Recently saw Binance at the Blockchain Week in Dubai, and I have two feelings.
One thing is, maybe I'm getting older and can't keep up with the pace of young people anymore.
Another thing is, I didn't expect that even the class structure in the cryptocurrency circle has become so solidified.
The reason I say this is mainly because the events at Blockchain Week allowed people to let loose, and surprisingly, before it officially started, everyone's focus turned to kissing and taking off pants, and it spread widely, even a commemorative card was specially made—if we follow this logic, should there be a commemorative card for fake donations?
This makes it really hard for most people to empathize: you influencers who went to the VIP lounges and hotels, was it just to hold wild parties? The absurdity of these actions even has more hype than CZ bringing out gold bricks for people to authenticate on-site.
But in reality, the logic of KOLs is very simple: look, my identity can be chartered for parties, look, we appear in Dubai, look, we can take photos with CZ and the top influencers.
You retail investors can only envy.
But the problem is, is Binance's revenue contributed by KOLs or by retail investors?
So whether it's live kissing or taking off pants, it actually conveys one message: we are different; we are superior.
This is no different from the great Confucian scholars who debated the Qing army's entry into the country. But making money is a business, and it's not disgraceful. It can also be understood.
From this, you can see the division of classes in the crypto space:
Exchanges control top resources and attract KOLs to shape public opinion.
Retail investors look up to the gods in the industry, dreaming of one day becoming KOLs themselves.
What difference does this have from the ancient imperial examination system? The top players in the industry have already written the rules.
You either accept this rule and integrate into it, or become an excluded outlier. How will you choose?
So you can see that project parties take pride in getting key investments, as this is their endorsement for integrating into the system. As for how the project itself performs, it doesn't really matter because the secondary market will solve this issue.
Recently, I couldn't help but complain during a chat with a friend:
Past KOLs at least had real skills and capable individuals who made people feel that they were impressive.
Today's KOLs are more focused on creating hype to attract attention; having real skills is no longer important. As long as I can make others pay attention to me, it doesn't matter how they do it. Who is still foolish enough to create quality content? Can it be monetized?
This year has seen various trends emerge, including various instances of conflict and even scams; well, any form of visibility is still visibility, and criticism is still a form of attention, and toxic traffic is still traffic.
At this moment, Juzi feels that he was indeed too conservative.
Many people enter the crypto space not to double their money but to turn their fortunes around, Juzi is the same.
To this day, there are still many people who view the crypto space as their best chance to turn their fortunes around or to cross classes, yet they do not know that the space left for retail investors is dwindling, and the territory has long been divided.
In their eyes, the logic is often surprisingly consistent:
My own industry is hard to operate in and very easy to see the ceiling, and income doesn't go up. So I need to transition. After looking around, only the wealth creation myths in the crypto space stood out, so I entered the crypto space.
Whether investors or practitioners, their reasons for entering the market are actually quite similar.
But the problem is:
You couldn't compete with all those years of experience in other industries.
Can you really compete in the crypto space with no foundation?
This is the sad reality for most people: they can only see the immediate escape routes but cannot see the paths that are most suited to them.
The path you see in front of you is not necessarily the right one.
Even if this is the only option in front of you, it's hard to say it's the right choice.
Those who have had experiences naturally know what Juzi means, because they have already paid the price for the road in front of them, while newcomers are still curiously surveying the industry, thinking that there is a key to changing their fate here.
Let me tell you about the fate of most retail investors after entering the market:
Newcomers to the crypto space must first invest money.
But in the eyes of scammers, such retail investors are the most fat, because they have not lost money yet.
So why should I go to the trouble of launching projects to harvest retail investors? I could just harvest them as soon as they enter the market.
So you can see that many people accidentally expose themselves as newcomers when they deposit money, and then they get misled by traders flaunting their profits. Originally, a newcomer wanting to hold coins ended up becoming a gambler and lost everything.
You may not know that in the data statistics from exchanges, the effective lifecycle of new users is only three months. This means that within three months, they either lose everything or recognize their losses and exit.
Those who can survive in the big casino are no longer retail investors but professional traders.
You may think these people are too black-hearted, but they are actually quite conscientious; at least during this time, you can stop losses and withdraw. The more ruthless ones will take you to a scam and keep extracting until they have drained all the resources.
Even if someone is leading, accidents can easily occur. Because those leading you often do not understand it themselves, many people end up being led into financial schemes, thinking they have entered the crypto space. It is only when one day they cannot withdraw that they realize they have been deceived, but by then it's too late.
Even if you have a smooth journey and learned the basics and how to operate on-chain, you will still find that whether it's a 'shitcoin' or a 'copycat', there's always one that can harvest you. Moreover, those who initially enter the crypto space tend to have a heavy gambling tendency; how many people have fallen at this barrier?
Those who realize that they need to make money in this industry are already a rare breed. Many only realize after losing everything that they came to make money, not to give money away, and thus they must find ways to make money from this industry instead of continuously pouring in.
Those who can make easy profits are already quite savvy in the industry, but at this time, most people have lost a lot of capital and can only slowly scrape together small amounts of money. Moreover, making easy profits is not as easy as in the past; it's all point-based now, and airdrops are not that easy to obtain.
Current airdrops test investment research ability and capital capacity more than ever; the thresholds are gradually being raised.
So when all is said and done, retail investors seem to have countless paths in front of them, yet not a single one leads to success.
If you tell him to hold Bitcoin, he will definitely say that Bitcoin is too expensive.
Juzi even saw a post that left a deep impression on him. It said:
If I had 10 million, I would definitely go all in on Bitcoin.
But I only have 100,000, so I can only go all in on a 'shitcoin'.
What Juzi wants to say is that such people, even if you give them 10 million, will still go all in on a 'shitcoin'. It has nothing to do with how much money they have.
And those who have clarity, even if they only have 50,000, will still buy Bitcoin; this has nothing to do with wealth level, only with the degree of understanding.
Having said so much, the main point is that retail investors have it too hard, the industry has too many pitfalls, the paths with benefits have long been cleaned out by those with higher ecological positions, while retail investors continue to flood into the industry yet find no way out.
Those who contribute the most to the industry often receive the least respect within it.
It's harder for poor families to produce wealthy children, and it's rare for retail investors to have a chance to turn their fortunes around.
Perhaps from this perspective, banning this sector policy-wise does make some sense.
The industry is developing, but it is also developing in a disorderly manner.
The industry has achieved many groundbreaking accomplishments, but that doesn't mean there are no problems.
It's a bit disheartening to say these things during good times, but someone has to say them sooner or later.
What do you all think?
