, ultimately leading to an irretrievable situation where his debts snowballed.
4. Altcoins and Final Madness: Besides mainstream coins, he also traded 'altcoins' (air coins). He knew that these were 'passing the buck' games, yet he still held a sense of luck, hoping he was not the one catching the last baton. This further reflected his loss of rationality and the deep-rooted nature of his gambling.
3. Total Collapse: The Destruction of Family, Career, and Dignity
His gambling behavior experienced four major explosions:
First Time: In 2020, lost 220,000, family pooled money to help him pay off.
Second Time: Lost 300,000, family came to the rescue again.
Third Time: Lost up to 650,000. This time, he not only borrowed money from friends and family again but even touched the family's bottom line—selling the dowry house that his parents prepared for his sister, worth nearly 500,000, just to barely fill the gap.
Fourth Time: Another explosion, owing more than a million in debts, completely unable to repay, ultimately leading to the outcome of 'running away.'
The debt crisis triggered by cryptocurrency speculation has completely destroyed his life:
Family Breakdown: His wife could not bear the endless lies and debts, and filed for divorce. He has not seen his 5-year-old daughter for a month.
Severed Family Ties: During his last 'runaway,' he left a farewell letter for his father, who heartbreakingly cut ties with him via text message, stating, 'This family no longer has you as a son... You have no bottom line as a person... You are not worthy.' When he read this message, he finally broke down and cried uncontrollably.
Career Completely Destroyed: He resigned from his enviable state-owned enterprise job, losing stable income and decent social status.
Dignity Trampled: From a respected and warm-hearted 'big brother' to a 'fraud' harassed by collectors and deceiving everyone who trusted him, he has betrayed everyone's trust, including the family and friends who loved him the most.
4. Reflection and Struggle: Endless Regret and Dim Hope
At the end of the interview, he expressed great regret and self-blame. He clearly knows that he has destroyed a once happy and content 'moderately prosperous family' with his own hands. He attributes his actions to losing rationality, a distorted mindset, and an uncontrollable gambling nature. He admits that he has become numb to money because the money in online loans and virtual transactions is just numbers, lacking any sense of reality, until he could no longer borrow even a penny, when he finally woke up.
Now, although he feels desperate, he has not completely given up. He believes he is 'not very stupid' and that as long as he works hard, there are still opportunities. However, he also soberly realizes that with the meager income from driving for ride-hailing services, he will never be able to pay off his debts in this lifetime. His future is full of uncertainty, and perhaps the only hope is that one day he can make something of himself and have the face to go back and see his daughter.
Summary
This video serves as a profound warning. It reveals the cruelty of speculative markets, especially the high-leverage cryptocurrency contract trading, which is essentially no different from gambling. The protagonist of the video, once an ordinary person with a stable job and a happy family, was gradually consumed by the desire for 'quick wealth,' falling into a vicious cycle of 'wanting to win more when winning, and wanting to recoup losses when losing.' Ultimately, through borrowing and deception, he dragged himself and his family into an irretrievable abyss. This story tells us that any fantasy of getting rich quickly that detaches from reality is a dangerous trap; being grounded and cherishing the present is the most reliable path to happiness.