Every success story in crypto starts with one brave move.

Back in my B.Tech days, I was going through a really tough financial phase. Money was tight, and every little expense felt like a big challenge.
. I needed money badly, and at that time, I didn’t want to work a regular job. My real interest was filmmaking, but financial limitations kept me from pursuing it.

One day, I came across a YouTube channel that talked about crypto. Back then, it was the era of ICOs and pre-market launches—though I had no idea what that really meant. I saw that people were turning a ₹20,000 investment into ₹1,00,000, and I decided to take a risk. I needed ₹20,000 urgently.

There was this token sale going on on a platform called HTX, but at that time I didn’t really know much about Binance or any other exchanges.
I planned to participate using five different accounts to increase my chances of success. meant I needed four extra mobile phones and four HTX accounts.

I found out about the sale only a day before it happened, and I desperately tried to arrange the money, but no one was willing to help. Then, one of my friends introduced me to someone who lent money at 5% interest for a week. He took my bike as security. I had no other option, so I gave him my bike and borrowed ₹20,000.

By the time I collected the money, it was already night. The next day, I started setting up five HTX accounts—mine plus four friends who lived in different places. I personally visited each of them, completed their KYC, and borrowed their phones for one day. Everything was finally ready for the 3:30 PM sale.

The funds were in Indian currency, so I converted them to USDT in HTX. After that, I needed to transfer ₹4,000 worth of USDT to each of the other four accounts. But right before the deposit, HTX asked for a certain password setup and mentioned that deposits could only be made 24 hours after creating that password. I had no idea about this rule.

By then, it was too late—the sale ended. I couldn’t participate. I returned all the phones, paid back the borrowed amount with interest, and got my bike back.

Although I didn’t make any profit, the experience taught me some of the biggest lessons of my life. I realized that before taking a risk, we should always understand the process completely. We often believe that repeating someone else’s method will bring us the same result—but the truth is different. You only understand the reality once you’re inside the process.

Before entering any market, whether it’s crypto or something else, one must first learn everything about it. Taking risks teaches more than any lesson someone else can tell you.

I wasn’t heartbroken by the loss, but one quote stuck deeply in my mind:
“If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first four sharpening the axe.”

That quote changed my perspective. Everything you want to learn is already around you for free. You don’t need huge equipment or resources—what you truly need is determination. To start something new, you don’t have to begin grandly. Start small with what you have, stay consistent, and success will follow.

Even among nations, some take existing tools, apply reverse engineering, and recreate the same products in their own way. Similarly, in markets or social media, once you begin to question how things work, you start understanding everything on a deeper level.