Author: Professor Suo said
A Night in Hong Kong
I went to Hong Kong by myself to see what was different about Consensys this time. I saw that they were the ones having a blast, while we got nothing.
The agency has many activities, and the KOL wears many hats.
I looked at quite a few events, and I was particularly struck by the fact that many of them were organized by agencies on behalf of the project teams.
I've also heard of several agencies that have made a fortune even in this market.
- 1. I heard from several projects with a market capitalization of 1 billion that certain agencies can offer token dividends of 0.5-1%;
- 2. I've heard of several agencies. It's hard to say how much they'll earn, but at least they've entered the international market and started setting up global offices.
- 3. Some agencies are not content with just being agencies and begin to get involved in project-related matters, including but not limited to acting as "consultants";
- 4. The line between agencies and KOLs is similar to that between project owners and KOLs; they can both have the same identity and work part-time simultaneously.
Currently, some KOLs act as both project owners and agents, making a killing, and it seems some KOLs are even acting as market makers.
It's clear that the agency is still quite close to the project team, especially after @KaitoAI died.
The main venue was empty; it was mostly small-scale meet-and-greets.
I heard that nobody goes to the main venue, especially this year, but supposedly there are a lot of people who come this year.
They are all relatively "close" small groups.
These are not gatherings of "strangers" at all; they are gatherings of friends and old friends who bring new friends together.
I passed by the venue several times and looked inside, but I didn't see many people. On the contrary, there were quite a lot of people outside the venue.
Then, you can see "familiar" faces scattered throughout almost the entire Central area.
I didn't see any "project team meeting" or "exchange meeting" this time. I only received a call from @moonkimbinance inviting me to @BNBCHAIN .
Unlike previous events where major exchanges competed for talent and chartered flights and hotels to attend conferences, this time it seems there was no such activity.
I probably still need to work hard to climb higher; I've only heard of them, but never actually seen them.
A pointless meeting, the fighting continues.
Everyone seems to be in despair about the market, and while everyone is in despair, the war of words between @binance and @okx continues.
Whether it's the sudden appearance of "Brother 50000" who actually appeared several years ago, or the return of the former "Nurse Xu" to the scene.
@cz_binance continues to post various "autobiographical contents" and so on.
There are also various more scandalous stories circulating, but all we can say is not to believe or spread rumors, and just enjoy the gossip ourselves.
This reminds me of the WeChat group flame war in 2020, which ultimately led to a positive outcome. I wonder if this time will also lead to a positive outcome.
Anyway, as you've all seen on Twitter, people are inexplicably forced to take sides. If you don't take a side, you get scolded; if you take the right side, you get scolded by the other side.
I still hope that women will refrain from spreading inappropriate rumors about women in public. Although we may have come from different places, it is ultimately a losing proposition for those below to overthrow those above and for those above to exploit those below.
Market makers remain the top priority.
I met with some project teams on a friend's assignment, asking if they needed anything like a community. The uniform answer was: proactive market makers can do everything.
Although a large number of market makers died on October 11, a lot of them are still alive, after all, according to unreliable sources, there are "interest-free loans", "low-interest loans" and so on.
Market makers nowadays generally don't work on large projects anymore, focusing instead on small projects, primarily those with perp and alpha. They generally don't work on projects with spot value because the tokens are too dispersed.
There are also market makers who dump the tokens provided by the project team and run away with the money.
Anyway , anyone with money can become a market maker . Many venture capitalists introduce market makers they know to project teams and earn a little "brokerage fee".
- a. There seem to be only a few top market makers now, and they all actively make markets. The one that did $MMT before seems to be doing poorly now. Most of the projects they worked on have already closed, and the account seems to have been frozen.
- b. $KITE 's market maker is one of the hottest recently, and it happens to be based in Hong Kong. (It also handled one of the most volatile projects in the past 25 years.)
- c. The market maker of $PIPPIN had a bunch of projects on hand, and tried to find the fish in each one, but in the end only $PIPPIN found the fish.
- d. As for the $BULLA $SIREN group, it is said that it was started by newcomers from Singapore. They are bold and ruthless, but it is unknown whether they can continue.
The numbers a, b, c, and d are all interconnected, each containing elements of the other.
