Heaven is on the left, hell is on the right, yet I choose to walk straight ahead, because there is money there.

Note: This is not a praise of the trading circle culture, but a conversation. (The content in parentheses is all narration.)

(The "I" here is not myself, but the perspective of the narrator.)

Brother Sheng doesn't like me calling him a pyramid scheme leader. According to Brother Sheng, this is called wealth redistribution. He neither invested nor robbed; he simply wove a dream for the "chives," and this dream could have lasted longer if the chives weren't too greedy.

"I never thought about deceiving anyone," I said, looking out at the elevated highway, cars passing beneath my feet, no matter how many colors there were, they were just the size of my foot. They say I'm a pyramid scheme leader, but I actually think of myself as a dream maker. I'm creating dreams for others, and these dreams all have a chance of coming true.

When I was in middle school, I had a dream where I stood in an office similar to the Empire State Building, speaking to a group of brightly dressed white people. I was so full of vigor. I don't remember what I said in the dream, but it is deeply etched in my mind. I felt that I was born to be a lecturer. "This dream is real; I'm not lying to you."

Later, I told this dream to my older brother. He laughed happily and said he thought I had a chance. It was this older brother who first introduced me to what it meant to "cut the chives."

(I have heard about Brother Sheng's older brother three times now. The first time was when someone else mentioned it to me, the second time was when Brother Sheng himself told me, and the third time is now. He always describes his older brother with just those two words, saying the biggest mistake his older brother ever made was bringing him into the trading circle, but I know this is just the surface.)

"The project details can't be shared with you; you can't hold back when you write," Brother Sheng still feels uneasy about how much I revealed in my last post. Although I showed it to him beforehand, and he said it was fine to publish.

At that time, it was the most glorious era of ICOs. I had just transitioned from the military and knew nothing. My family had no money for gifts, and standing guard in the countryside was a life where you could see death with a glance. I actually don't like to reminisce about that time, but when mentioning my older brother, I must bring up that period. My older brother was also nothing back then, but he was lucky. A former college classmate told him that issuing coins could make money. The classmate could write code, but needed someone to organize it. At that time, my older brother was already a small team leader in the pyramid scheme industry. Although he had no money, he had people.

So, one person created a website and wrote a white paper, while the other found other team leaders in the county, weaving a bigger dream for them. The essence of a pyramid scheme is to spread anxiety and sell dreams. To reduce educational costs, my older brother even paid out of his own pocket to take over a hundred people to the city to attend lectures.

"Don't think that although it costs money, it's actually making money," I laughed happily. This was also my older brother's principle: spend a little to make a lot, letting others help him with education. My older brother once said that the most feared thing when starting a project is being reluctant to package the facade in the early stages. "Don't think that holding a meeting costs 1.2 million, but I can earn back 5 million."

"My older brother is lucky," I took out a cigarette again, and the time returned to when I was reluctant to think about it. My older brother was indeed lucky. After listening to the teacher's lecture on stage, many people he brought were immediately captivated by the dreams woven by the teacher, eagerly pulling out money to join for a 10,000-fold return. Bitcoin was mentioned at every conference.

("It's a pity that today's young people are too naked; they no longer tell the story of $BTC." Brother Sheng also has quite a bit of BTC, but he has even more ETH due to his obsession with it. Brother Sheng never plays contracts because he knows he isn't cut out for it, so his wealth has been accumulating. Even now that he is super rich, he still maintains at least one project every year.)

At that time, although the villagers all wanted to buy, the financing was all in ETH. Who would want your RMB? Who would dare to take RMB? Only the low-level thugs would dare to play like that, and of course, they would die quickly. It was ICOs that ignited ETH. My older brother was lucky; among these people, only he knew how to buy ETH. In fact, he didn't know either, but his classmate did. His classmate had already told him how to use OTC exchanges, and back then, regulations weren't strict.

The brainwashed villagers gave all their money to my older brother, who used this money to buy ETH and invested in that project. The fat man standing on stage was called "Grandpa" by everyone, and later he became my brother. "My older brother is lucky, but I'm even luckier." That project was listed on my older brother's OTC exchange. He was lucky and sold at a good price because he brought over a hundred people to invest. The project party even gave my older brother some coins. When my older brother distributed the money, the eyes of those people were filled with green light.

My older brother's classmate was envious, and my older brother gave him half of his money, but his eyes were still red.

("You have to do your own project to make big money." Brother Sheng said this seriously to me. This isn't the first time he has said this. Up to this point, Brother Sheng hasn't shared any stories related to his older brother, but I am still patiently listening because I know Brother Sheng is already deep in it.)

Later, my older brother had some disagreements with his classmate. My older brother felt there was no need to do his own project anymore. Now, over a hundred people making money meant over a hundred team leaders. In the era of pyramid schemes, these people were the seeds; they were the ones really getting the meat. To eat more meat, they would even sell their wives, because after distributing the money, my older brother took many people to the KTV in town.

My older brother's classmate believed that without his own project, he could only earn a little money, but if it was his own project, then all the money would be his. The classmate even scolded my older brother for being foolish, asking why he was so eager to distribute the money. A bunch of country bumpkins didn't understand what an exchange was or how to look at transaction records. As long as you said to sell a few days later, they could also make money, but each person could give you an extra house.

At that time, houses in the village could cost tens of thousands, and there were over a hundred people. However, it later proved that my older brother was right. It was precisely because of distributing this money, and he almost didn't take a cut, that these people followed my older brother wholeheartedly, helping him develop his own network.

