Jun 3
Continued from:
x.com/Flip_Research/status/2…
I sat staring at my Binance account balance: $300K .
It still didn’t feel real. $15K to $300K in a matter of months. This was starting to look like serious money. Part of me wanted to cash it all out and continue with my life.
But that was never going to happen- I’d been thinking about crypto almost every waking hour of every day, and that wasn’t a switch I could just turn off. I HAD to find the next deal.
VeChain came up in our chat. It had just ICOed, but we hadn’t given it serious thought because everyone was still so focused on WTC. I started looking into it properly, and wondered what I was missing.
A charismatic founder in Sunny Lu, former CIO of Louis Vuitton, fluent English, project launch in 2015, and a collaboration with PwC. They appeared to be doing what WTC was doing, only better. This was a far easier narrative to sell. The more I looked into it, the more I came to the realisation: this was the one.
There was only one small problem: there was no liquidity. VEN was only trading on a small exchange called Liqui, which is now entirely defunct. I had no idea who the owners were, whether it was safe, or whether I’d ever see my money again. But I had no other option, so I poured all my WTC gains onto the exchange.
I spent days staring at the order books, manually filling any sell orders I could find. By the end, I’d done it: over a quarter of a million dollars in VEN, at around a $300M market cap. This was either incredibly brave or completely insane. Perhaps both.
VeChain became my new obsession. I became a regular in the VEN Telegram channels, and eventually found my way into their whales group. My conviction bordered on fanaticism. VeChain would change the world.
Their marketing was on another level too, constantly hinting and teasing announcements. The market loved it. Mindshare grew, and so did the price.
In November, they got their first major exchange listing: Binance. The market cap jumped to over $1B. On paper, I was now sitting on over a million dollars, but it felt numb. Just numbers on a screen.
Then in December, a new account appeared on Twitter: “The Coca Cola Kid”. He would post hints about VeChain partnership announcements. When those hints started coming true, the community went wild. Every tweet he posted seemed to make the price spike.
It was incredible marketing. The market went into full mania mode. My bag doubled to $2M - I kept holding.
January 2018 was peak bubble. TradFi outlets were talking about VeChain. The discussions in the VeChain whales group were less about the project now, and more about watches and sports cars. I was starting to get nervous.
Coca Cola Kid was in full posting mode, teasing a big announcement. And the announcement turned out to be a big one: the VeChain staking program, the VeChain Thor mainnet launch, and a token swap from VEN to VET.
The next couple of days were quite possibly the wildest of my life
Off the back of the announcement, prices went parabolic, and so did my portfolio. I remember being out at dinner, and during the course of the meal my balance went from $3M to $4M - a day later, it was at $5M
This didn't feel real. Warning bells were ringing in my head, but I couldn’t bring myself to sell. The volatility wasn’t all good either. Within a few hours, the price dropped 30%, and I was down $1.5M from the peak.
Suddenly, the money felt much more real. It was devastating.
I decided it was time to sell.
At peak mania, my sells barely even moved the market. Late 2017/Early 2018 was the most magnificent market I’ve ever had the privilege to experience. Up only, with every ICO being profitable, just a modicum of DD needed.
A few K into the RedPulse ICO- 20x in a week. WaBi- 5x. $200K into the Titanium BAR ICO, flipped for a 25% gain on TGE despite being a trash tier project (it later turned out to be a complete scam, and I think the founder is still in jail)
Then there was Fusion. The founder was reportedly key to both VeChain and Qtum, but there was lots of skepticism over whether it was legit. So a friend and I arranged a video call with him. We literally didn’t listen to a word he was saying, all we cared about was whether his face matched the profile of who the founder was meant to be.
It checked out, so I threw $600K into the ICO... 50% in a week.
But it wasn’t all plain sailing. I also top-ticked one of the most hyped coins of the cycle, ICX, for a $200K loss.
