Having spent so many years analyzing on-chain data, digging through daily candlestick charts and on-chain signals, I've seen too many people enter and exit the market. Today, I want to discuss something more practical—within the crypto world, how many levels are there to making money?

**Level One: Building Income Over Time**

Delivering food, mining, doing odd jobs... these are the most basic ways to survive. Work, earn money; stop working, no income. The problem is that your time is completely tied up—an illness or industry crash can cut off your income instantly.

The same applies in our industry. Early miners belonged to this level—spending money to buy mining rigs, competing on electricity prices, fighting for hash power. But now? Relying solely on hardware arms races is no longer feasible; the return on investment is shockingly low. The ceiling for this path is right there, unable to be broken through.

**Level Two: Monetizing Skills, Still Working for Others**

Programmers, designers, electricians—these sound more respectable, and their income is higher. But let me burst this illusion—essentially, you're still selling your time, just at a higher price.

What’s the biggest risk? Whether your skills can be replaced. Now AI can write code and generate images, the moat around traditional crafts is shrinking. My advice is always the same: don’t rely solely on freelance gigs. Package your experience into products—create courses, develop tools, build SaaS solutions. That’s the real way out of being a wage earner.

**Level Three: Information Barriers**

This is the key for ordinary people to turn things around. If you possess information others don’t, and can connect to resources they can’t reach—that’s the threshold, and that’s where the money is.

This is most evident in the crypto world. When a project is still in its quiet phase, if you know in advance, you can grab whitelist spots. When airdrops haven’t started, you’ve already laid the groundwork. When the secondary market hasn’t reacted, you’ve already built your position. These may look like quick money, but they’re actually the monetization of informational advantage.

But beware—there are pitfalls. Many KOLs hype a project’s greatness every day, but what’s the reality? They’ve already sold their holdings at high prices, using the hype as a smoke screen to offload. The ability to discern true from false information directly determines how long you can survive.

**Level Four: Systematic Amplification**

At this stage, you’re no longer just doing work; you’re integrating resources. Leading a team to take on orders, deliver projects, and earn bigger deals. The core here is to transform individual skills into organizational capabilities.

A programmer earning 5,000 to 10,000 USD a month is the upper limit for an individual. But what about a technical team leader? They can multiply their income tenfold in minutes. The same skills, through management and systematic processes, leverage much more.

Many people get stuck here—not because they lack ability, but because they don’t understand how to evolve from individual contributors to system designers. Making this transition is even more difficult than learning new skills.