Illusory Profits

My first post today was several thousand words long, a simple summary of my recent experiences dabbling in various DeFi investments and fixed-income products. I spent a lot of time and encountered many pitfalls. Fortunately, I haven't fallen into a major trap I can't escape.

These things actually violate a core principle of Bitcoin: not your keys, not your coins. To put it another way, money not under your control is no longer your own money.

As long as money is put out, there is always a risk of loss. The more intermediaries involved, the greater the risk.

Not to mention the intentional or unintentional scams that attract funds with high returns, then either abscond with the money, are hacked, or collapse and become worthless.

However, one saying always resonates deeply: capital always seeks out the places where it can grow the fastest. In this sense, moving funds around to pursue higher returns is simply conforming to the nature of capital. Almost anyone, if they have some money, will want to find a good way to make money work for them, earning some interest to spend. Therefore, the so-called nature of capital is nothing more than the greedy nature of human nature. People always want to acquire some money to spend; this motivation stems from the invention of money, which can be used to buy food, drink, and almost all means of subsistence and production. And there are essentially two ways to acquire money: one is to exchange labor for money, and the other is to use money to generate more money. The latter is also known as financial management, investment, or other terms. Almost all financial management books will teach people in various ways that you can't get rich through labor; to achieve financial freedom, you must learn to invest and manage your money to make it grow. But all this education (brainwashing) simply shapes human nature closer to the inherent needs of capital, making people better "slaves" to capital—if the word "slave" can be used to describe that irresistible state, like the inexplicable dependence of a smoker on cigarettes, an alcoholic on alcohol, or a gambler on gambling. The so-called pursuit of capital appreciation is inherent in human nature. And why is holding difficult? Especially holding a non-interest-bearing, non-yielding asset, such as Bitcoin. The reason is simple: holding BTC is somewhat counterintuitive. Warren Buffett criticized BTC in the same way: "If you invest in a farm, you can expect to receive returns from its annual output; but if you invest in BTC, you can only hope that some fool will buy it from you at a higher price someday." People's brains are also more accustomed to accepting yield-generating assets. They're willing to take risks. Thus, many such asset types have emerged. DeFi yield. But what is the cost? Who will bear the cost? Thinking through these questions clearly is far more important than simply focusing on a rate of return.