My name is Xiao K. Three months ago, I was still delivering food. Now I’m crouched on the rooftop of a rental building in an urban village, staring at my phone screen. My balance reads: 0.37 USDT.

The landlord downstairs is pounding on the door. There are 27 missed calls on my phone, all from debt collectors. The wind is strong, making my eyes sting. I remember the first time I heard about Bitcoin—it was just over $30,000 a coin back then. Someone in the group chat said, “This thing could hit $100,000.” I smiled and didn’t take it seriously.

Later, I started delivering food, working fourteen hours a day, and had less than 3,000 yuan left at the end of the month. Then one day, I came across a video on Douyin: “Stay-at-home mom makes 100,000 yuan a month trading crypto.” In the video, the woman’s fingers slid back and forth across the screen as the candlesticks jumped up and down. She said, “Follow me, and you’re guaranteed to make money.”