"I lost over a million last year," said Xiao Su to Foresight News.
As an old player in the crypto circle, he purchased a considerable amount of VC coins during the last bull market cycle. In 2021, Bitcoin once broke through 67,000 USD, setting a new all-time high, and many VC coins rose along with it, with increases even surpassing that of Bitcoin. This was how Xiao Su made his first pot of gold.
However, the market is unpredictable. In this cycle, Xiao Su experienced a setback. Starting from 2024, several VC coins in which he heavily invested performed poorly, continuously declining without stopping. Being forced to become a diamond hands trader, he simply couldn't bear it anymore and could only cut his losses and exit at the low point. After repeating this several times, he has already given back more than half of his accumulated profits.
"Why is it so difficult to make money this time around? Who exactly is making money in the market?" Xiao Su was quite puzzled. In his view, in the past bull market cycles, you could just buy coins with your eyes closed and make money while lying down or sleeping. Now, it has turned into a time where you have to 'run fast' to earn money. Market participants such as VCs, market makers, exchanges, project teams, retail investors, and yield farming studios are all facing significant new challenges.
Xiao Su's experience is not an isolated case; not only veteran investors like him, but also some well-known crypto VC institutions have recently announced their transformation and admitted that the returns on this round of primary investments have been very disappointing.
However, from the perspective of cryptocurrency history, 2024 to 2025 is set to be an eventful year. The approval of Bitcoin spot ETFs has led traditional financial institutions to flock in, and after Trump's return to power, cryptocurrency policies are entering an unprecedentedly relaxed environment. A series of positive developments has propelled Bitcoin's price from a low of $15,000 to over $100,000, setting a new historical high.
Investor enthusiasm for the raging bull market has reached its peak.
The other important leader in the market, Ethereum, shattered investors' dreams. Ethereum did not even reach a historical high in this cycle, and the two major price boosters from the past, DeFi and NFT, have not seen a resurgence. Its founder Vitalik and the Ethereum Foundation have faced significant criticism. With ETH's sluggish performance, narratives around Layer 2, staking, ZK, etc., have disillusioned many, and the performance of numerous related ecosystem tokens has been disappointing.
The only hot topic - the craze for Meme coins is, to some extent, a reflection of retail investors' dissatisfaction with the overvaluation of VC coins. The profits from VC coins had already been largely divided among VCs before they were available to the public, leaving only retail investors to take over and endure the "endless decline."
But in this more brutal "casino," only a small number of savvy traders, insider traders, and coin issuance groups make a fortune, while most retail investors, crazily chasing Memes, suffer greater losses in one lottery scratch-off campaign after another, eventually realizing that the so-called wealth effect ultimately belongs only to others' "show-off profits."
So who is the ultimate winner? Foresight News interviewed multiple cryptocurrency professionals from the industry with the above question, and they provided their own answers.
Bitcoin holders: won big
Bitcoin buyers have undoubtedly reaped significant profits in this cycle. On May 10, data from Bitcoin Magazine Pro showed that only 0.55% of addresses remained in a state of loss after Bitcoin broke the $100,000 mark, indicating that the majority of Bitcoin players in the market are in profit. As of the time of publication, Bitcoin has surpassed $110,000, setting a new historical high, and no one has lost money from purchasing Bitcoin; all buyers have achieved profits.
The NDV (NextGen Digital Venture) fund, established in 2022, is one of them. Its founder Jason (@jhy256) told Foresight News that the NDV Phase I fund was fully cashed out in February this year, achieving a total return of 3.75 times, and has recently launched financing for Phase II of the fund.
Jason has extensive experience in the venture capital field, having worked at firms such as Huaxing Capital and Qiming Venture Partners. In 2023, at the age of 34, he chose to leave the family office Blue Pool Capital, co-founded by Jack Ma and Cai Chongxin, to establish NextGen Digital Venture.
Jason stated, "In a broader world, there are still quite a few external buyers, and many institutions have not even allocated 0.1%. They might just buy 0.1% first, as they are not sensitive to price fluctuations. If traditional large funds allocate 1% of their capital to Bitcoin, it would be quite considerable for this asset class." In the first year, he allocated most of the fund's positions to GBTC, and last year after a strategy switch, he turned to cryptocurrency-related stocks such as Coinbase and Strategy. These actions undoubtedly tapped into market trends.