Honestly, I think my biggest win of the cycle was being almost completely in cash by the end of February 2018. My entire social circle was piling into crypto. Family members were asking me to invest for them. It was time to get out. Maybe that was luck more than judgement, idk
Reflecting back, I think there are a few takeaways:
- The time you put in directly translates to the outcome. It’s hard to explain just how much time and effort I put into crypto during that cycle. My routine involved sleeping in 2–3 hour stints, so I was constantly switched on. Without that, I’m sure I wouldn’t have built the conviction I did in my positions.
- Inertia is a killer. If you think it’s time to buy or sell, just do it. Ask questions later.
- Plan for success in advance. I did no tax planning, and ended up giving a chunk of my profits to the taxman.
- Being a lone wolf is incredibly tough. ALWAYS find a group if you can. Multiple perspectives, different information channels, and shared motivation matter. I simply couldn’t have done it without that support. It’s also why I’m building a social app now, to help CT make those connectionsa and find alpha amongst the noise.
- Don’t beat yourself up over the “what ifs”. I can always do the mental gymnastics to paint a picture of failure, but that’s human nature. Use it as fuel.
- This is a young man's game. Now I'm older and with a kid, I just can't summon the same level of intensity and handle the level of risk that was needed to make it in that first cycle
While I've had decent success after this, I haven't experienced anything close to that first cycle again. It was truly generational. I suspect it's not the last time it'll happen, but when it does happen again, it'll take a very different form. Hope you found this interesting and somewhat useful, please like/rt etc. Thanks for reading
*Clarification*
After looking back at my tx history, I realised my previous dates on WTC were wrong. I bought WTC in early September 2017 and sold in October/November on the rumours of the staking program.
If I can make money while having the memory of a goldfish, you can too
May 29
It was July 2017, and I was depressed. Antshares had just announced a rebranding to NEO, and the token was going wild.
Every now and then I'd involuntarily pull out my phone and calculate how much my bag would have been worth right now, if I haven't dumped. £100K..£150K...jesus. Instead, my Blockfolio showed £8K, I was down about 50%.
I swung between thoughts of quitting crypto forever, and doomscrolling my Twitter and Telegram feeds, asking for calls and praying for inspiration. Then I stumbled my way into a closed TG group of around 15 people- it was an eclectic mix. An Italian high-end furniture salesman. An Australian doctor. Two Dutch guys, fresh out of university and travelling the world. 'BigBoobsMary', who would occasionally post her boobs in the chat (she turned out later to be a dude).
I was probably the only one with any serious financial acumen in the group, but we all bonded through our common goal, to escape the rat race and 'make it' through crypto. There was some beautiful camaraderie, and we fed off each others' energy- I was revitalised.
Calls were constantly being shared in the group, and while I fomo'ed small amounts, nothing really excited me. I couldn’t shake the fear and doubts from my previous failures. But bitcoin had 5x'ed since January, from $1K to $5K. It surely couldn't go much higher- alts were my only hope.
Then once day our Italian salesman posted a new project, WaltonChain. It had a whitepaper, and the premise sounded interesting, the 'Value Internet of Things', supply chain on the Blockchain. Only one small issue- the entire fucking whitepaper is in Chinese. Should we just ape anyway? I couldn’t read it, but the pictures look pretty technical. But then the Singaporean engineer in our group pulled through- he could get it translated.
When the translation came through...holy shit, my mind was blown. These guys have been around since 2016. They're building their own RFID hardware, and have a prototype. Their Chief scientist is a former Samsung VP. This could revolutionise supply chain as we know it. This was GOLD.
Without hesitation I aped my entire stack on Binance. A few days later China banned all ICOs, and the WaltonChain team announced they're pausing development- prices fell 40%. My PTSD was triggered, and I was devastated. I just couldn't seem to get it right. But I had the pain of fumbling my NEO bags fresh in my mind- the fundamentals were there, and very few knew about it. I held on.
Eventually the China FUD cleared, and the team announced they're restarting development. Kucoin announced their WTC listing- finally a proper exchange listing. But the price didn't really move.
