What are your thoughts about cryptocurrency?
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My feelings about cryptocurrency are more complicated than simply being excited about it or sceptical of it. For many years, I never thought of it as an experiment or an abstract investment. Cryptocurrency was my income.
When I look back at my 10 years of writing and creating on Web3 platforms, I don’t see market charts, trading strategies, or technical analysis. Honestly, I don’t know how to analyse those things. I mean, I tried, but they just didn’t make a lot of sense to me. It’s not that I’m dense, but I think my brain just refused to deal with complex figures after being traumatised by maths at school. But even if those technical skills eluded me, I still see the ordinary, tangible things that those digital earnings paid for. Those tokens helped my family survive. They paid for my children’s school expenses, covered the costs of multiple medical emergencies, and even bought groceries when my Ringgit couldn’t stretch far enough. I never got rich from it, but the money was real.
Earlier this year, I wrote about how global crises have affected my livelihood, including my crypto income. The picture has changed dramatically over the past few years. This year, I have not been active on Web3 platforms, so my earnings have become wildly inconsistent. However, it’s not just my inactivity. The wider crypto ecosystem feels much weaker and less reliable than it used to.
When the world becomes unstable, cryptocurrency becomes unstable right alongside it. I used to view it as an alternative source of income that could help insulate me from the economic instability of the traditional economy. Instead, I learned it was very sensitive to the general “nervous system” of the world. Global events such as wars, geopolitical tensions, political instability, or persistent inflation could affect the value of the tokens I earned from my work. When money tightens globally and investors pull back into safer assets, smaller, community-driven ecosystems often suffer the most. When the token value drops, it immediately affects my income.
Crypto taught me an important lesson. No matter how beneficial decentralisation is, it does not eliminate uncertainty. It simply creates a different system with its own risks.
So this is where I am today. This post is not a cautionary tale. We all know cryptocurrency is risky. I am just reflecting on what it actually means to rely on a highly volatile asset to pay for everyday needs.
I have no regrets about dabbling in the crypto space. It was a financial lifeline when I needed one, and I will always be grateful for that. But I can no longer treat it as a solid foundation for my family’s survival. Of course, there may still be ways to earn some income, but I now see crypto as an opportunity rather than security.
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