He stated in his analysis regarding the rise of Bitcoin that the launch of spot ETFs has played a significant role. "Traditional finance's money can be directed straight from ETFs to BTC, which is also an important reason why BTC can continue to outperform many altcoins. Perhaps Trump's election and the issuance of coins will provide other cryptocurrencies with some new opportunities."
In January 2024, the approval of the Bitcoin spot ETF became a milestone event in this cycle. As of now, the total net inflow into Bitcoin spot ETFs has exceeded $42.7 billion. Institutions represented by BlackRock and Fidelity have made significant purchases of Bitcoin spot ETFs, becoming clear winners in the market due to early entry, low costs, and steady holding. These funds mainly come from hedge funds, pension funds, and family offices, marking a shift in the crypto market from retail speculation to institutional investment.
Moreover, various listed companies have also joined the ranks of Bitcoin buyers and made substantial profits.
The U.S. listed company Strategy has relied on an aggressive purchasing style, which not only significantly increased its stock price gains but also led to an astonishing floating profit for the company. As of May 18, 2025, Strategy holds 576,230 bitcoins, with a total purchase price of approximately $40.18 billion, averaging about $69,726 per bitcoin. After bitcoin surpassed $109,700, its floating profit once exceeded $23.039 billion. The Japanese listed company Metaplanet has cumulatively held 7,800 bitcoins, with a historical average purchase price of 13.51 million yen per coin (about $941.657 million). Based on a bitcoin price of $109,000, the bitcoins held by Metaplanet have already achieved a floating profit of $12.1 million.
Since its inception, Bitcoin's long-term price increase has not disappointed any diamond-handed players, and even the Bitcoin holdings of El Salvador, which has been continuously increasing its position, have already seen unrealized gains exceeding 357 million dollars.
The mining machines derived from BTC, as well as cryptocurrency infrastructure companies and financial derivatives, have naturally seen substantial profits. Taking Canaan Technology as an example, financial reports indicate an 80.9% revenue growth and a 312.5% increase in mining revenue for the fourth quarter of 2024. The company mentioned that customer orders for the first quarter of 2025 have already been scheduled into the second quarter, indicating the continued momentum in mining machine sales.
Meme Big Winner: Single Coin Earns Millions of Dollars
"The current total profit has reached a hundred times, mainly including the earnings from last year's AI, deSci, and TRUMP." yuyue told Foresight News,
The well-known on-chain KOL yuyue seized the TRUMP opportunity and became famous overnight, reportedly earning millions of dollars. According to community images that have circulated, she spent $158,000 to purchase TRUMP, with unrealized gains exceeding $2 million at one point.
She entered the circle in March 2022, initially just looking for an internship. Later, she got to know more people through airdrops and communities, reviewing market opportunities. Finally, when the opportunity came, she dared to take a position and ultimately achieved significant results.
In the past year, the most wealth-generating sector in the crypto world has undoubtedly been "Meme". Since the beginning of 2024, Meme coins have sparked an unprecedented frenzy in the crypto market. From WIF and BONK on the Solana chain, to PEPE and TURBO on Ethereum, and quickly rising DEGEN and MOCHI on the Base chain, as well as Meme assets in the Bitcoin ecosystem, the emergence of each hotspot has rapidly attracted tens of thousands of retail investors and speculators.
Meme is no longer just entertainment; it has become a new experimental ground for wealth distribution mechanisms. According to statistics from CoinGecko and Dune Analytics, in the year 2024, the total market capitalization of Meme coins skyrocketed from less than 2 billion dollars to over 60 billion dollars, with an annual increase of over 2900%. Among them, the market capitalization of Meme coins on the Solana chain alone accounted for more than 1/3. WIF once rose from an initial market capitalization of less than 1 million dollars to over 3 billion dollars, with early holders even achieving returns of over 100,000 times. Some users purchased a new Meme coin BOME in April 2024 for less than 200 dollars, and within just 72 hours, the account value surged to over 2 million dollars.
These meme coins often have no traditional technological background and do not even rely on a complete project white paper; they can trigger trading volumes of millions of dollars based solely on a catchy slogan or a simple dog avatar.
The craziest Meme wealth effect belongs to the Meme coin TRUMP, which surged before Trump officially took office in the White House. Traders like 0xSun, Dayu, Lengjing, and CryptoD made tens of millions of dollars in profits from a single coin, igniting the entire crypto circle, with countless people exclaiming in amazement. However, the players who could earn such huge profits from a single coin are ultimately just a minority. Position management and risk preference are also a profound study.
