The Crypto Game: How to Play & Win
“You get a short period of time after you graduate to hypergamble into elite status or you end up wage cucking for life.” - @DegenSpartan
Crypto is like a game: trading tokens, earning (and losing) money, growing followers on X.
Don’t you feel the same?
But unlike real games, losing in crypto can have serious consequences.
After the Terra crash, a Korean family of three, including a 10-year-old daughter, was suspected of committing suicide due to financial loss, based on the father’s online search history.
That’s why openly admitting that crypto is a game makes me feel guilty. Too many people have got scammed and lost lifesavings.
But crypto as a game mentality helps me to stay sane and motivated to continue playing. Because craziness we experience in this industry is on another level.
Yet the big upside of this game makes it worth playing: financial freedom.
As DegenSpartan once posted:
“You get a short period of time after you graduate to hypergamble into elite status or you end up wage cucking for life.” -. @DegenSpartan in now deleted tweet.
In this blog post I want to share the playbook of the crypto game, my mental framework, and tips on how to choose and win your crypto game.
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The Rules of the Crypto Game
Once you see the analogy between crypto and (especially MMORPG) gaming, you can’t unsee it.
During tough times, when no new capital flows in, we trade in "PvP - player vs. player" mode. In a bull run, with new retail money entering, we switch to "PvE - player vs. environment" mode.
If you dislike influencers dumping on you, we justify it with phrases like "Don't hate the player, hate the game."
We even design tokenomics to stop people from selling by applying various game theories.
As with every game upgrade, crypto games evolve with new narratives continuously emerging and fading away.
For example, Pranksy, once the top NFT player, is now totally out of sync with the memecoin meta. The gameplay has changed but he is stuck playing the game that few are interested in anymore.
Sure, memecoins can be awful, but the same was said about NFTs a few years ago by those who didn’t know how to play the NFT minting and trading game.
Your options in the game are two: you either adapt and play or you don’t and wait for the gameplay to change.
There’s a third, much harder option, to change the rules of the game itself.
Cobie, for example, launched Echo platform allowing retail to join VCs and buy tokens like during an ICOs era. Bit by bit, memecoin narrative will be pushed out by players who decide to change the game.
Memecoins need to get credit, though, as they actually managed to change the rules of the game.
For the past year or so, we played the “points” game. You deposited $$$ into a protocol, accrued points, and prayed for a juicy airdrop. I know you loved this game because my “DeFi degen’s playbook to the bull market” is still my most popular post.
Anyway, it turns out, many got played instead.
Since a higher TVL justified a higher valuation, tokens were launching at absurd FDVs, benefiting only VCs who got in at much lower valuations, the team, and, yes, airdrop farmers who dumped the airdrop.
Fed up, many turned to memecoins, which are everything VC-backed tokens lack.
While Pranksy is losing (or choosing not to play), memecoin main-characters Ansem, Murad and anyone who joined their clan are winning.
Within the overall meta-gameplay, we constantly introduce new mini-games.
You must decide whether to participate. If you do, make sure you know the rules, as there's always an opponent.
For example, DAOS FUN allows to trade tokenized funds. Yet confusingly, the top" “fund” - ai16z - trades at 52x the NAV (net assets value). It trades like memecoins.
The players are all trying to make sense of it at the same time. Squiggly compares the fund to “Grayscale structure” or Friendtech trading fee ponzi. BREAD disagrees on the FT part.
Who is right?
It’s the same product but players interpret it differently. Find your edge in the game to profit from it.
It could be quite simple. After the team announced plans to whitelist new "funds" on the website, I expected that degens holding other “fund tokens” might sell some of their old fund tokens to invest in the new ones, causing a price drop. Indeed, once the new funds were added, all the old funds dropped by ~50%.
Typically, the more confusing the gameplay, the greater the knowledge asymmetry you can exploit for profit.
The beauty of crypto is that there are always degens who jump into new trends without due diligence, creating opportunities for profit if you do even a bit of basic research.
Having said so, I’m often ape into hot new stuff with just a bit of money before I do research to understand how it works in practice. Learn while doing. And when you know if you can win the game, you deploy more capital.
Ton’s tap-to-earn meta thrived because it was the opposite of complex DeFi games—you could earn simply by tapping a button on your screen.
