2023 Moments of Anxiety Compilation: Hundreds and thousands of times returns everywhere—aren't you free yet?
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2023 Moments of Anxiety Compilation: Hundreds and thousands of times returns everywhere—aren't you free yet?
Facing get-rich-quick stories, today let's dive in together—with maximum anxiety!
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Frank, Foresight News
"Getting rich overnight" has always been one of the familiar-yet-alien terms in the crypto industry.
The unfamiliar part lies in how many long-time participants have chased this goal relentlessly but still haven't come close to achieving it. The familiarity comes from the fact that within every wave of crypto narratives, there are continuous "rags-to-riches stories" flashing before our eyes—repeatedly stirring up emotions and anxieties across the community.
As 2023 draws to a close, this article by Foresight News compiles some of the most widely circulated “enviable” get-rich-quick tales of the year (with evidence assumed as visual proof), ramping up our collective sense of anxiety just a bit more.
The Evergreen Wealth Creation via Airdrops
Since UNI kicked things off in 2020, token airdrops from crypto projects have remained the primary breeding ground for "overnight millionaire myths" in the industry.
This year’s major token airdrops continued to bring surprises to many users, especially BLUR and ARB at the beginning of the year, which reignited enthusiasm around airdrop farming.
In February, Blur distributed a total of 360 million BLUR tokens to over 62,000 eligible addresses. The top recipient received 3.2 million BLUR tokens—worth approximately $1.6 million today, or about 10 million RMB.
Meanwhile, the second and third largest recipients claimed 2.97 million and 2.5 million BLUR tokens respectively. Transaction records show that all three top wallets engaged in repetitive buying and selling of identical NFTs, suggesting possible wash trading or coordinated operations.
Subsequent airdrops such as ARB, TIA, and JTO had limited individual wealth creation impact per address, yet collectively gave rise to multi-address farming success stories—details of which we won’t delve into here.
Wealth Miracles from Inscriptions – The "Three Horsemen"
ORDI: From 350 RMB to 14 Million RMB
As one of the leading players in the inscription space, ORDI initially attracted little attention during its minting phase earlier this year—even group chats saw no takers for transfers priced at mere tens of yuan.
One lucky individual, described as someone who once “tightened his belt working at Foxconn,” spent 350 RMB to mint 30 ORDI inscriptions (i.e., 30,000 ORDI tokens), eventually turning it into 14 million RMB.
If this fortunate person held without selling, the peak value of their 30,000 ORDI would have reached $2.46 million—nearly 17.5 million RMB.
SATS: 170x Gain in Three Months
According to Twitter user Lingxia Erdou, he personally bought SATS with 0.6 BTC in October, and within two months saw it multiply over 20 times to reach 13 BTC.
Additionally, another community member purchased 300 billion SATS between August and September, achieving a peak gain exceeding 170x.
RATS: 5,000 RMB to 1 Million RMB in Half a Month
Similarly, the inscription-based RATS also created a myth of growing from 5,000 RMB to 1 million RMB within half a month.
Moreover, Web3 is a paradise for tech talent and hackers. So beyond directly participating in inscription minting, those selling picks and shovels—or water—often emerge as winners during gold rushes:
One programmer spent a week building a tool to help the community mint inscriptions, ending up securing 20% of all SATS mints. The current market cap of these SATS exceeds $200 million.
The New King of Mineable Coins
PoW, one of the oldest narratives in crypto, almost always produces a mineable coin with astronomical gains each year. This year, the new king of PoW coins is undoubtedly Kaspa (KAS).
A College Student's First 100x and 2 Million RMB
In August, a viral story spread online about a college student who achieved his first 100x return by going all-in on KAS through strict budgeting.
The student, still in university, reportedly went “all-in with 19,800 RMB of living expenses and lucky money” on KAS, even resorting to eating meals provided by classmates for a time. Eventually, he broke through, earning his first 100x gain and reaching 2 million RMB.
Looking at current prices, if he continues holding, he may already be sitting on his first 250x return and 5 million RMB:
In August, KAS was trading near $0.04. It then steadily climbed, and on November 17 Binance listed U-margined perpetual contracts. At the time of writing, KAS remains above $0.10—meaning his initial 19,800 RMB investment has increased by at least 250x, now worth 5 million RMB.
Looking back, KAS's price surge began as early as late May 2022 when it launched on TxBit, hitting a low of $0.0002. By September that year, KAS was listed on MEXC and quickly surged to $0.008.
This year alone, KAS skyrocketed 20x from $0.005, pushing its market cap toward the $1 billion mark and triggering a broader wave of interest in PoW and small-cap mining coins, solidifying its status as the undisputed new king of mineable cryptocurrencies.
Meme Mania
Compared to the patience required for airdrops, inscriptions, or mineable coins, the meme coin frenzy toward year-end generated a large number of rapid-fire get-rich-quick stories with returns exceeding hundreds of times.
For truly fast wealth accumulation, memes lead the pack.
Two Weeks, Nearly 5000x Return
COQ Inu’s COQ token stands out among them, creating two separate ~5000x return legends.
First, on December 19, a trader turned 454 USD into 2.19 million USD via COQ trades within two weeks—a 4,827x return:
He used 17.26 AVAX (then worth $454) across seven addresses to buy 4.86 trillion COQ, later sold 4.61 trillion COQ for 32,251 AVAX (approx. $1.26 million) and 259,000 USDC, while still holding 250 billion COQ (worth ~$700k), yielding a profit of about $2.19 million.
Additionally, another address turned 108 USD into 475,000 USD in 10 days—a 4,397x return:
On December 7, this address spent 4.1126 AVAX (~$108) to purchase 694.2 billion COQ, then gradually sold off in multiple transactions, fully exiting with a profit of $475,000—approximately a 4,397x return.
Silly’s 25,000x Legend
As one of the anticipated meme stars for the Year of the Dragon, Silly also created a 20-day, 25,000x get-rich-quick tale.
An address purchased 20.5 million SILLY tokens (2% of total supply) for 0.7 SOL ($80) on December 5. As of writing, they’ve sold 20 million, generating proceeds worth approximately $1.5 million (including 10 million sold earlier for $500k).
The address still holds 300,000 SILLY (worth ~$30k), yielding an approximate 25,000x return within 20 days.
Conclusion
If the airdrops of tokens like UNI and 1INCH in 2020 were rewards for sharp, adventurous participants willing to try new things, then this year—with top projects launching at high valuations and airdrop farmers becoming increasingly competitive—the probability of “low-cost, high-return” opportunities across the sector has steadily declined.
In contrast, inscriptions and meme coins clearly diverge from previous narratives dominated by well-funded startups and VC-backed projects, offering broader participation potential beyond just OGs and whales:
Precisely because of this inclusivity, inscription booms and meme waves offer more people a chance to leapfrog ahead, attracting wider capital inflows and user adoption—and thus delivering one get-rich-quick story after another throughout this year.
From a probabilistic standpoint, the shifting flow of get-rich-quick stories across different narratives reflects changing odds across sectors. The logic of crypto markets has always been subtle and interconnected; every concept, sector, or specific token follows an intrinsic path of value discovery.
We hope that you, the reader, will spot the next quietly building trend and become the protagonist of the next wave of rags-to-riches stories in the coming year.
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