Yuyue candidly stated that she is relatively flexible in position management and does not hold any other long positions besides Bitcoin. In terms of trading style, "there are currently two distinct styles: chain sweeping and two-stage trading. However, I personally lean more towards the two-stage style, which emphasizes narrative."
She stated that market participants must have their own judgment on the underlying assets, for example, if focusing on the second stage, they need to pay attention to the narrative and the market cap estimation range, and trade based on these foundations. Furthermore, the narrative here is not just a fantasy; it can be supported by candlesticks and market performance.
The on-chain OG player "Bit Factory" has also made a fortune in the meme coin gold rush. He told Foresight News, "After achieving dozens of times high returns in just a few weeks with SHIB during the last cycle, I started my on-chain trading journey. In the recent one or two years of meme trading, profits have been around several million, seizing opportunities with assets like ORDI, GOAT, and TRUMP."
However, obtaining high returns is not easy. "Those who often achieve high returns have invested a lot of effort in on-chain research and time, which is what they deserve; the average person may not be able to do this." he lamented.
Trading Meme coins tests players' skills more than mainstream coins. Bit Factory Owner stated that Meme trading must grasp the big players, big trends, big narratives, and major hotspots are also crucial. Searching for keywords or contract addresses on Twitter can also be used to observe short-term popularity.
The earnings from his meme coins will also be used to buy Bitcoin. "Now the position is 85% in Bitcoin, around 13% in Ethereum BNB, and there are some alt-meme coins left."
The wealth myth of Meme coins temporarily cooled under the sluggish market conditions, and even large share giveaways were rarely seen on social media. Many Meme coin players, who dreamed of getting rich, faced repeated setbacks in various lottery activities, feeling anxious and restless amidst the fear of losing everything and selling at a loss. Some chose to return to mainstream altcoins, while others opted to explore other avenues for profit.
Perhaps every Meme player who is reluctant to leave is waiting for the moment when the altcoin market fully recovers. Some market players, through effective strategies and perseverance, have obtained great results; they are the airdrop players.
Airdrop from Heaven: From National Carnival to Competitive Game
"In 2023, the Arbitrum airdrop became my most rewarding project, approximately 30 million RMB." Well-known airdrop player Feng Mi told Foresight News.
He has over ten years of experience in traditional finance, has worked in hedge trading and investment banking, entered the crypto space in 2017 due to ICOs, and discovered yield farming opportunities through DeFi in 2020. Since then, he has been unstoppable, and his wealth accumulation speed even surpasses that of mining or trading cryptocurrencies.
Since then, "the 2024 Wormhole brought higher paper gains, with the corresponding value at TGE even exceeding ARB. Unfortunately, due to poor timing in claiming and selling, it ultimately resulted in only glorious paper profits, with limited actual gains."
The golden age of airdrops is not far from us. In the crypto bull market from 2020 to 2021, the surge of DeFi, NFTs, and Layer1/Layer2 projects provided fertile ground for grabbing rewards. Airdrop activities from DeFi protocols like Uniswap, 1inch, and dYdX often brought thousands of dollars in returns, attracting a large number of retail investors and early studios to participate. During this period, the threshold for grabbing rewards was low, allowing ordinary users to participate through simple wallet operations or social tasks. It was indeed the golden age of grabbing rewards. At its peak, top players in this space told Foresight News, "When ENS issued its token, the single airdrop reward exceeded 100,000 RMB, and multiple accounts led to instant wealth. During the PSP (Paraswap) event, one account started at 10,000 USD."
The subsequent毛(毛) industry gradually shifted from barbaric growth to specialization. Studios improve efficiency through batch account creation and automation scripts. However, even so, there are still quite a few airdrop wealth effects in the industry.
The airdrops of testnet projects like Aptos and Sui have further fueled the craze for "yield farming," with some studios obtaining millions of dollars in profits through a "multi-account strategy." To prevent "witch attacks" (Sybil Attack), project teams have generally raised the airdrop thresholds, such as introducing identity verification, on-chain behavior analysis, or community contribution requirements. This has made it more difficult for retail investors to participate, while studios with technical advantages and resources have gradually taken a dominant position.
When talking about her experience, Feng Mi said frankly that first of all, the most important thing is to choose the right project. "The airdrop that can really change lives must come from projects with products, innovation, capital and structure. It's not something that can be made up by brushing 100 low-quality activities. It's better to have a heavy position on 3 targeted items than to cast a net on 30 projects that have no certainty." Secondly, participants must learn to understand what kind of people they want to screen, understand the logic of the protocol, understand the characteristics of the protocol, and have a very clear overall view. In addition, just like the sensitivity of a professional trader, it is necessary to be decisive when it comes to stopping, and to give up cleanly.
