Scrolling past yet another airdrop screenshot being shared, my finger hovered over the join button for two seconds, then I decided, forget it.

Around this time last year, I chased after a few task platforms too. I set an alarm every day to do the check-in, and on weekends I even filled out spreadsheets to calculate points. Later, the project team went after anti-bot activity, half of my accounts got banned, and the remaining coins’ price peaked right at the open. When I worked it out, the hourly pay was worse than a part-time shift at the convenience store downstairs.

Now my habit is pretty simple: whenever I see a new hot trend, I first ask myself, will people still be talking about this three months from now? If the answer is unclear, I set it aside for now. As for the nodes, I keep staking what should be staked. The returns aren’t exciting, but at least I know where the money is coming from.

To be honest, turning points-based systems into a way to farm rewards is basically the same as an assembly line—it’s just that the boss has been replaced by the DAO treasury. Long-term thinking sounds like self-soothing, but getting repeatedly rug-pulled is even worse. I’ve tried that.