A review of the scams and tricks in the cryptocurrency market over the past decade, always accompanied by new narratives.

From 2013 to 2016, it was the era of air coins and pyramid schemes, where the theory was simple—launch a coin and get rich quickly, no need for actual projects, just whitepapers and pie-in-the-sky promises, with communities bragging and FOMO driving investors in.

In 2017 to 2018, ICOs suddenly became popular, and exchange hacks became commonplace. The concept of trading and mining also started to gain traction. Market enthusiasm was focused on the fantasy that "everything can be mined or ICOed," with everyone dreaming of getting rich overnight.

By 2019 and 2020, the evolution of Ponzi schemes reached its peak, with schemes like PlusToken attracting millions. Ironically, just as these collapsed, the narrative of DeFi suddenly became the new outlet—"high-yield staking."