I’ve been through it all. For those who want to take a look behind the scenes, I’ll be sharing my early experiences. Some were wins, many were losses—but each one taught me something valuable.

It was 2017. Crypto was still underground, a rough diamond with few people interested in it. Back then, John McAfee, not Elon Musk, was leading the crypto hype. Tons of projects were handing out tokens like candy.

I remember two projects that stood out. One was a sketchy little Unity game where you’d play quick rounds against other players, betting tokens from the project. Win, and you’d take it all. Lose, and it was gone. New users got tokens, but there was a catch: you couldn’t withdraw until you’d played. So, with a couple of days of code, I threw together a simple registration bot to farm those tokens automatically. Earnings jumped to $10-20 an hour. It was exhilarating. In those days, every dollar felt like a win.

Then came the Chinese project: an Android app where you walked around, hunting for virtual envelopes filled with coins. They had issues with SMS verification, so I offered to help. And as I watched the system work, I noticed something: whenever a new user registered, coin envelopes would pop up nearby. Opportunity struck. Automation was the next logical step.

One night, I went all-in trying to automate it, but it didn’t work. Fear started creeping in—the worry that this “gold mine” could vanish at any moment. So, I decided to take it up a notch: I turned my apartment into a mini-office, bringing in friends to work with me for a cut of the profits.

The setup? Simple but effective: Nox, virtual numbers, and the app. Each person handled eight screens simultaneously—register, collect, transfer to my wallet, repeat. It took about 10 minutes for each cycle, and each coin was worth about $0.20. For my friends, I took a 40% cut, reinvesting my share into new equipment. Soon, the office ran 24/7. It was pure chaos but an exhilarating one.

In early 2024, I stumbled onto the world of nodes, farming, and retroactive airdrops. I saw dedicated teams, high-level automation, and constant anti-fraud strategies. Talking to people and subscribing to a few communities, I realized something: the field was now full of people expecting quick wins and high profits. But, in reality, results took months and the returns were barely worth it. It wasn’t the same high-risk, high-reward thrill I once knew.

Some projects still deliver those huge gains people dream about, but most of the time, the real profit is painfully small. I learned that sometimes the “good old days” really were just that: a fleeting time when things worked in ways they don’t anymore.

So, how do you feel about this kind of work? Are the rewards worth the risks?