Let's talk about alts, after all, most people come to the crypto world looking to get rich.

First of all, I have to say that this crypto world is definitely a negative-sum market; the vast majority of alts do not generate any value, so wealth can only come in from outside funds.

The big coin is constantly hitting new highs, but the ceiling for alts is getting lower and lower. Take retail investors as an example, people, ordi, and the life of the exchange are typical, with no absolute main force.

During the bull market in 2021, people was just a phenomenal MEME, not even considered a new leading narrative, yet it could be speculated to a market value of 1.2 billion dollars; ordi, as a new MEME narrative related to btc, reached a maximum of only 2 billion dollars; while the new Chinese narrative of 币安人生 has just started to stagnate at 400 million dollars.

Why is this happening? Because the "fools" who believed in alts have already been cut off, and the remaining ones are all smart people who understand that altcoins themselves have no real value.

How did the wealth of alts come about in the past? It was attracted by mainstream coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum, drawing in outside funds. In the early days, retail investors hoarded Bitcoin, and later Wall Street institutions entered the market. Retail investors were tempted by the rise of alts, selling their Bitcoins to speculate on alts.

Even if you made money from alts at the beginning, when the bear market comes, you'll lose it back. With each cycle of bulls and bears, the dividends earned by retail investors from Bitcoin are gradually transferred to stronger players.

For a more vivid example:

Retail investor A is the "fool" who bought Bitcoin before 2018, B is the ordinary person who entered the market in 2021, and C is the smart person who entered the market in 2023.

Later sold BTC to trade alts, but due to poor operation, lost everything in the bull and bear market from 2021 to 2022 and exited the crypto world.

B is slightly smarter than A. In the first round of bull and bear market trading altcoins, B made some profits, but in the new round of "players cutting each other" from 2023 to 2024, B's money was taken away by C.

So in the end, the wealth held by players remaining in this market actually comes from the money earned by the early "fools" A who hoarded coins — Wall Street bought A's coins and then gradually transferred the wealth through means like trading alts and playing contracts in a way that "cuts each other."

It is actually quite obvious that you can find people corresponding to A, B, and C in the crypto world, which is a reflection of the times. A typical example of C is 0xsun, who is calm and smart, and entered the market late.