Since this round of market trend, many people have begun to doubt: can the crypto world still make big money?

Altcoins? Feels like there's no way out. Contracts? Even more so. Playing it safe with Bitcoin accumulation and arbitrage? Seems like that's the only way to barely survive.

Thinking back to a few years ago, catching a bull market casually, buying mainstream coins blindly, jumping on a few hot spots, it was normal to see several times increase in half a year. Back then, the market was small, information gaps were huge, and opportunities were everywhere.

Now everything has changed.

The market size has increased by dozens of times, institutional players have become the dominant force, and regulation is tightening day by day. What’s more, information in everyone's hands is becoming more transparent, and the days of earning overnight through news leaks are basically over.

So, how to play now? After some pondering, I see only three paths:

**First, stick to steady investment in leading assets.**
Bitcoin, Ethereum, or top platform tokens—don’t underestimate this strategy. In the next twenty years, cryptocurrencies will still be one of the upward trending sectors. As long as the trend is upward, tying yourself to leading assets likely won’t be a huge mistake. Sure, it’s slow to get rich quickly, but at least it's stable.

**Second, early-stage deployment of new narratives.**
Note, there's a threshold for "early." You need to be at the very beginning, able to get tokens almost simultaneously with the project team—like grabbing airdrops, participating in testnets, using effort and time to exchange for near-zero-cost tokens.

Once the hype builds and consensus forms, returns of dozens or even hundreds times are still possible. But if you jump in only after the hype is rising, it’s purely a gamble.

**Third, sell "shovels" to the industry.**
People chasing profits don’t always make money, but those selling shovels always have business. In early years, mining equipment was the shovel; now many on-chain tools, data platforms, and small DEXs are essentially shovels.

Although the leading position of centralized exchanges has been monopolized, every time a new narrative emerges, platforms or tools specialized in certain niche areas appear. Seizing this opportunity means "selling shovels."

In summary, shovels are everywhere in this industry—people who sell shovels will never go hungry.