The Poor Man’s Guide to Web3

I have a childhood friend who came to Beijing to make a living right after graduating from university. He lived in Shuangjing and worked in Gehua Building, next to Lama Temple.

At that time, the concept of Web3 was hot, and he joined a company that made blockchain games. His position was operations, but he actually did everything - product internal testing, community recruitment, white paper translation, and sometimes he had to send users a batch of themed dolls for the system lottery.

He always said that he had to go to Lama Temple to worship more often, just as if to pray for the wallet address.

From time to time, we would find restaurants along Line 2 for dinner, from Dongzhimen, Andingmen, to Gulou Street and Jishuitan, and we would have a meal at each stop. On weekdays, I would entertain him, but when there was an airdrop, he would always call me and talk for five minutes about which project would be popular and which track not to touch. At the end, he would say: Brother, the next meal must be on my side.

For a while, he really made some money, earning more than 40,000 dollars by brushing LayerZero and Wormhole airdrops. He told me that he was optimistic about both bridges, and if he held on for a while longer and persisted, he would be able to buy a house in his hometown.

You are all familiar with the subsequent trend.

What you are not familiar with is that after the price of the currency plummeted, his company also began to lay off employees. He jumped three more companies, and the last one didn't even pay him the full salary during the probation period. He said he was almost out of breath, and turned around and dragged his luggage home to start preparing for the civil service examination.

I told this story because he called me last night and said that he was very sad after reading the "Escape" I wrote.

I felt even sadder after hearing this. I write to resonate and heal, not to cause depression.

I asked him if he regretted it?

He said it was useless to regret, at least now he could sleep well and his parents didn't quarrel anymore.

Many people say that Web3 is a human nature amplifier.

But to me, it is more like a mirror.

It reflects the workers at the bottom of this era, not because we are stupid, nor because we don't work hard, but because - there are no collaborative resources, no stable strategies, and we can only rely on emotions to survive on the chain.

This article does not talk about opportunities, does not teach arbitrage, and does not have any tips for getting rich.

You know I always hate talking about how to get rich. Even if I have to talk about it, at least I will wait until I get rich first, otherwise how can I say something that is out of nothing.

I just want to say one thing:

How do the poor people of Web3 survive?

You struggled hard, not failed, but exposed the limits of ordinary people in advance.

In Web3, the most dangerous mentality is not FOMO, but fantasy.

You always think that the next bull market can turn around, and the next opportunity is the rope to save your life. You have eaten L2, got on Eigenlayer, fell on Babylon, and made some small money on Kaito, but you found that you didn’t become stronger. It seems that you just got lucky to make money, and you didn’t suddenly understand when you lost money.

Getting rich quickly is only a miracle for a very small number of people, not the path for ordinary people.

You are desperately brushing Sahara, but the masters have already crossed the Rubicon River, and your Wranglers cannot stop at the same destination.

Many people say that they are "persisting" , but in fact they are "letting go" .

Letting yourself waste time, letting your fate be left to luck, and letting your uncontrolled positions control your emotions.

You jump between Alpha Point, Cookie and Monad, and you are still thinking about Virtual's points system and the various airdrop projects that seem to grow out of the ground - and they are issuing airdrops.

The scarcest resource on the chain is not money, but attention.

You think you are losing your principal, but in fact you are overdrawing your emotions, time and health.

Bitcoin is too expensive for you, and ETH is too late for you, so try some small currencies that everyone is calling for, and then get deeply trapped.

If you don't sell, it won't move; if you smash it, it will be cut in half.

It doesn't follow the rise, but falls quickly, and its decline is accurate and stable.

You know it has no narrative and no liquidity, but you have it in your wallet, and you feel like you have a time bomb in your heart. You don't even dare to take a break or disconnect from the Internet, for fear that it will really take off one day.

The reality is: it has never moved, but you have already been exhausted.

10% position, 100% anxiety, is the most accurate purgatory on the chain.

So please learn to "live at low cost":

Join fewer projects and don't touch things you don't understand;

Join fewer groups and block useless ones;

Remove temptations and pay attention to valuable ones.

You are not a robot of the exchange, not a retweet machine of Twitter, and not a free labor of the project party.

You are a living person, you have the right to choose not to be consumed.

You can't make money, it's probably not because of poor skills, it's also possible that you didn't review the market at all.

Have you ever kept account?

How many projects have you participated in? How much gas did you spend? How many have you recovered? Which protocols are stable? Which ones are cutting people? Which copycat transactions are because KOLs called business orders? Which memes are your own research and judgment?

If not, this is the problem.

Many people rely on "feelings"to make judgments, thinking that this wave is worth getting on, and that wave is worth a heavy position - as a result, they take the elevator every day and dare not get off.

You think it is the market that is unreasonable, but in fact it is because you have no records and no principles.

The most frightening thing is not making wrong judgments, but living by feeling forever.

And you can’t walk this road alone.

You need someone to give you a hand, remind you not to rush blindly, and you also need someone to accompany you through the days when there is no market.

Find three or five reliable people and form a "mutual rescue group":

share experiences and share judgments;

help review and exchange warnings;

help each other emotionally and exchange information.

Don't chase after the big guys, and don't be autistic and fight alone.

After being on the chain for a long time, you will know:

You can persist to the end, not relying on critical hits, but on companionship.

Our generation of Web3 workers did not lose because of laziness, and did not lose because of stupidity.

It's because you learned too early to "put your hopes on the next round", but never practiced to "live a stable life".

You don't exist for this market.

The market is only a part of your life, not all of it.

Don't let the ups and downs define your mood, and don't let anxiety eat away at your few remaining little joys.

Web3 should be a way out, not a trap to trap you.

The real virtuous cycle is that when the market is not moving, you still have some other income and can live like a human being.

When you can live a down-to-earth life without watching the market, and sleep well without rushing to get the pre-sale shares of the project, you have already won half the battle.

When you start to return your attention to yourself and learn to take root in the real world, the world on the chain will slowly open up to you.

If you are at your lowest point, don't blame yourself, and don't rush to win.

Take your time, as long as you can keep going.

Promise yourself to live through a cycle first, and you will know that under the dazzling sunlight, there are actually not many new things.

The poor in Web3 also deserve a future.

Treat yourself sincerely, and you will not suffer any loss.