The next couple of months I was almost in a fugue state, working my full-time job during the day, and scouring the internet by night, searching for any scraps of evidence that WaltonChain would be the one. My wife was worried, this wasn’t sustainable. I reassured her with the blind confidence of a man that didn’t know what he was doing, that I knew what I was doing. This would all be worth it.
My TG group kept me motivated. We shared any new info we found. Unannounced partnerships, CVs for the team, plans for new hardware. We had convinced each other. Diamond hands. In November, the token price started to creep up as the narrative started to grow, and there were rumours of a staking program. My £8k grew to around £50k. But I wasn't selling. Then it happened.
I was at a corporate wine tasting without signal, so I couldn't do my usual 10 minute Blockfolio refresh. As soon as I stepped out I checked- £150K. What the fuck. It was £70K 3 hours ago. Waltonchain had announced their Guardian Masternode staking program. I was euphoric. I texted my wife- telling her I just made £100k, she responded with confusion. I took the train home as fast as I could, refreshing Blockfolio like a madman. £160K, £180K, £200K.
My group was going nuts, we had fucking done it. But noone wanted to sell, they wanted to stake and get their masternodes. It wasn’t enough- Waltonchain would grow 5, 10x from here. All my instincts screamed to sell, this was euphoria stage. Kahneman’s cognitive biases played over and over in my head. But selling felt like cheating on this group I had grown with over the past months. Maybe they were right, and I should hold on? But a switch flipped in my head- it was time. I dumped it all.
This success was bittersweet- at first I couldn’t bring myself to say anything in the group. I celebrated with everyone else, acting like I still held my bag. I felt like a fraud. Little did I know though, that this was probably the best decision I made in my life, and it was just the trigger of a cascade of wild events that would play out over the coming months.
To be continued...
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Apr 7
🚨 حلقة جديدة من Red Pulse 🔴⚪️
افضل 5 لاعبين خرجوا من مدرسة الوداد في القرن 21
#Wydad #الوداد #RedPulse 🔴
الرابط :
youtu.be/5M_DhUldr6U
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Mar 2
🚨 حلقة جديدة من Red Pulse 🔴⚪️
🔥 أفضل 5 لاعبين أجانب في تاريخ الوداد في القرن 21!
اختيارات جريئة… جدل كبير… واسم واحد غادي يقسم الجماهير 😳
شكون رقم 1 عندك؟ 👀
الرابط : youtu.be/EWtXmnRfyII
#Wydad #الوداد #RedPulse 🔴⚪️
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8,392
10 Dec 2025
𝙎𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙁𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙨𝙁𝙤𝙧𝙈𝙔𝙪𝙣𝙜 𝙓 𝙍𝙚𝙙𝙋𝙪𝙡𝙨𝙚
럭드 굿즈, 액자 통판 (~12/21)
굿즈&담요
witchform.com/deposit_form.p…
액자
witchform.com/deposit_form.p…
전구매자 특전으로 기본특전 포토엽서, 편지지, 트레카를 랜덤 증정합니다.
#rt 추첨 1분께 원하는 굿즈/ A4 액자를 보내드립니다
#RedPulse_JAEX03
#SnowFallsForMyung
#SnowFallsForJaehyun
#명재현 #보이넥스트도어 #BOYNEXTDOOR #JAEHYUN
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24 Nov 2025
Mouad Aounzou ki 9ra Toschak dima ljadid m3a si Redpulse
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15 Nov 2025
ECHOES OF BOLD BETS
In dawn's hush, we wagered on fragile dreams,
Not code or stars, but hands and hearts that gleam.
Three bets from midnight talks, stained with hope's streams,
Now blooming bright, souls outrunning the storm's screams.
First, trades' wild ride where fingers swiftly fly,
Screens aglow, chasing fortunes under sky.
HyperStone whispers truths, steady and sly,
From sparks of all, no voids to terrify.
