A theft incident completely changed my view on on-chain earnings

A friend asked me why I would rather keep my money in a stable income product on a major platform earning 10%, rather than touching those DeFi projects with mind-blowingly high annualized returns

The reason is actually quite painful to admit—I’m afraid of being hacked

I still remember that day, August 10th last year, very clearly. A wallet address suddenly transferred all my funds on the chain away. At that time, about 500,000 to 600,000 yuan worth of coins just disappeared in the blink of an eye. That feeling—nothing else to say, it was a direct blow

Later, I realized a truth: no matter how high the yield, it must be based on the premise of fund security; otherwise, it’s just gambling. A 10% return on a major platform might sound average, but at least I can sleep peacefully. Those DeFi projects promising hundreds of percent annualized returns? Risk and reward are never proportional. The more tempting the number, the more likely it hides a bigger trap

In plain terms, losing that money made me understand one thing: in the crypto world, security always comes before returns