Ryder@ryder_editing
Today, May 7th, after 3 years in crypto, I decided to leave the crypto market.
The amount of money I have left is less than $1,700 — exactly $1,679. But honestly, I still feel lucky, because 3 years ago when I first entered this market, I had absolutely nothing.
So thank you, crypto, for this remaining money. I’m cashing out everything and starting over.
And honestly… does starting over at 20 years old even count as “starting over”? Haha.
3 years in crypto is not a short amount of time. There’s almost no way to make money in crypto that I don’t know about. No hot project I haven’t heard of. No major trend or news that I missed.
At this point, I can confidently say I’ve spent over 10,000 hours in crypto — from research, trend hunting, NFTs, airdrops, to trading.
I never even invested in meme coins, and somehow I still lost almost everything.
The truth is simple: my mindset was wrong from the very beginning.
There were times when I made over $20,000, and instead of learning how to keep it, I used the market to teach me lessons. The market kept teaching me over and over again, but I refused to learn. I kept repeating the same mistakes.
All the money I made eventually became tuition fees for my own bad decisions, new experiences, or new lessons… until one day, I simply had no money left to buy more lessons anymore :)))
I’m naturally a curious person. I love exploring and trying new things. That’s why the cycle kept repeating itself.
Honestly, I can’t even estimate how much money I’ve made or lost throughout these years. I only know that it was a lot.
I entered crypto during a downtrend, and now I’m leaving during another downtrend.
I never thought I would leave this market because I used to believe in the quote:
“If you stay in crypto for 8 years, you’ll become a millionaire.”
But only after losing almost everything did I realize how unrealistic that sounded.
A lazy guy with no real value to offer the world, entering crypto only to take from the market without contributing anything meaningful back — sooner or later, he’ll return everything to the market and go back to being exactly who he was before.
I have so many emotions while writing this: nostalgia, exhaustion, regret, happiness, sadness, disappointment… and honestly, those emotions perfectly describe my entire 3-year journey in crypto.
Back then, I joined crypto because making money was easy — from airdrops to NFTs. I was only in 11th grade at that time.
Crypto gave me a lot. I met rich people. I learned valuable mindsets from successful people.
But in the end, I still failed because I didn’t truly appreciate the time I had in this space.
Before crypto, I was ambitious. I wanted to become a businessman and build wealth through real work.
But after entering crypto, everything slowly changed.
I became more passive. I got addicted to easy money. I believed I could just keep reinvesting profits into the market forever and become rich without actually building anything meaningful.
I even dreamed about becoming a millionaire from that lifestyle.
But when the market entered another brutal downtrend like today, I finally had enough courage to walk away.
Of course, I still have regrets.
For example, I regret not building my personal brand earlier.
But now, I know I need to find a career that creates real value for society.
I’m tired of having no clear job, no real direction, no social circle. I hated when people asked me what I do, and I didn’t know how to answer. I hated feeling like I lost everything — friends, confidence, emotions, even myself.
That’s why I chose video editing.
Right now, I’m building my own portfolio and trying to get my first clients.
Today, I truly value every $10 or $20 I earn.
Back in crypto, even hundreds of dollars sometimes felt like “just gas fees.”
Funny how perspective changes.
Still, I believe everything connects somehow. No experience is wasted. Nothing happens for no reason.
I genuinely believe my future will become better.
Now I finally have a new direction for my life.
One day, I want to build my own business, my own agency, my own personal brand, and make real millions through real skills — without waiting for any project or token to save me.
I spent 20 years being ungrateful because I never truly gave back to the people who helped me grow up.
I spent 3 years chasing something that, for me personally, ended up having no real value.
And then I spent another year doing almost nothing.
But at least during that year, I achieved my dream body, ran a full marathon (42km), improved my communication skills, changed my style, learned to take care of myself better, became more social, and got better at speaking English and Chinese.
SuiPepe was the first project that made me money just by creating a Sui wallet.
A lot of people thought zkSync was the end game, but Backpack was actually my real end game.
Even after all this, I still believe that one day I’ll become rich through my own abilities.
I still believe earning dollars, building valuable skills, investing wisely, and continuously learning will always be the right path.
With the money I have left, my goal is simple:
Within the next 3 months, I want to get a job and earn around $1,000–$2,000/month.
And maybe for the first time in years, when someone asks me what I do…
I can confidently say:
“I’m a video editor.”
Without feeling awkward anymore.
From the first fried chicken meals I bought with my own money, to my first laptop, to always being there whenever I desperately needed cash.
Thanks, crypto.
Thank you for the past 3 years.