In summary: it's a game for the bold. Having money isn't enough; you have to be able to enter the fishing area and catch fish to earn money. But how do you catch fish? That's the most basic question.
Primary investment has basically disappeared.
I chatted with some people who had invested in the first level, and most of them had given up .
Some exchanges' primary investment departments have started issuing refunds to projects they previously invested in, threatening to send lawyer's letters if they don't get a refund.
Some exchanges once told their employees that it was okay to buy counterfeit goods, believing that there would be a counterfeit season in November. As we all know, it didn't happen. Meanwhile, their first-level departments started depositing money into projects they had previously invested in with the exchanges.
Most people are exiting crypto's primary projects because investing in the primary is less profitable than buying from the secondary market, and the order in which they get burned varies.
It's hard to tell the difference. Those who invested are now seeking redress, while those who didn't invest don't know what to do with their money anymore. After all, it's better to just give the money to acquaintances and split it among themselves.
Secondary funds are now the standard for primary funds.
Many funds that previously only had a primary level have started to add secondary departments to their portfolios.
After all, it's now clear that investing well isn't as important as selling well, especially when the market is good.
I once invested in the first phase of a fund with a friend. The first project in that phase had a return of 1000x, and another project had a return of 700x. The result was that we most likely wouldn't get our principal back. So, it may look good, but if we don't get any money, it's meaningless.
You and I are the fish everyone wants.
I happened to be squatting in the toilet for a while when I overheard some project team or market maker talking about their grand plans.
We've already received offers from all the exchanges. / We'll find a way to get KOLs to spread the word and get everyone to short it.
I was so tempted to just open the door without even wiping my own ass, but I was too afraid of getting beaten up, so I pretended not to hear it.
We leeks are now like fish in a pond; everyone wants to eat us.
The exchanges want to profit, the project teams want to profit, and the market makers want to profit. There are only so many fish left, and it's basically a case of draining the pond to catch all the fish, leaving no chance for the smaller fish to grow.
In the past, people would leave the roots when cutting chives and cut them again later. Now, they catch small fish and pull up the chives by the roots.
As the relatively unknown non-Texas Hold'em master @MetaHunter168 once said, when you're playing Texas Hold'em and don't know who the fish is, you are the fish.
Anyway, it was such a painful lesson, and it's rare for someone to remember me, all for the few dollars in my pocket.
When you're traveling, your identity is something you give yourself.
I mainly wanted to see if I could find people to brag to me, because before I went to Hong Kong, a lot of people asked me if xxxx was true, if I knew xxx, if xxxx was bragging, and so on.
Anyway, I heard a lot of news.
Adding to the scams that flooded social media a few days ago, it's clear that when you're out and about, you have to fake your own identity.
I met so-called xxx's best friend, xxxx's childhood friend, xxxx's boyfriend, and xxxx's girlfriend.
I treat everyone with "reverence," and only seek to reduce social interaction. Your success is your business, and it has nothing to do with me.
Good people may not make money, but they won't hurt anyone. If bad people can't even make money, then they're truly beyond redemption.
Humans are turned into food and offered to the outside world.
I've heard all sorts of gossip about various agencies, with each side criticizing the other. For example, some projects have broken their initial offering price, some promised to pump the price but didn't, some charged too much money, and some defaulted on their contracts and refused to proceed.
Along the way, I've seen some people become partners in dozens of agencies, others become KOLs while simultaneously establishing their own agencies with other KOLs, and still others transition from agencies to KOLs, and so on.
Some people rely on "social climbing" to treat "brothers" as a dish to meet all sorts of "demons and monsters," but who can truly understand the true meaning of this "brotherly" dish?
I suddenly remembered something a friend said: A and B used to be regulars at C's dinner parties because C used A to attract people and partnered with B for the first and second halves of the meal. But now A and B no longer go to C's parties. It turns out that C no longer needs A to attract people, and B is no longer worthy of being at the table.
Thankfully, I feel more comfortable after refusing to socialize with strangers or unfamiliar people.
Let me write in conclusion
It seems everyone is saying that crypto has no future, and everyone is going all in on AI.
It seems that everyone who comes to Hong Kong is just looking to make a quick buck. Maybe it's the last wave, maybe there will be another wave, but eventually they all have to leave the game.
So ultimately it's still a process of negotiation.
