The way out for ordinary people

At the end of the article on December 29, 2025, there was a comment:

"Previously, there was DeFi NFT AI. Now, what opportunities are there for small investors to participate?"

Below the comment, there was a reply:

"The only thing small investors can participate in is Bitcoin, no rebuttals accepted… For example, delivering food to buy Bitcoin is the greatest responsibility to oneself."

The latter part of this reply, "delivering food to buy Bitcoin is the greatest responsibility to oneself," made me feel a strong will and tenacious spirit to strive for a turnaround against all odds.

First, let me share my views on "撸毛" (yield farming).

I myself have engaged in yield farming in the past, first during the last DeFi boom, and later during the rise of Layer 2 scaling, but the returns have been diminishing over time.

There are plenty of posts online about lucrative yield farming, but this has become increasingly professional and specialized. To gain profits in such a field, even with a small financial investment, one must invest a lot of mental and physical effort. Therefore, this field is not as easy as it seems to "make a fortune with a small investment," and opportunities are certainly not as "plentiful" as they appear.

For many people, the input and output are not proportional.

If newcomers enter this track, luck may be more important.

I will not focus on investing in this field; I will only occasionally play with a participatory mindset.

Besides yield farming, we can also see many other methods and cases of getting rich overnight online, but especially as newcomers, we need to seriously consider: are these methods and cases isolated incidents or do they have universal applicability?

If they are isolated incidents, then luck plays a significant role; they can be tried, but one should not treat them as a lifeline.

I believe there are methods that are suitable for most people, and as long as you persist, there is a high probability of obtaining relatively certain returns. However, these methods may be a bit harder, more tiring, and more torturous.

The method mentioned in the comment that seems "foolish" and cruel is a typical example of this type.

I often read similar statements online:

Small investors can only gamble to change their fate.

I strongly oppose such statements.

If one truly agrees with this viewpoint, I suggest going to Macau to try their luck. We have also seen geniuses at the gambling table (playing poker, blackjack, etc.), so I believe there are indeed people who can make a fortune through gambling.

But this type of gambling method is not suitable for the vast majority of people.

In the current environment, for ordinary people (without background, family wealth, talent, unique skills, or particularly good education), if they approach anything with a gambling mentality, they are likely to end up with heavy debts. And in the next visible decade, under the current economic background in the country, living with a mountain of debt may lead to a lifetime of darkness and potentially ruin the second half of their lives.

So one must be very cautious of this gambling mentality.

I have previously shared the viewpoint that:

For the vast majority of ordinary people, to accumulate initial capital, we can only "sell" ourselves, either by selling our intellect or our physical labor.

Most ordinary people cannot sell their intellect for a high price—most of those who can are students from 985 or 211 universities.

People might want to look at the entrepreneurial stars and sensational cases in various fields over the years; the protagonists are generally of this type, right?

But such people are just a minority in the crowd.

In addition, there are some people who can discover their unique skills in certain special scenarios; if they can find and utilize such skills, that would be great. So one can also look for opportunities in new things to test themselves and see if they have unique skills in some new fields or special tracks.

But there are not many of these people either.

So what remains is the vast majority of people.

For this majority, the only thing they can truly sell is their physical labor—actually, in my view, so-called white-collar workers are also part of this group. They just sell their physical labor in a more respectable way.

In the current situation, with changes in the domestic economic conditions, I estimate that in the near future, this majority will be greatly affected—one likely occurrence is that the number of flexible workers will become more and more common.

If expressed in internet language, more and more people may head towards the "吉祥三宝" (a term referring to a certain type of job) and "铁人三项" (triathlon) tracks. This track is already crowded, but it may become even more crowded and tense in the future.

So in this situation, what should ordinary people, who make up the vast majority, do to change their fate?

First, try to sell the limited resources they can sell (like physical labor) while they are still young to accumulate initial capital.

Second, use the initial capital to invest in assets that are as risk-controlled, highly certain, and relatively guaranteed in returns as possible.

Aside from that, I can't think of any other feasible methods.

So when I saw the reply mentioning "delivering food," I felt a mix of emotions—although it seems cruel, I think for any ordinary person who truly has no better way out, at least this is a viable path.

If one really takes this path, I suggest being stricter with oneself: eliminate all time-wasting activities (like watching boring videos or meaningless pastimes), cut out all unnecessary expenses, and dedicate all time to earning money, resting, and exercising.

As for risk-controlled, highly certain, guaranteed returns, and relatively good assets, currently, aside from Bitcoin (I am more optimistic about Ethereum), the other relatively recognized option is the U.S. stock index.

However, between Bitcoin and the U.S. stock index, which do you believe is more likely to increase tenfold from its current base in a shorter time?

I believe in Bitcoin more.

Putting all this information together, I strongly agree with the reply above that for those who want to change their fate but are very ordinary, if there are no better ways to accumulate initial capital and reliable investment methods, then "delivering food to buy Bitcoin is the greatest responsibility to oneself."

Of course, before buying Bitcoin, I still suggest saving enough to cover 18 months of living expenses before taking action.