Clear eyes for fire, families fed by one try,
Thrills turning losses to songs that never die.
Then breath held tight as worlds spin fast and free,
Bolt on chains like MegaETH, Monad's spree.
Whispers delivered in breaths, two blinks to see,
Truth in your palm, no weary waits to flee.
Lenders guard gold, mending delays with glee,
Human speed conquering fear's dark decree.
Last, gut's knot when trust frays after crash's bite,
Credora's lantern maps risks in lending's night.
Scores pulsing with markets, shadows take flight,
Paths shown clear where dangers once held tight.
Borrowers' hands bare, savers' scraps ignite,
World of open books, faith earned in pure light.
Bets strike deep, not for fame's empty crown,
But wins we chase: child's laugh, peace in rain's gown.
Circle wide, no falls in RedStone's renown,
Blood true, healing wild, code to cradles down.
Tomorrow kinder, dawns we proudly own.
- Endangered_Specie
#RedPulse
@redstone_defi
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3 Nov 2025
🔴 بث مباشر الليلة!
انضمّوا إلينا في Red Pulse Live على الساعة 10:00 ليلاً بتوقيت المغرب للحديث عن قرعة كأس الكونفدرالية الإفريقية 🔥
📌 الوداد في المجموعة الثانية إلى جانب نيروبي سيتي ستارز، مانييما يونيون، وآزام إف سي!
هل المجموعة سهلة أم فخ إفريقي جديد؟ 🤔
🎥 تابعوا البث هنا: youtube.com/live/hYB1BaJ2Sh0
#Wydad #RedPulse #CAFCC #WAC
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2,167
30 Oct 2025
流亡海外的币枭魁首 笪鸿飞
@Neo_Blockchain $NEO 之后2017－2019年，笪鸿飞通过不同团队陆续发了多个项目。
在60多个基于 NEO 这条难用且性能落后的公链开发的项目中，达鸿飞直接出现的有3个，分别是 #NEX 、#Redpulse 和 #Wowoo 。
而实际上在 上海分布信息有限公司 即 OnChain （onchain.com） 的国家企业信用信息公示系统中（2018年版），董事长是笪鸿飞，监事张铮文（ NEO 的CTO），监事李俊—ONT 的项目负责人李俊 @LiJun_ontology
其中，笪鸿飞与张铮文早年一起搞了个微天使（WeAngel.com）
@Neo_Blockchain @NEOnewstoday @ndapp_org @Neo__Korea @NEO_ARABIC @NeoWorldJapan @OntologyNetwork @FlamingoFinance
@KR1plc @0xstv3 @CryptoShlug @minwage777
@liangxihuigui @NihilusBTC @abojasimc @im_BrokeDoomer @btcoinmag @habermuhendisim @rayray_1_ @Mahmoudsardauna @ThanhCryptoBnb @siyizhisheng3 @CryptoPatel @digishahed @TingHu888 @open4profit
#达鸿飞 #张筝文 #NEO #ONT #李俊
30 Oct 2025
流亡海外的币枭魁首—笪鸿飞
达鸿飞
业内称：达叔
真名：笪鸿飞
出生年月：1980年6月
出生地：江苏南通
毕业院校：华南理工、浙江大学
职业：上海发币集团扛把子
爱好：包养嫩妹妹
笪鸿飞可以说是过去两轮周期中国大陆币圈的发币王老五，同时也是实至名归的归零币王子。
2014年，在 徐义吉发起的 BitVenture比特营 众人的天使资金支持下，笪鸿飞开始运作@Neo_Blockchain $NEO （原名：小蚁区块链）。
笪鸿飞任CEO，张铮文是CTO，王冠负责项目的设计及推广事宜；另外，徐义吉作为 $NEO 联合创始人，陶荣祺作为 $NEO VP，负责生态运营。
2014.6 小蚁正式立项，种子轮募资；
2015.9 正式发布小蚁区块链白皮书
2015.10 ICO一期众筹2100BTC，众筹价¥0.28；
2016.8 ICO二期众筹6119BTC，众筹价¥1.1；
2016.10 小蚁区块链主网正式上线；上线云币、元宝网、Bittrex等交易所；
2017.5 更名为NEO
$NEO 也是所有国产公链中最成功的一个，业内美名 — 中国以太坊。
@Neo_Blockchain $NEO 在中国大陆的关联主体是，于2020年20注册成立的 上海励奥励奥信息科技有限公司，这个主体表面上跟笪鸿飞没任何关联。