However, due to the game's simplicity, the rewards were also low—unless you exploited the system with hundreds of phones tapped by artificial fingers.
Here's where crypto becomes ten times more intriguing and complex: there are multiple layers, roles, and strategies to choose from. Side quests, if you will.
Let me give you an example.
Recently, I’ve been working towards becoming active delegate for multiple DAOs, notably Lido, Arbitrum, and Uniswap.
DAOs promote the vision of decentralized organization, but it's now an open secret that most DAOs are far from decentralized. For instance, in Arbitrum DAO, just 14 addresses control over 50% of the voting power. Other DAOs are no different.
Uniswap DAO was unaware that Unichain would launch with $UNI staking as a feature. This explains why the $UNI fee switch remained off for months—insiders knew that once UNI staking was implemented, the fee switch wouldn't be necessary. Meanwhile, the DAO was kept in the dark.
DAOs recognize that vote concentration is a big issue. To address this, they initiate delegate incentive campaigns to attract new participants. By becoming an active delegate, you can earn between $3k and $10k per DAO.
It’s not easy, though.
You have to actively follow forum discussions, write comments, and vote on proposals. The most difficult part is getting tokens delegated to you. Here’s where politics start.
After tweeting about aligning token holder and protocol incentives, an anonymous whale delegated 2.5M LDO to me. To be fair, I only received this delegation because I’m known on X for my posts. Playing the popularity game well on X opens up many more opportunities within crypto that few are aware of.
Now, multiple protocols reach out to thank me for voting on their proposals or to request my support for the future ones. There's an essential relationship-building process in every DAO that doesn't appear on X feed or even DAO forums.
Honestly, I love this game.
I truly believe in a decentralized future and want to make an impact. So, if you hold LDO, UNI, OP, ARB, or AAVE, I'd love for you to delegate these tokens to me.
Here’s the address I use for all the DAOs: 0x3DDC7d25c7a1dc381443e491Bbf1Caa8928A05B0
The Gamer’s Mentality
Did you know Vitalik Buterin started Ethereum soon after “Blizzard removed the damage component from beloved warlock's Siphon Life spell”?
“I cried myself to sleep, and on that day, I realized what horrors centralized services can bring. I soon decided to quit.” - Vitalik (his bio is now deleted on the about.me page).
Vitalik decided to quit WoW because he felt he had no influence on the game's rules.
What’s cool about crypto is that we all have a part to play and can influence the rules of the game.
Like blockchains, crypto gameplay is decentralized. VCs, retail investors, builders, KOLs—we all have our roles, some more influential than others.
Ansem, Murad, and other memecoin influencers push for memecoin cycle but you can decide not to join their game. Just don’t talk or buy memecoins.
A bit off-topic, but I'm actually surprised by how little influence VCs have in shaping narratives. Crypto VCs should be advocating for their investments, yet their mindshare on X is minimal.
Do they even care? Or are they playing a different game?
A notable example is Multicoin's Kyle, who is pushing for his bags. More VCs should share their visions for the industry, advocate for their portfolio protocols, and provide in-depth research to shed light on current developments.
From my interviews with crypto VCs, a possible explanation is that they are essentially retail degens, just with more money.
In a weird twist in the matrix, at the same time Vitalik was playing World of Warcraft (2007-2010) I was playing another MMORP game - Lineage 2.
In Lineage 2 you choose a Class (Human, Elf, Orcs etc.) and Occupation (Fighter, Mystic).
You level up by gaining experience (XP) through completing quests and defeating enemies. Leveling up unlocks new abilities, better equipment, and access to more challenging content.
I spent two years intensely grinding, sleeping only a few hours each day. Those memories are deeply ingrained and shape how I view crypto trading.
Like you earn XP in game, in crypto you gain XP by learning about blockchain, learning about DeFi, studying tokenomics, etc. The more you grind the better you get at it.
While you grind, you must pay attention to your HP (health points) and MP (mana points).
HP and MP are like your health, financial stability and emotional resilience. Both crypto and gaming requires relentless grind that lead to burnout. In crypto, the pressure to stay ahead, constantly monitor markets, and not miss trends creates a high-stress environment, much like being in an endless game where logging out isn’t an option.
Last bull cycle I got burnt out badly, so now I manage my “HP” by taking time-off every three months.