In his view, token grabbing is not an isolated behavior, but rather a typical structural arbitrage method. Participants can treat token grabbing as a "left hand" for stable returns: low cost, high odds, and exchanging time for opportunities. At the same time, using the "right hand" to allocate positions in the secondary market, holding foundational assets like BTC/ETH, or boldly betting on some long-term highly elastic speculative projects such as memes. The left side captures certainty, while the right side gambles on uncertainty. "Currently, this is the combination method I see as more stable and capable of crossing cycles."
The airdrop sector in 2024 remains consistently hot. Projects like Starknet, Hyperliquid, Magic Eden, and Pudgy Penguins have distributed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of tokens through airdrops. Subsequently, the market conditions changed dramatically, shifting from a peak to a trough. Those players who chose to sell at the beginning retained significant profits, while those who held on and chose to wait became the exit liquidity for the "fast players."
In this regard, Fengmi reflected, "Haircutting has never been a mechanical operation on an assembly line. Behind every account, every transaction, and every project token, there are my hands interacting, recording, waiting, and even losing bit by bit. They are not just numbers, but a series of games of strategy and luck, filled with intense emotional investment. A project has poured in a lot of effort and time, Gas and principal, and because of this, it is an emotional investment. But it is precisely this 'emotion' that became my biggest flaw in this round: being reluctant to sell when I should have, and hesitating when I should have walked away. As a result, I handed over the profits that were already within reach to the market, just accompanying it for a while."
Market players experience both losses and wins, and the winners are always the minority. Subsequently, whether individuals or studios, they often face backlash; once airdrops from zkSync, LayerZero, etc. are released, the market is filled with cries of despair. Small retail investors receive pitifully few airdrops, while yield farming studios suffer heavy losses, some even being forced to shut down. Project teams are heavily criticized, but they maintain a very tough stance. From then on, most projects in the market also began to follow suit, issuing fewer or even no airdrops.
Feng Mi told Foresight News, "The era of easy gains is long over; the window of opportunity where everyone could easily earn their first bucket of gold from the blockchain has closed. We are no longer in a phase where you can just interact with a few buttons to earn rewards."
When players who are trying to earn rewards generally find it difficult, it becomes even harder to persevere. Many players miss out on wealth opportunities due to a lack of patience. Fengmi analyzes that the root cause of many players unable to continue is due to "airdrops being delayed, constant investment in gas, boring interactions, increasingly formalized tasks, and rampant points. When the rewards are slow to arrive, doubts gradually erode execution力, and complaints follow. However, the real big results are often hidden in those moments when you almost want to give up, almost think it's ineffective. You must believe that results do not happen first; they are first believed in before they can be realized."
Feng Mi also shared the failed cases he encountered during his yield farming process, "A large amount of BTC staking interactions were conducted on Babylon, with significant funds and attention invested. As a result, the airdrop allocation was extremely limited, and the returns were dismal to the point of being unbearable to look at." In addition, he heavily invested in the entire Move ecosystem, including Aptos, with over 4 million dollars invested at the peak market value, but the ecosystem projects collectively underperformed, and there wasn't a single standout project; the officials also lacked a sense of direction and top-tier operational capability.
Airdrops come with various ups and downs.
However, compared to buying coins, participating in airdrops may still be one of the few avenues where one can make a lot of money from an initial small capital. Multi-account strategies and premium account strategies remain practical methods, but they also require more finesse in approach. The game of wits with project parties still tests the cognition and execution ability of those looking to profit.
Conclusion
The only constant in the crypto market is change. A day in the cryptocurrency world is like a year in the human world. Although it may seem exaggerated, it reflects the rapid pace of change. If you can't see it or grasp it, the opportunity is gone, which is undoubtedly the most torturous for those in the industry who are constantly pursuing more wealth.
However, the most fascinating aspect of the crypto space is that whenever market participants believe they have reached the end of the wealth effect, there will always be a thriving area in some inconspicuous corner, nurturing strength for future rises, and through yet another astonishing wealth effect, continuously attracting curious young people to rush in and mine for gold.
The content is for reference only, not a solicitation or offer. No investment, tax, or legal advice provided. See Disclaimer for more risks disclosure.
