In the world of cryptocurrency, choosing an algorithm or over-collateralized stablecoin as the sole payment method is like trying to build a suspension bridge to the other side with nothing but a flexible steel wire on a tumultuous sea. On the other end of the bridge is financial freedom, while beneath is an unpredictable abyss.
On this day in December 2025, Bitcoin fluctuates above one hundred thousand dollars, and the Ethereum ecosystem has achieved large-scale applications through Layer2. In a shared office in Dubai, A Qiang—an experienced freelancer who gained fame in 2023 for insisting on receiving only USDD as his salary—is calmly typing on his keyboard.
Many people ask: Does he regret it?
To understand A Qiang's situation, we must first analyze the structure of the 'suspension bridge' that is USDD. During the past three years of crypto winter and recovery, the logic of USDD has undergone a dramatic evolution from 'pure algorithm' to 'hybrid asset backing'. Initially, it was viewed as a shadow of Luna/UST, but its core team transformed it into a hybrid resembling a 'digital safe' through PSM (pegged stability mechanism) and by introducing a large amount of BTC and TRX as reserve assets.
From a technical and mechanical perspective, the vitality of USDD comes from the Tron ecosystem behind it. TRX has shown excellent performance in its deflationary model over the past two years, maintaining the value's center through a burning mechanism. For someone like A Qiang, who handles thousands of on-chain transfers daily, the low fees and high throughput of the Tron network are his 'oxygen'. If he chooses to receive ETH, then during network congestion, gas fees that can easily reach dozens of dollars will instantly consume his hard-earned profits.
However, to risk analysts, USDD looks more like a 'solid yet transparent glass shield'. Although by 2025, USDD has not repeated UST's mistakes, its market depth and liquidity are still unable to compare with compliant giants like USDC or PYUSD. What A Qiang faces is, in fact, a loss of 'liquidity premium'. In the bull market of 2024, when BTC and BNB skyrocketed several times, his USDD remained at 1. This psychological 'feeling of missing out' is a common curse for all stablecoin holders.
From an economic model perspective, although USDD's market share in 2025 is stable, its growth is lackluster. It is more like a 'sovereign currency' within a specific ecosystem, rather than a globally accepted 'hard currency'. A Qiang's regret does not lie in whether USDD has decoupled, but in his underestimation of the diversity of asset allocation in the Web3 world.
We can compare A Qiang's paycheck to a 'digital pension'. By insisting on only receiving USDD, he is essentially giving up all potential volatility bonuses. In this industry, not losing is passing, but whether one can capture exponential growth is what constitutes advancement.
In light of the current market environment, if you also want to emulate A Qiang and become a Web3 freelancer, I have the following suggestions:
First, establish a 'core + satellite' payment combination. Instead of putting all bets on a certain stablecoin, it is better to use a model of 60% stablecoins (recommended to diversify between USDC, USDT, and USDD) and 40% blue-chip tokens (like BTC or ETH). This way, it can guarantee living expenses while also enjoying the Beta returns from industry development.
Second, focus on the tokenization progress of RWA (real-world assets). By the end of 2025, many stablecoins have begun to connect to the yields of U.S. Treasury bonds. If your salary is just lying in your wallet, you are being silently eroded by inflation.
Third, be wary of 'single ecosystem dependency syndrome'. A Qiang can thrive within the USDD system because he has deeply cultivated the Tron ecosystem. Once the ecosystem undergoes structural changes, this dependency can become a weakness.
Back to the initial question: Does A Qiang regret it?
In his recent blog, he wrote: 'I do not regret choosing USDD; it helped me avoid the dazzling scams of土狗 in the past few years and helped me develop a compound interest mindset. But what I regret is that I did not convert some USDD into the ecosystem's 'building materials'—those tokens that truly drive the iteration of Web3—at the first opportunity to make money.'
By 2025, the cryptocurrency market has long bid farewell to the wild era and entered the second half of refined operations. The story of USDD tells us that in the world of blockchain, there is no absolute safe haven, only continuous cognitive upgrades.
In the coming year, the indicators we need to focus on are not the short-term prices of certain tokens but the retention rate of truly active addresses on-chain, as well as the proportion of RWA assets in stablecoin reserves. This is the critical anchor point that will determine whether A Qiang and others will actually regret.
This article is a personal independent analysis and does not constitute investment advice.
