I tried to top up into a new blockchain game pool once. In the first few days after the server went live, it felt like I was picking up money in a pixel universe: task one would get you to vomit out coins, and the rewards in the pool were pouring in nonstop. But in just a few days, inflation kicked into overdrive, and the output started rolling out faster than players could even enter the pool. Everyone began “playing while selling,” and the pool’s depth was drained down to what felt like an empty milk tea—every sale made the slippage worse and worse. In the end, I could only withdraw too… To put it bluntly, this economic model didn’t figure out who was supposed to take over the production output.

Recently, I also saw that hardware wallets are all sold out, and phishing links are flying everywhere. In blockchain games, those pop-ups about “claiming an air drop/claiming items” are traps in my book—I treat them as such across the board now. I’d rather claim less than risk handing my wallet over to someone else. After all, impulsiveness is one thing, but at least don’t impulsively “cash out” until your private key is gone.