The number one money-making player in the new encryption cycle: Bitcoin holders have won big - ChainCatcher
Author: 1912212.eth, Foresight News
"I lost over a million last year," said Xiao Su to Foresight News.
As an old player in the crypto circle, he purchased a considerable amount of VC coins during the last bull market cycle. In 2021, Bitcoin once broke through 67,000 USD, setting a new all-time high, and many VC coins rose along with it, with increases even surpassing that of Bitcoin. This was how Xiao Su made his first pot of gold.
However, the market is unpredictable. In this cycle, Xiao Su experienced a setback. Starting from 2024, several VC coins in which he heavily invested performed poorly, continuously declining without stopping. Being forced to become a diamond hands trader, he simply couldn't bear it anymore and could only cut his losses and exit at the low point. After repeating this several times, he has already given back more than half of his accumulated profits.
"Why is it so difficult to make money this time around? Who exactly is making money in the market?" Xiao Su was quite puzzled. In his view, in the past bull market cycles, you could just buy coins with your eyes closed and make money while lying down or sleeping. Now, it has turned into a time where you have to 'run fast' to earn money. Market participants such as VCs, market makers, exchanges, project teams, retail investors, and yield farming studios are all facing significant new challenges.
Xiao Su's experience is not an isolated case; not only veteran investors like him, but also some well-known crypto VC institutions have recently announced their transformation and admitted that the returns on this round of primary investments have been very disappointing.
However, from the perspective of cryptocurrency history, 2024 to 2025 is set to be an eventful year. The approval of Bitcoin spot ETFs has led traditional financial institutions to flock in, and after Trump's return to power, cryptocurrency policies are entering an unprecedentedly relaxed environment. A series of positive developments has propelled Bitcoin's price from a low of $15,000 to over $100,000, setting a new historical high.
Investor enthusiasm for the raging bull market has reached its peak.
The other important leader in the market, Ethereum, shattered investors' dreams. Ethereum did not even reach a historical high in this cycle, and the two major price boosters from the past, DeFi and NFT, have not seen a resurgence. Its founder Vitalik and the Ethereum Foundation have faced significant criticism. With ETH's sluggish performance, narratives around Layer 2, staking, ZK, etc., have disillusioned many, and the performance of numerous related ecosystem tokens has been disappointing.
The only hot topic - the craze for Meme coins is, to some extent, a reflection of retail investors' dissatisfaction with the overvaluation of VC coins. The profits from VC coins had already been largely divided among VCs before they were available to the public, leaving only retail investors to take over and endure the "endless decline."
But in this more brutal "casino," only a small number of savvy traders, insider traders, and coin issuance groups make a fortune, while most retail investors, crazily chasing Memes, suffer greater losses in one lottery scratch-off campaign after another, eventually realizing that the so-called wealth effect ultimately belongs only to others' "show-off profits."
So who is the ultimate winner? Foresight News interviewed multiple cryptocurrency professionals from the industry with the above question, and they provided their own answers.
Bitcoin holders: won big
Bitcoin buyers have undoubtedly reaped significant profits in this cycle. On May 10, data from Bitcoin Magazine Pro showed that only 0.55% of addresses remained in a state of loss after Bitcoin broke the $100,000 mark, indicating that the majority of Bitcoin players in the market are in profit. As of the time of publication, Bitcoin has surpassed $110,000, setting a new historical high, and no one has lost money from purchasing Bitcoin; all buyers have achieved profits.
The NDV (NextGen Digital Venture) fund, established in 2022, is one of them. Its founder Jason (@jhy256) told Foresight News that the NDV Phase I fund was fully cashed out in February this year, achieving a total return of 3.75 times, and has recently launched financing for Phase II of the fund.
Jason has extensive experience in the venture capital field, having worked at firms such as Huaxing Capital and Qiming Venture Partners. In 2023, at the age of 34, he chose to leave the family office Blue Pool Capital, co-founded by Jack Ma and Cai Chongxin, to establish NextGen Digital Venture.
Jason stated, "In a broader world, there are still quite a few external buyers, and many institutions have not even allocated 0.1%. They might just buy 0.1% first, as they are not sensitive to price fluctuations. If traditional large funds allocate 1% of their capital to Bitcoin, it would be quite considerable for this asset class." In the first year, he allocated most of the fund's positions to GBTC, and last year after a strategy switch, he turned to cryptocurrency-related stocks such as Coinbase and Strategy. These actions undoubtedly tapped into market trends.
