Original ｜Odaily Planet Daily（@OdailyChina）
Author｜Golem（@web3_golem）
Dageng is a regular civil servant within the system, which is a stable job that enjoys a high level of social recognition. Especially in the current environment of the outbreak of the AI revolution and the unstable job market, many young people are eager to get into this stable and secure system, even to the point of exhaustion. People often use the term "getting ashore" on the internet to describe young people who have passed civil service exams, as if it signifies that they have successfully left the "sea of suffering."
However, the system is also a walled city; those outside want to get in, and some inside want to get out. Dageng is one of those "insiders" wanting to get out, and he stepped into the crypto space 5 years ago.
“Being a civil servant is good in many ways, but compared to that, the income is too low. I want to make money and retire early. Furthermore, young people staying in such a regulated environment where 'life can be seen at a glance' for a long time must also want to challenge themselves.” Wanting to make big money and challenge himself were the main reasons Dageng chose to enter the crypto space. But at that time, Dageng might not have realized that he had achieved the two goals he set when he first entered the space, just that the timing did not overlap.
For Dageng, 2025 was the most turbulent year: he took advantage of the opportunity of Trump issuing a coin (TRUMP) to bring his wealth close to A9, becoming an invisible billionaire in the crypto space, but he also faced a debt of one million due to losses from managing multiple Meme coins in the same year.
What exactly happened to Dageng, and how did this rise and fall affect his mindset? To understand Dageng’s experiences in the crypto space, Odaily Planet Daily conducted an exclusive interview with him, organized as follows, hoping to inspire readers.
Rise: Entering the space due to DOGE, the earliest Meme player, TRUMP single coin approaching A9
Odaily：How did you earn your first bucket of gold after entering the crypto space?
Dageng：Let me start from the beginning. I entered the crypto space around the end of April 2021. At that time, I was attracted by the overwhelming news about DOGE. From April to May of that year, DOGE increased by more than 10 times, and its historic peak (0.73 USD) was also reached then. Although I was a novice when I first came in, ignorance is bliss; I used 30,000 RMB to trade DOGE contracts and rolled my position multiple times, and within a month, it grew to over 2 million.
Odaily：What was the feeling at that time?
Dageng：I was very happy; it felt like I was in the right place. The crypto space indeed had a lot of opportunities; that was my first time making big money. However, this money didn’t stay in my pocket for long since I basically lost all the profits made from DOGE in one go during “519” that year.
Odaily：After “519”, the crypto space entered a bear market. What other avenues did you earn money in afterward?
Dageng：I didn’t choose to exit; after 519, I continued to chase trends in the crypto space, but I didn't make any significant money between 2021 and 2023. It wasn’t until early 2024 that I noticed some low-market-cap tokens on the Solana chain were rising rapidly on the MEXC exchange, with increases of 20 to 30 times, and at that time there weren’t many players in the Chinese-speaking community involved in this area.
So, I started looking for token information on Twitter. Back then, there weren’t convenient tools like GMGN; I manually tracked some addresses daily using Solscan and caught several early opportunities, such as BONK, WIF, and POPCAT. Relying on these Meme coins, my assets reached A8 in early 2024.
Odaily：So you were among the earliest players of Meme coins in the Chinese-speaking community. Which Meme coin made you the most money?
Dageng：Because I made money in 2024, I became quite confident in Meme coins and the primary market, and I invested at least several tens of thousands of dollars in tokens I was interested in. Moreover, due to the favorable market conditions, I consistently received positive feedback, but there’s a saying that gains and losses come from the same source, and this habit eventually led to my debts. (Details will be covered later)
The Meme coin that made me the most money was TRUMP issued by Trump in early 2025. This was also the closest I came to A9. I bought TRUMP very early, around 0.7 USD, after monitoring that the address 0xsun purchased approximately 2 million dollars of TRUMP at about 0.6 USD on-chain. I then researched that the official website had a legitimate purchase payment channel and thought it was likely not a scam, so I bought 100,000 USD.
In the end, when the price of TRUMP rose to over 70 USD, I gradually cashed out during the process.
Fall: Continued bottom fishing on Meme losses, blacklisting BSC chain, debt of one million
Odaily：Having achieved such results with TRUMP, why didn’t you choose to retire?
Dageng：I had an obsession with A9; I was so close at that moment, thinking it would be easy to earn, but I didn't expect the process to become extraordinarily twisted. I completely overlooked that market liquidity had gradually worsened since TRUMP. Ultimately, due to my obsession, I lost almost all the money I had earned.
Odaily：Can you detail your losing process?
Dageng：I liked to play two segments of Meme bottom fishing, but in reality, after TRUMP, most Meme coins turned out to be one-time trends. I never anticipated that funding and attention would exit so quickly. Once Meme coins started to drop, they really had no bottom, plus I originally took larger positions, so I lost a lot of money.
For example, with GOAT, I bottom-fished it when it dropped to 0.3 USD with nearly 900,000 USD, holding almost 1% of the chips, which had already fallen 90% compared to its peak price, but I didn't expect it to continue dropping another 90%. I had similar losses with VINE, TST, and BROCCOLI (714) as well.