Am I the weird one seeing crypto this way?
Similarities continue into demographics: Crypto is dominated by men, and only ~35% of MMORPG gamers are female.
Koreans are as crazy for crypto as they are obsessed by e-Sports (like League of Legends), even outgrowing “real sports.” No wonder that GameFi narrative has so many bulls in crypto.
The point I'm making is that a gamer's mentality can help you excel in crypto. Just choose the right game and understand your role in it.
In his famous short thread post on “How to Get Rich (without getting lucky):” Naval mentions “game” and “play” 15 times! His advice is:
“Ignore people playing status games. They gain status by attacking people playing wealth creation games.”
“Pick an industry where you can play long term games with long term people.”
“Play iterated games. All the returns in life, whether in wealth, relationships, or knowledge, come from compound interest.”
And my favorite:
“Building specific knowledge will feel like play to you but will look like work to others.”
So, what’s the game you’re playing in crypto?
What’s Your Role in Crypto?
Crypto has become much more complex in recent years. Before 2020, success was often as simple as investing in ICOs and trading on CEXs. Since then, the number of crypto sectors has exploded: DeFi, L2s, NFTs, RWA, Runes, Memecoins, and more.
How do you keep up?
Do you specialize or try to “catch them all”?
In MMPORG games, you start by choosing a Race and then Class. In Lineage 2, I decided to go with the least popular option because I wanted to stand out and improve my chances to becoming a “Hero”.
I chose Human Mystic and, as I gained XP points, I specialized in Warlock and then Arcana Lord. It was the least popular class because its specialty is defeating enemies with a pet.
Similarly, you start in crypto by learning basic skills and then you can specialize into active trading, DeFi yield farming, memecoins, DAO delegate, etc.
Many people lack the conviction to learn specific skills, often jumping between narratives without truly understanding them. They miss out on acquiring the knowledge needed to grasp the complex mechanics behind the game theory of a particular sector. They become the exit liquidity.
Actually, jumping from narrative to narrative while earning money can be a specific skill. In this case, you realize the money rotation games and you manage to sell the top before the money goes to another narrative. Are you good at this?
Still, I believe that at this stage of the market, specializing can bring outstanding results.
Specialization can be anything:
Crypto Koryo excels at creating and monetizing work from Dune dashboards.
USD Denominated on X specializes in the stablecoin market, navigating market intricacies to extract the highest yield.
Andy is all-in on the modular narrative despite it being the most fudded sector in crypto.
wale.moca is the account to follow for NFTs (what a conviction!)
But always be mindful of what influencers are saying because their incentives are often different than you might think. They play different games from the ones they broadcast publicly. You don’t want to play game where the rules are against you. E.g., Ansem onboards celebrities and somehow :) monetizes it.
Why do you think I post on X?
I post on X to: 1) stay up-to-date with the market, 2) attract clients to my DeFi Creator Studio, Pink Brains, and recently 3) build my influence and get token delegation votes.
This strategy allows me to explore multiple topics, even if I'm not an expert in any.
But when you start to grow followers on X, you choose a niche you're passionate about. As your following grows, diversify your topics. Posting boosts your leverage, so everyone should do it.
Becoming an influencer is like becoming a Hero in Lineage 2. Your character gains a special aura that not only boosts your stats but also allows you to broadcast your message to the entire server. I actually chose the least popular character as it decreased competition to become a Hero.
Many of you work at crypto companies, which forces you to specialize in roles like marketing, market making, or private sales. This gives you an edge over those dabbling as a hobby—leveraging industry connections, gaining insights, and even influencing the rules of the game.
Specialization is now where the real alpha hides.
While holding BTC or ETH can be solid, achieving 100x returns now requires digging deeper, just like mining gold in a well-explored field. As Naval put it, find work that feels like play to you.
Whether it’s DeFi, on-chain wallet tracking, or DAO forum alpha hunting, let your curiosity guide you. By building specific knowledge, you’ll spot opportunities that others miss.
This niche—small enough to escape the radar of big players but large enough for you to win—could be your gold mine in the crypto game.
great analogy with an MMORPG, need to rename myself to DeFi Necromancer
Love the analogy of crypto and MMORPGs, there really is a big difference between people diving really deep into a niche to become an expert and those who are the master of none.