He stated in his analysis regarding the rise of Bitcoin that the launch of spot ETFs has played a significant role. "Traditional finance's money can be directed straight from ETFs to BTC, which is also an important reason why BTC can continue to outperform many altcoins. Perhaps Trump's election and the issuance of coins will provide other cryptocurrencies with some new opportunities."
In January 2024, the approval of the Bitcoin spot ETF became a milestone event in this cycle. As of now, the total net inflow into Bitcoin spot ETFs has exceeded $42.7 billion. Institutions represented by BlackRock and Fidelity have made significant purchases of Bitcoin spot ETFs, becoming clear winners in the market due to early entry, low costs, and steady holding. These funds mainly come from hedge funds, pension funds, and family offices, marking a shift in the crypto market from retail speculation to institutional investment.
Moreover, various listed companies have also joined the ranks of Bitcoin buyers and made substantial profits.
The U.S. listed company Strategy has relied on an aggressive purchasing style, which not only significantly increased its stock price gains but also led to an astonishing floating profit for the company. As of May 18, 2025, Strategy holds 576,230 bitcoins, with a total purchase price of approximately $40.18 billion, averaging about $69,726 per bitcoin. After bitcoin surpassed $109,700, its floating profit once exceeded $23.039 billion. The Japanese listed company Metaplanet has cumulatively held 7,800 bitcoins, with a historical average purchase price of 13.51 million yen per coin (about $941.657 million). Based on a bitcoin price of $109,000, the bitcoins held by Metaplanet have already achieved a floating profit of $12.1 million.
Since its inception, Bitcoin's long-term price increase has not disappointed any diamond-handed players, and even the Bitcoin holdings of El Salvador, which has been continuously increasing its position, have already seen unrealized gains exceeding 357 million dollars.
The mining machines derived from BTC, as well as cryptocurrency infrastructure companies and financial derivatives, have naturally seen substantial profits. Taking Canaan Technology as an example, financial reports indicate an 80.9% revenue growth and a 312.5% increase in mining revenue for the fourth quarter of 2024. The company mentioned that customer orders for the first quarter of 2025 have already been scheduled into the second quarter, indicating the continued momentum in mining machine sales.
Meme Big Winner: Single Coin Earns Millions of Dollars
"The current total profit has reached a hundred times, mainly including the earnings from last year's AI, deSci, and TRUMP." yuyue told Foresight News,
The well-known on-chain KOL yuyue seized the TRUMP opportunity and became famous overnight, reportedly earning millions of dollars. According to community images that have circulated, she spent $158,000 to purchase TRUMP, with unrealized gains exceeding $2 million at one point.
She entered the circle in March 2022, initially just looking for an internship. Later, she got to know more people through airdrops and communities, reviewing market opportunities. Finally, when the opportunity came, she dared to take a position and ultimately achieved significant results.
In the past year, the most wealth-generating sector in the crypto world has undoubtedly been "Meme". Since the beginning of 2024, Meme coins have sparked an unprecedented frenzy in the crypto market. From WIF and BONK on the Solana chain, to PEPE and TURBO on Ethereum, and quickly rising DEGEN and MOCHI on the Base chain, as well as Meme assets in the Bitcoin ecosystem, the emergence of each hotspot has rapidly attracted tens of thousands of retail investors and speculators.
Meme is no longer just entertainment; it has become a new experimental ground for wealth distribution mechanisms. According to statistics from CoinGecko and Dune Analytics, in the year 2024, the total market capitalization of Meme coins skyrocketed from less than 2 billion dollars to over 60 billion dollars, with an annual increase of over 2900%. Among them, the market capitalization of Meme coins on the Solana chain alone accounted for more than 1/3. WIF once rose from an initial market capitalization of less than 1 million dollars to over 3 billion dollars, with early holders even achieving returns of over 100,000 times. Some users purchased a new Meme coin BOME in April 2024 for less than 200 dollars, and within just 72 hours, the account value surged to over 2 million dollars.
These meme coins often have no traditional technological background and do not even rely on a complete project white paper; they can trigger trading volumes of millions of dollars based solely on a catchy slogan or a simple dog avatar.
The craziest Meme wealth effect belongs to the Meme coin TRUMP, which surged before Trump officially took office in the White House. Traders like 0xSun, Dayu, Lengjing, and CryptoD made tens of millions of dollars in profits from a single coin, igniting the entire crypto circle, with countless people exclaiming in amazement. However, the players who could earn such huge profits from a single coin are ultimately just a minority. Position management and risk preference are also a profound study.