Odaily：After experiencing such significant losses, didn't you adjust your strategy?
Dageng: This is the issue of path dependence; because I had always made money this way in the past, I thought this method would eternally apply while ignoring changes in market conditions and liquidity.
After acquiring a large amount of chips, I also participated in community building, such as with BROCCOLI (714). At that time, I was in a small group with people like Brother Paris, brainstorming ways to ensure 714 could list on Binance spot ahead of two other similarly named Meme coins. (Odaily note: BROCCOLI is the name of CZ’s pet dog; at the time, there were three Meme coins with the same name in the market, and Binance eventually adopted a community voting method for listing coins)
Odaily：What did you do at that time to build BROCCOLI (714)?
Dageng: One person in our small group directly sent 1% of tokens to CZ's address, which should have been worth about 1 million USD based on the market cap of 100 million USD back then. Then, since Binance was also running a trading competition at that time, we organized and called on people to boost the trading volume, along with regular tweeting and signaling. We even considered developing ground promotion, but later abandoned the idea due to the domestic regulatory environment; no one was willing to take the lead on this.
But actually, this coin was not "operated" by our small group; in the end, we were just large holders with more chips, all aiming to build our positions, and the final outcome was out of our control. Although BROCCOLI (714) eventually got listed on Binance spot and we kept defending it, its price still dropped 90%, and I lost over 1 million USD.
Odaily：What impact did this setback have on you afterward?
Dageng：BROCCOLI (714) was the last straw that broke the camel’s back for me, economically and in terms of my investment strategy. There was a saying circulating in the community prior that, good projects don’t need people to build them; projects that need construction are just to fool people into coming and taking the bait. BROCCOLI (714) perfectly corroborated this outcome. This led me to develop a sense of disgust and disappointment toward the BSC chain and domestic investments; since then, I have not traded any Meme coins on the BSC chain.
Odaily：BROCCOLI (714) was also a popular Meme that appeared on BSC in the first half of 2025. Later, there were several rounds of Meme trends on the BSC chain, such as Binance Life in the second half; did you not pay attention to those?
Dageng：After BROCCOLI (714), I basically blacklisted the BSC chain, so looking back, I missed the entire bull market on the BSC chain in 2025. But this is also a price I paid for my own understanding; I only started to play Meme coins on the BSC chain again this year because I finally realized that I shouldn't be biased against any chains or projects.
Odaily：So to be precise, in 2025, aside from the early part where you earned close to A9 from TRUMP, the rest of the year was spent gradually losing money?
Dageng：A small gain followed by major losses, especially after BROCCOLI (714). I went to other chains for PVP, and within a few months, I wore down the money I had made previously. On one hand, it was because I didn’t have much backup left and was afraid to take risks; on the other hand, I also got a bit gun-shy after being hit, making me more hesitant and resulting in less stable hands than before.
Starting from August of last year, as the money in the market became insufficient for my spending, I began taking loans from the bank.
Odaily：So you are currently in debt?
Dageng: I’m about 1 million RMB in debt. At that time, my desire to break even was too urgent; it was actually becoming quite irrational.
Odaily：Have you thought about switching to another path, like playing altcoins, prediction markets, RWA, or even US stocks, or are you still focused solely on Meme?
Dageng：I haven’t considered altcoins. I thought about US stocks, but trading US stocks last year was not as convenient as it is now. Nowadays both DEXs and exchanges offer low-barrier channels for people in the crypto space to trade US stocks. Back then, there weren't any, and trading platforms for US stocks had asset restrictions which made it difficult for me, so I dropped this idea.
I still believe that the crypto space is the best place for small investments to make big gains, and this is what I'm good at; picking myself up from where I fell, so I continue to play in the Meme field.
Odaily：When you earned close to A9 in early 2025, didn't you think about cashing out for savings or purchasing some real estate?
Dageng：I did withdraw some, but later I wanted to break even and re-invested it. I didn't make purchases like cars or houses after making money because I already owned those, and given my job, there isn't much demand for luxury cars or mansions.
Odaily：After going into debt, is there a significant gap in your lifestyle? Has it affected family relationships?
Dageng：There’s been a sharp decline in my spending level. Now I have to repay a lot of money to the bank every month, and I'm almost unable to keep up, which has had some impact on my family. However, it hasn’t reached the point of selling my car or house, but if I can't drag this out any longer, I might have to sell.
Odaily：So looking back at your five years since entering the space, what are your thoughts? You originally had a stable "iron rice bowl," but the past five years in crypto have been tumultuous, and now you are even in debt.
Dageng：I might just be a microcosm of countless individuals in this market. I often heard that the most common type of person in this circle is one who becomes rich overnight and then goes bankrupt; I didn’t expect to find myself in this position.
The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that I should not be too path-dependent and cannot be overly optimistic. If there is still a possibility of turning things around, I would like to leverage my past experiences and insights to try once more.
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