EP07 - Cryptocurrency

How crypto yield farming and DeFi protocols work. Learn about cryptocurrency staking, liquidity mining, tokenomics, and the risks of crypto investment schemes.

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This is it… this is the one…

...s-so, 18 % fixed APY paid daily in $YAPE! Real AI revenue share! Backed by on-chain volume!

Define 'real' for me, slowly.

why would anyone pay you 18% to do nothing but lend them your money? They could have asked for a better credit card.

Unless, they found a way to pay you less than 18%...

maybe less than what you put in!

also, why do they need to raise capital through coin offerings? What work are they trying to get done?

In crypto yield farming schemes, this is usually how things play out

1. they pay you the promised yields using new deposits. Robbing Peter to pay Paul.

2. they pay you the promised yields by minting more of the coin. You bought a hyper-inflating currency.

3. they sell early investor rights where you buy coins at discounted price.

The only way you get back real money is to sell them at during public launch.

But to earn your 18%, you can only sell it much later. In practice, the unlock happens for insiders first before you do.

By the time yours get unlocked, the coin has devalued so much your 18% yield hardly matters.

They said it's number 4!

They always do.

but how can I know how a scheme will look like?

(fufufu) If anyone asks you how you find out, promise you dont say its me~

Imagine a project mints 1 billion tokens—but only 5% (50 million) are released for public trading at launch.

"Float" means the actual number of tokens available to buy and sell in the market.

Just a few million dollars from retail buyers and the price blasts from $1.00 to $10.00—because almost no one can sell.

The game: With such a low supply, it's dangerously easy to inflate the price fast.

This pumps up the "Fully Diluted Valuation" (FDV) to absurd heights.

The trick

Wait… so what happened to the other 95% of tokens?

Most are just locked up, waiting for the big exit. Vesting usually lasts 6–12 months… if you're lucky.

Let's say 500 million reward tokens get released slowly over 1,000 days...

Low float, sky-high FDV, endless emissions — the ultimate wealth-transfer engine dressed up as DeFi.

Step one: leak an exciting rumor online.

Step two: flood social media with synchronized hype—paid shillers posting in perfect unison.

Money goes into a circlejerk, creating impression of volume

Step four: Anon and shillers spam screenshots showing 'top trending'—makes retail believe they're missing out.

Insiders opens "entry opportunity", only "lucky ones" get in.

Wow, we're in early! Only $400M market cap!

You're not early. You're the exit liquidity

All I have to do is stake and wait. Easy money!

...LOL you speaking to yield farming genius. Stay poor, peasants!

This is fine…

Congrats on your 18% APY. That's $1800 more tokens—

But dilution nuked $9,100 in real value.

Net: You paid $8,200 for them to drain you.

…so the promised moon was always just a trap of knives?

This is so complicated! Is there an easy way to tell if it's a scam before I finish reading the Whitepaper?

Give me 9 seconds with any token and I'll tell you how it gets rekt.

Wait, that's it?

(1 second has passed...)

"Does the yield keep paying if ZERO new money comes in tomorrow?"

(2 second has passed...)

"Is more than 60 % of total supply locked for longer than 12 months?"

(3 second has passed...)

"Can the team pause withdrawals or change the rules with a multisig?"

(4 second has passed...)

"Was the website + GitHub created less than 45 days ago?"

If you answered 'yes' to three or more, RUN

Question 1 → YES (rewards are minted, no new deposits needed)

Question 2 → YES (96 % locked)

Question 3 → YES (6/9 multisig is the team + their cousins)

Question 4 → YES (domain registered 23 days ago)

9 SECONDS HAS PASSED!

WRRYYYYY

W-What's wrong...? I just raised my voice for a second, didn't mean to scare you...

I... already aped 4 ETH into $YAPE this morning...

You WHAT?!

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry...

I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry...

I won't do it ever again please please don't yell at me I'm sorry I won't do it ever again please please don't yell at me I'm sorry-

Knock it off. Crying won't do you any good.

B-But...

I understand how you feel.

You are not the only person who feels this way

Everyone who lost money this way felt ashamed or stupid about themselves. But I'm not going to let you go through this alone.

Almost every crypto you see for sale is a negative expected value bet.

Then why do even smart people keep falling for it?

Because for most people, the old dream is already gone.

You can't grind your way from wage slave to owner class anymore. The middle class is now just a memory.

No one wants to wait until they're 60 for a chance at wealth. The world moves too fast for that.

They either make it by 30, or lose everything trying.

Crypto isn't just a financial revolution. It's also financial nihilism with charts.

Most people think they're buying financial returns when they buy a coin.

But really, they're signing up for a rollercoaster of emotions, late-night regret, and a clubhouse full of fellow degens who got rugged the same way.

Then... what should I actually do?

Finance is just a number. Wealth is options.

Stop chasing status. Chase being useful."

Make something people actually need. Ship every single day. Take back your time.

Freedom is still on the table—but now, usefulness is the only currency accepted.

I think… I'll try building something real.

Good ape.