Yuyue candidly stated that she is relatively flexible in position management and does not hold any other long positions besides Bitcoin. In terms of trading style, "there are currently two distinct styles: chain sweeping and two-stage trading. However, I personally lean more towards the two-stage style, which emphasizes narrative."
She stated that market participants must have their own judgment on the underlying assets, for example, if focusing on the second stage, they need to pay attention to the narrative and the market cap estimation range, and trade based on these foundations. Furthermore, the narrative here is not just a fantasy; it can be supported by candlesticks and market performance.
The on-chain OG player "Bit Factory" has also made a fortune in the meme coin gold rush. He told Foresight News, "After achieving dozens of times high returns in just a few weeks with SHIB during the last cycle, I started my on-chain trading journey. In the recent one or two years of meme trading, profits have been around several million, seizing opportunities with assets like ORDI, GOAT, and TRUMP."
However, obtaining high returns is not easy. "Those who often achieve high returns have invested a lot of effort in on-chain research and time, which is what they deserve; the average person may not be able to do this." he lamented.
Trading Meme coins tests players' skills more than mainstream coins. Bit Factory Owner stated that Meme trading must grasp the big players, big trends, big narratives, and major hotspots are also crucial. Searching for keywords or contract addresses on Twitter can also be used to observe short-term popularity.
The earnings from his meme coins will also be used to buy Bitcoin. "Now the position is 85% in Bitcoin, around 13% in Ethereum BNB, and there are some alt-meme coins left."
The wealth myth of Meme coins temporarily cooled under the sluggish market conditions, and even large share giveaways were rarely seen on social media. Many Meme coin players, who dreamed of getting rich, faced repeated setbacks in various lottery activities, feeling anxious and restless amidst the fear of losing everything and selling at a loss. Some chose to return to mainstream altcoins, while others opted to explore other avenues for profit.
Perhaps every Meme player who is reluctant to leave is waiting for the moment when the altcoin market fully recovers. Some market players, through effective strategies and perseverance, have obtained great results; they are the airdrop players.
Airdrop from Heaven: From National Carnival to Competitive Game
"In 2023, the Arbitrum airdrop became my most rewarding project, approximately 30 million RMB." Well-known airdrop player Feng Mi told Foresight News.
He has over ten years of experience in traditional finance, has worked in hedge trading and investment banking, entered the crypto space in 2017 due to ICOs, and discovered yield farming opportunities through DeFi in 2020. Since then, he has been unstoppable, and his wealth accumulation speed even surpasses that of mining or trading cryptocurrencies.
Since then, "the 2024 Wormhole brought higher paper gains, with the corresponding value at TGE even exceeding ARB. Unfortunately, due to poor timing in claiming and selling, it ultimately resulted in only glorious paper profits, with limited actual gains."
The golden age of airdrops is not far from us. In the crypto bull market from 2020 to 2021, the surge of DeFi, NFTs, and Layer1/Layer2 projects provided fertile ground for grabbing rewards. Airdrop activities from DeFi protocols like Uniswap, 1inch, and dYdX often brought thousands of dollars in returns, attracting a large number of retail investors and early studios to participate. During this period, the threshold for grabbing rewards was low, allowing ordinary users to participate through simple wallet operations or social tasks. It was indeed the golden age of grabbing rewards. At its peak, top players in this space told Foresight News, "When ENS issued its token, the single airdrop reward exceeded 100,000 RMB, and multiple accounts led to instant wealth. During the PSP (Paraswap) event, one account started at 10,000 USD."
The subsequent毛(毛) industry gradually shifted from barbaric growth to specialization. Studios improve efficiency through batch account creation and automation scripts. However, even so, there are still quite a few airdrop wealth effects in the industry.
The airdrops of testnet projects like Aptos and Sui have further fueled the craze for "yield farming," with some studios obtaining millions of dollars in profits through a "multi-account strategy." To prevent "witch attacks" (Sybil Attack), project teams have generally raised the airdrop thresholds, such as introducing identity verification, on-chain behavior analysis, or community contribution requirements. This has made it more difficult for retail investors to participate, while studios with technical advantages and resources have gradually taken a dominant position.
