#Gate用户突破6000万 Eight years ago, I tremblingly bought 500U on Gate; eight years later… Gate users have surpassed 60 million 💪💪💪💪💪💪

Eight years ago, I didn’t even know “what U was.”
Eight years later, I became the old-timer who tells newcomers, “Don’t be nervous. My hands were shaking the first time too.”

I. I still remember that afternoon when my palms were sweating

In 2018, crypto was still a mysterious world that people had “heard of but didn’t dare touch.” Unable to withstand my friend’s “soft and hard persuasion, backed by every possible incentive and pressure,” I finally registered with Gate. She shoved her phone into my hands: “Come on, do it yourself. Try buying 500U.”

What is U? Can you eat it?

I tremblingly opened C2C, selected a seller, entered the amount, and clicked “Place Order”—at that moment, my palms were sweating, my forehead was sweating, and even breathing felt unnecessary. Staring at the words “Waiting for the seller to release the funds,” my mind raced: Would this money disappear? Was this person a scammer? Would the platform run away?

It wasn’t until a “ding” sounded and the payment-arrival notification popped up that my entire body collapsed into the chair, as if I had just run 800 meters.

My friend laughed so hard she could barely stand upright: “Is that really necessary? It’s only 500 yuan.”

She didn’t understand. It wasn’t about 500 yuan. It was the awe a regular person feels toward the unknown when first stepping into an unfamiliar world.

II. Eight years have passed, and I haven’t missed a single laugh, tear, or pain point of the crypto world

That 500U became the first domino in my crypto journey. Over the next eight years, I stepped into every pitfall the crypto world had to offer:

In the great bear market of 2018, I got trapped right after entering. The candlestick chart slid from the mountaintop to the foot of the mountain, and I learned the skill of “playing dead” for the first time—there are too many tears to talk about.

On March 12, 2020, BTC was cut in half in a single day. I thought the apocalypse had arrived, but six months later, DeFi Summer left me speechless. In crypto, no one can ever guess what comes next in the script.

During the crazy bull market of 2021, even the aunt selling jianbing at the entrance to my residential compound was asking, “Can I still buy Dogecoin?” I experienced the euphoria of doubling overnight, as well as the regret of slapping my thigh after selling too early—you are always regretting, always learning, and always saying next time, “This time I’ll definitely hold on.”

In 2022, LUNA disappeared just like that, and FTX collapsed just like that. That year, I finally understood one principle: in crypto, staying alive matters more than making money, and keeping your coins in your own wallet is more reassuring than putting them anywhere else.

Over the years, I also committed these “classic stupid mistakes”:

The first time I transferred USDT to a wallet, I copied the address three times and confirmed it five times. After transferring, I stared at the block explorer for half an hour, terrified that I had mistyped a single character.
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After hearing a friend say, “This coin is about to be pumped,” I rushed in, only to discover that I was the counterparty providing the liquidity for the “pump.”
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I opened a 100x futures position, and at the moment of liquidation I was unusually calm—inured to it by then.
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I was jolted awake by my phone at 3 a.m., thinking the market had made a sudden move, only to find it was a spam message.
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I explained to my family, “I’m investing,” and they looked at me as if I were a gambler.

Painfully and joyfully, losing and growing—this is what being in crypto is like.

III. Gate’s 60 million users—one of them is me, and one of them is you

Gate now has more than 60 million users worldwide.

What does 60 million mean? It is roughly the population of the entire United Kingdom. Among these 60 million people are newcomers who have just entered and are still asking “What is U?”, big shots pontificating in livestreams, laid-back players quietly making regular investments, and people like me—an old-timer who tremblingly bought 500U in 2018 and has stayed for eight years.

Over eight years, Gate has evolved from an exchange into an ecosystem. From spot trading to futures, from wealth management to tokenized stocks, and from livestreams to Square. It has changed, and so have I—from feeling nervous and trembling when using C2C to operating with my eyes closed, from buying spot assets because “the name sounds nice” to “looking at the fundamentals and the sector,” and from “going all in” on futures to “strictly setting stop-losses.”

But some things have not changed: I remember the nervousness of buying coins for the first time, I remember the sleepless nights after every black swan event, I remember the little joys after every profit, and I remember all the friends I met in crypto—some are still here, some have left.

IV. To you, one in 60 million

If you are new here: Don’t be afraid of trembling hands; it’s normal. Every old-timer started this way. But remember three things—don’t touch what you don’t understand, invest only spare money, and always set a stop-loss.

If you are an old friend: Congratulations on making it this far. In this industry, lasting eight years is a victory in itself.

If you are currently losing money: Don’t lose heart. The crypto world never lacks opportunities; what it lacks is the capital and patience to survive.

60 million users, 60 million stories. My story began on that trembling afternoon in 2018, and it still hasn’t been finished.

What about your story? Tell us about your first experience with Gate in the comments and let 60 million people see it.