("People are like this. If you let them earn 1,000, although they thank you, they won't take you too seriously. If you let them earn 10,000, they will beg you to help them make money. But if you let them earn 100,000, they might give you their life." Brother Sheng smiled at me, but I knew he was talking about both the past and the present. What Brother Sheng didn't say was that if someone let you earn 10 million, you might even want their life.)

"My uncle is one of those people. When he was bragging with my dad, he said he could help me make money and then introduced me to my older brother." I remembered when I first met my older brother; I was still so naive. My older brother wasn't much older than me, but because we were from the same village, and my uncle had a distant relative relationship with my older brother, that's how it was in the countryside—everyone was related, and that was the foundation.

There were very few young people among the first batch of people. Thinking about it, who would believe in ICOs back then? And those who couldn't make it had already gone to work as laborers, leaving only half-grown old men. I was one of the few young people, and I had also served in the military, so I could endure hardship. My older brother's team grew larger and needed young people to help run the events. At that time, my older brother was still persuaded by his classmates. Although he also issued projects, because the makeshift team couldn't get listed on exchanges, the number of people who could make money dwindled. Fortunately, my older brother still liked to run events, and that fat man often sent projects to my older brother to run.

At that time, there were almost projects every day, so my older brother found a few young people to help run them. The money was initially put up by my older brother. I put in effort and could also get a share. By then, there was already a complete agency investment mechanism. The returns were all team leaders. After the team leaders ran the meeting, they would promote to the captains, the captains to the squad leaders, and the squad leaders would find group members to collect money. The money collected would be passed up layer by layer.

In the end, it all went to my older brother, who distributed tokens according to the amount. His classmates had long developed a set of infinite tiered systems. Everyone was very clear about how many coins they could get. Because I was leading the team, I could take a thousand for free.

(At this point, Brother Sheng suddenly stopped. I knew what he was thinking, but I didn't dare to say anything or continue the conversation. Although Brother Sheng usually seems carefree and unrestrained, when he gets angry, it can be uncomfortable.)

"My older brother told the three of us before he went in: each person should have a wallet, continue doing what you need to do, and when he comes out, the business cannot stop." In the end, my older brother took all the blame himself and went in. We spent a lot of money and couldn't get him out. In the end, it was just a reduced sentence, but he still had to serve five years. I took the wallet he gave me. Even without the coins inside, just the USDT in there was enough for me to live lavishly for several lifetimes back then. Of course, it was still much less than what I have now.

When my older brother came out, I had already transformed from Ah Sheng to Brother Sheng. My older brother found me and asked why I had scammed everyone's money, demanding that I return the money. I told my older brother that I had lost everything and only had a few million left. I also returned the wallet he had given me. My older brother looked at me for a long time, so long that the younger brothers beside me became impatient. Then my older brother just left. He never looked for me again, but last year I heard that my older brother was doing well in Cambodia. He was still that older brother, still very lucky, but I was even luckier.

"I really never thought about deceiving anyone." When my older brother gave me money back then, I thought I would never betray his trust. I wanted to earn more money for when he got out, but who knew that ICOs would pass so quickly? The agency investments were all unscrupulous things, and I had also been scammed, so I knew that if I didn't scam others, others would scam me. To protect my older brother's assets, I could only issue coins.

Continuously issuing coins, the former team leaders had all become immensely wealthy. Of course, some stopped playing, some started their own businesses, and some lost everything gambling. But there were still dozens of old-timers around me, many of whom had gone to various places around the world.

("Now, those you can name are basically at the level of my younger brothers. Including the old X you have always known, he has worked for me." I don't know if Brother Sheng is bragging when he says this, but indeed I met Brother Sheng in President X's office, and later I gradually met many legendary figures, including some who had once been very glorious. They were still quite polite to Brother Sheng when they met him.)

At my peak, there were thousands of team leaders globally. I once worked on a project that earned more in a short time than major exchanges. It's a pity that this was also my peak, during the 312 incident in 2021, which was not only a blow to the crypto circle but also very hard for the pyramid scheme circle. A large number of retail investors sold off, and no model could withstand it; it could only collapse, and once it collapsed, it was a chain reaction.

The pit was too big to fill.

But I am not my older brother; there are only dead friends, not dead poor friends. When everyone came to me for solutions, I simply told them, "I lost everything too." I knew they didn't believe me, but there was nothing I could do. This is also the charm of blockchain; you never know which one is my wallet. Sometimes, when people are down, if others are also down, there won't be too much of a rebellious mentality.

In the end, I made quite a bit from this project. There is no permanent money-making scheme; I understood this principle long ago. I have also been hacked, and I have also been scammed. Who could I go to for reasoning? So I don't use my own money. Now it's different from before; back then, I still had to use my own money to hold meetings to collect money. Now I don't need to. I just need to propose a concept and then go for financing. I won't say more; just the startup capital is enough.

This little money can be easily obtained, but since I came here, the people around me have hardly ever lost money from me. Even when they lost money, I would let them be the first to leave, so that we could maintain our friendship.

"Old Ni, sometimes I envy you. Making money is a joyful thing for you, while for me, making money has lost its feeling. I just want to accomplish something." I understand what Brother Sheng is saying. I have never seen anyone as wealthy and hardworking as Brother Sheng. He has a very thorough understanding of the industry; you wouldn't even think that a pyramid scheme boss understands the XXX track better than I do. Some of my views were learned from him.

"Making money is really fucking hard."

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