When talking about her experience, Feng Mi said frankly that first of all, the most important thing is to choose the right project. "The airdrop that can really change lives must come from projects with products, innovation, capital and structure. It's not something that can be made up by brushing 100 low-quality activities. It's better to have a heavy position on 3 targeted items than to cast a net on 30 projects that have no certainty." Secondly, participants must learn to understand what kind of people they want to screen, understand the logic of the protocol, understand the characteristics of the protocol, and have a very clear overall view. In addition, just like the sensitivity of a professional trader, it is necessary to be decisive when it comes to stopping, and to give up cleanly.
In his view, token grabbing is not an isolated behavior, but rather a typical structural arbitrage method. Participants can treat token grabbing as a "left hand" for stable returns: low cost, high odds, and exchanging time for opportunities. At the same time, using the "right hand" to allocate positions in the secondary market, holding foundational assets like BTC/ETH, or boldly betting on some long-term highly elastic speculative projects such as memes. The left side captures certainty, while the right side gambles on uncertainty. "Currently, this is the combination method I see as more stable and capable of crossing cycles."
The airdrop sector in 2024 remains consistently hot. Projects like Starknet, Hyperliquid, Magic Eden, and Pudgy Penguins have distributed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of tokens through airdrops. Subsequently, the market conditions changed dramatically, shifting from a peak to a trough. Those players who chose to sell at the beginning retained significant profits, while those who held on and chose to wait became the exit liquidity for the "fast players."
In this regard, Fengmi reflected, "Haircutting has never been a mechanical operation on an assembly line. Behind every account, every transaction, and every project token, there are my hands interacting, recording, waiting, and even losing bit by bit. They are not just numbers, but a series of games of strategy and luck, filled with intense emotional investment. A project has poured in a lot of effort and time, Gas and principal, and because of this, it is an emotional investment. But it is precisely this 'emotion' that became my biggest flaw in this round: being reluctant to sell when I should have, and hesitating when I should have walked away. As a result, I handed over the profits that were already within reach to the market, just accompanying it for a while."
Market players experience both losses and wins, and the winners are always the minority. Subsequently, whether individuals or studios, they often face backlash; once airdrops from zkSync, LayerZero, etc. are released, the market is filled with cries of despair. Small retail investors receive pitifully few airdrops, while yield farming studios suffer heavy losses, some even being forced to shut down. Project teams are heavily criticized, but they maintain a very tough stance. From then on, most projects in the market also began to follow suit, issuing fewer or even no airdrops.
Feng Mi told Foresight News, "The era of easy gains is long over; the window of opportunity where everyone could easily earn their first bucket of gold from the blockchain has closed. We are no longer in a phase where you can just interact with a few buttons to earn rewards."
When players who are trying to earn rewards generally find it difficult, it becomes even harder to persevere. Many players miss out on wealth opportunities due to a lack of patience. Fengmi analyzes that the root cause of many players unable to continue is due to "airdrops being delayed, constant investment in gas, boring interactions, increasingly formalized tasks, and rampant points. When the rewards are slow to arrive, doubts gradually erode execution力, and complaints follow. However, the real big results are often hidden in those moments when you almost want to give up, almost think it's ineffective. You must believe that results do not happen first; they are first believed in before they can be realized."
Feng Mi also shared the failed cases he encountered during his yield farming process, "A large amount of BTC staking interactions were conducted on Babylon, with significant funds and attention invested. As a result, the airdrop allocation was extremely limited, and the returns were dismal to the point of being unbearable to look at." In addition, he heavily invested in the entire Move ecosystem, including Aptos, with over 4 million dollars invested at the peak market value, but the ecosystem projects collectively underperformed, and there wasn't a single standout project; the officials also lacked a sense of direction and top-tier operational capability.
Airdrops come with various ups and downs.
However, compared to buying coins, participating in airdrops may still be one of the few avenues where one can make a lot of money from an initial small capital. Multi-account strategies and premium account strategies remain practical methods, but they also require more finesse in approach. The game of wits with project parties still tests the cognition and execution ability of those looking to profit.
Conclusion
The only constant in the crypto market is change. A day in the cryptocurrency world is like a year in the human world. Although it may seem exaggerated, it reflects the rapid pace of change. If you can't see it or grasp it, the opportunity is gone, which is undoubtedly the most torturous for those in the industry who are constantly pursuing more wealth.
However, the most fascinating aspect of the crypto space is that whenever market participants believe they have reached the end of the wealth effect, there will always be a thriving area in some inconspicuous corner, nurturing strength for future rises, and through yet another astonishing wealth effect, continuously attracting curious young people to rush in and mine for gold.