Parallel Universe Story—What if I bought Ethereum’s ICO in 2016 and then lost the private key?

April 5, 2026 | Yin Psychological Counseling Room

The doctor asked me, “Why have you been screaming in the middle of the night lately?”

I hesitated for a long time before finally saying that secret buried for ten years—

In 2016, I participated in Ethereum’s ICO.

Back then, ETH was only $0.3 per coin. I spent $300 to buy 1,000 of them. Then I wrote down the private key on a sticky note, and stuck it on the fridge in my rental apartment.

In 2017, I moved. I didn’t tear off the sticky note. I thought it was just a worthless experiment.

In 2021, when Ethereum surged to $4,800, I suddenly remembered that sticky note. I hailed a cab and rushed to my old rental, only to find the house had already been demolished and turned into a parking lot.

I squatted on the rubble and cried for three hours. 1,000 ETH, worth up to $4.8 million at the highest. Gone. Not because I sold it, but because I lost it.

But, doctor, the story isn’t over yet.

In 2025, I suddenly received a letter from a lawyer. It said that during construction of that parking lot, an old fridge had been dug up, and inside it was a rotten sticky note. After a blockchain analysis company carried out evidence collection, the private key for that address was partially recovered—there were, astonishingly, still 32 ETH that hadn’t been transferred.

I trembled as I opened my wallet: 32 ETH, worth $60,000 at the time. It wasn’t as much as $4.8 million, but at least it wasn’t zero.

Then I made a stupid decision: I waited until it reached $4,800 before selling.

In April 2026, ETH dropped to $2,000. Those 32 ETH were left with only $64,000. I still didn’t sell.

Doctor asked me, “Do you still have it with you now?”

I nodded: “I post on the Gate Plaza every day, earn a few bucks from red envelopes, and then invest regularly in ETH. I want to tell myself—this time, I won’t lose it again, and I won’t be blindly waiting for the highs anymore. I’ll just do monthly dollar-cost averaging for five years.”

The doctor wrote in the medical record: “The patient has changed from ‘fear of missing out’ to ‘dollar-cost averaging compulsion,’ and the prognosis is good.”

So, if you have ETH, don’t learn from me. Either forget the private key, or keep DCAing without stopping. All the anxiety in between is just self-destruction.

#Gate广场四月发帖挑战