I muted the group chat, and it feels like the world has gotten a lot quieter. Before, a whole bunch of people were touting PFPs as “digital business cards,” saying that membership fees are basically the entry ticket to buying future airdrops. The pitch sounds familiar—when you think about it carefully, isn’t it just the same “pay money first to buy consensus” game from back then? Long-term value? I, for one, haven’t seen many projects manage to last a year without collapsing. But as for the attention economy, everyone is still very eager, pushing hard to be the next one to get turned into liquidity.

Recently I heard that a certain region is raising taxes and tightening compliance, so whether you want to withdraw again is something you need to weigh carefully. In any case, I’m not going to charge in recklessly. To be honest, these brands are, put plainly, all about emotional premium. If you really want to hold long term, you’d be better off first checking whether the oracle pricing is stable—don’t end up getting liquidated, only to realize that the data source was the problem.