除此之外，笪鸿飞 另外注册成立了 上海分布信息有限公司 ，即@OntologyNetwork $ONT 本体背后实际的业务主体。
@Neo_Blockchain @NEOnewstoday @ndapp_org @Neo__Korea @NEO_ARABIC @NeoWorldJapan @OntologyNetwork @FlamingoFinance
@KR1plc @0xstv3 @CryptoShlug @minwage777
@liangxihuigui @NihilusBTC @abojasimc @im_BrokeDoomer @btcoinmag @habermuhendisim @rayray_1_ @Mahmoudsardauna @ThanhCryptoBnb @siyizhisheng3 @CryptoPatel @digishahed @TingHu888 @open4profit
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9 Aug 2025
واش النموذج اللي كيتبّعو الوداد فالميركاتو هو الصح؟ @anaslenumero8 :
#wac #بودكاست #RedPulse #Mercato #كرة_قدم #وداد_الأمة
instagram.com/reel/DNHbEYmCl…
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8 Aug 2025
ثاني تحية لأسطورتنا ياسين بونو بعد ترشيحو لجائزة Yachine 👑❤️
Voice over : @Kanyekobekaka_
#bono #yassinebonou #ياسين_بونو #WAC #YachineTrophy #RedPulse #فخر_ودادي #بودكاست
instagram.com/reel/DNFh4u3sW…
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24 Jun 2025
🚨 Red Pulse on @talkSPORT 🚨
We were live on one of the UK’s biggest sports radio shows to talk about Wydad, the Club World Cup, and the rise of Moroccan football 🇲🇦🔥
🎧 The full interview is now live — don’t miss this one!
🔗 youtu.be/6xbrGTOAUoo?si=Lcxc…
#RedPulse #Wydad #talkSPORT #ExtraTime #FIFACWC #MoroccanFootball #WAC #CAF
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5,962
17 Jun 2025
🎧 الحلقات كاملة على سبوتيفاي!
جميع أجزاء تغطيتنا لكأس العالم للأندية الخاصة بالوداد متوفرة الآن بصيغة صوتية 🔥
تحاليل، توقعات، ونقاشات عميقة!
🔗open.spotify.com/show/6M1lGn…
#الوداد #WAC #RedPulse #كأس_العالم_للأندية
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31 May 2025
🚨 Red Pulses WhatsApp community 🚨
Join us and get early épisode drops, share your opinions, and connect with other Wydadis !
Link : Follow this link to join my WhatsApp community:
chat.whatsapp.com/FgsGoEEyU2…
#Wydad #RedPulse #whatsapp
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28 Jan 2025
Me too. Those fkrs from Kucoin stole me a lot of coins like redpulse, sirin labs, among others in their time 2017/2018. Total scammers.
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16 Dec 2024
🎙️RED PULSE EP.11🎙️
Two good friends and pure wydadis snake-drafting names from a list of the greatest players that ever played at Wydad in the 21st century 🔥⚪🔴
( You're not ready for it 😅)
📺 Watch now: youtu.be/3-Z8jOaXlQQ?si=UiR_…
#Wydad #RedPulse #Wydad21CenturyElite
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2 Nov 2024
🔴 Bonus Episode Alert! ⚪️
What If MOTIE did it...? BONUS EPISODE 4 | #RedPulse
| #RedPulse youtu.be/4R_diF5Btjg?si=DN2I… via @YouTube
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