Web3 is full of opportunities and pitfalls. The author reviews the mistakes and lessons learned in the Web3 space since 2017, including blind worship, FOMO mentality, misjudging industry stages, and security negligence. By sharing personal and company missteps, the author reminds practitioners and investors to remain rational, enhance their capabilities, prioritize security, and avoid repeating past mistakes.
Introduction
What mistakes did I make in Web3?
Let me share some of the pitfalls and mistakes I encountered in Web3 over the years for your reference. We hear too much about success; after all, this circle is full of myths.
Early Days: The "Scholar" Mentality of Missed Opportunities
In 2017, I first heard about Bitcoin and blockchain. Like everyone else, I was initially skeptical and thought it was a scam. That’s okay; it’s our inherent way of thinking and also a protective mechanism, so it’s not a mistake.
In 2018 and 2019, by chance, I and my partners got involved in blockchain projects. At that time, the projects were developing well, and there were many opportunities every day. But what was I doing? I was studying. I was deeply attracted by the concept of blockchain and wanted to know everything about it. How is decentralization achieved? What problem was Ethereum born to solve? How was the genius idea of smart contracts conceived? So, I read many white papers and books; in short, I learned everything except for buying coins. The final result was watching my colleagues around me prosper.
2020-2021: Inflation and Aggressive Investment Mistakes
The mistakes I made in 2020 and 2021 are common errors that everyone makes when they have money, which is mistaking luck for strength. Now I have to rely on strength to lose it back. Because the company is a public chain project, it’s about the ecosystem; you need to have applications running on your chain to have value. So, I invested in many projects; as long as you have a white paper and promised to run on my chain, I would invest in you—DeFi, NFT, GameFi, including the metaverse. The final result was that some projects ended before they even started, and some projects were halfway through when the 94 notice in 2021 came, leading to a complete halt.
In addition to the external projects I invested in, we also incubated our own projects, applying the concept of blockchain to real business, which is distributed commerce. To be honest, even without using cryptographic technology and without tokens, just combining the concept of Web3, the projects could still develop well.
Although I made many mistakes in these two years, I did spend real money without personal enjoyment or running away after making a profit, like most of my peers.
Personal Mistakes: Cognitive and Operational Errors
The previous points were more about company behavior and may not be very relevant to everyone. The following are entirely my personal mistakes, which I believe apply to the vast majority of participants.
1. Blind Worship
The first is blind worship. Due to insufficient personal ability, I unconditionally believed in the advice given by someone, leading to significant losses. I believe most people encounter this. Looking back now, this approach is destined to fail. If you lack the ability, you cannot judge whether this person is reliable. Even if the person is reliable, they only recommended the target to you; when to sell and whether you can seize the opportunity is still up to you to decide. The conclusion is not to blindly trust someone; you need to enhance your judgment ability.
2. Fear of Missing Opportunities
The second is the fear of missing opportunities. After the DeFi summer in 2020, the Web3 ecosystem began to flourish. I didn’t fully understand Dex, NFT, and GameFi, but I invested directly, worrying about missing out. As a result, most of it went down the drain. There was also a time when I was out with friends, and at three or four in the morning, I saw a target I held drop and tried every means to buy in, as if I wouldn’t be able to buy it if I was a moment late. In the end, it was nearly worthless. The conclusion is to never be afraid of missing opportunities, especially in Web3; it’s better to miss out than to make a mistake.
3. Misjudging Industry Stages
Third, I misjudged the development stage of the industry, leading to an imbalance in proportion control and investing heavily in many copycat projects, especially in the public chain and DeFi tracks. My true thought was, if everyone just holds a pie, how can the entire industry develop? Without real applications, this industry will eventually fail. This is the harsh reality; in the early stages of an industry, 99% of projects are just cannon fodder.
4. Insufficient Security Awareness
Fourth, insufficient security awareness. I’ve mentioned this in previous videos; I’ve lost mnemonic phrases and clicked on phishing links, and my computer has been hacked. Some of these mistakes were due to ignorance, while others were purely due to a lack of security awareness and carelessness.
5. Other Cognitive Misconceptions
Of course, there are other misconceptions, such as overestimating the progress brought by certain technologies, like using zk-rollups in StarkNet and zkSync. When looking at projects, I relied too heavily on a single metric, such as the TVL of DeFi protocols or whether there were well-known VCs in the investment lineup. Additionally, I didn’t focus on a specific track, hoping to bloom everywhere, which led to insufficient research depth.
Conclusion
The mistakes I made are far from limited to these. To sum it up in one sentence: Idealism fails miserably in a speculative-driven track, haha, but never give up. I hope the above sharing is helpful to you.