be you join crypto because of the ethos. censorship-resistance. self-sovereignty. decentralization. tech is also cool. turn down other, better paying opportunities in ai and big tech to work here because of <<the above>> do everything right. stay away from shady people and companies. compromise higher pay to maintain values and integrity. grind 10-14 hour days, weekends, for years on end. over and over you’ve watched people come in, taken advantage of people naive and trusting enough to take their word at face value. they’re doing the opposite of you. no shame, no integrity. no values. don’t care about positive impact. just max extraction. these founders become unimaginably rich, coming in, selling a dream. saying one thing publicly (what we’re creating will change the world), while shamelessly dumping every dime of equity they can while they still can. 5 years later you’re making less that what you would have made had you just stuck with AI. retirement timeline looking something like 65-70 and these founders and early team members get patted on the back and move on to the next grift. or they retire and spend the rest of their lives shoving in your face the fabulous work-free worry-free life they get to live. then something in you breaks. becomes unhinged. you realize that you too should become a crypto founder.