From Duan Yongping, seeking the great wisdom of "Holding to Get Rich" in the crypto world.

Although “value investing” has become a flawed methodology in the crypto world, and the market no longer rewards diamond hands, I still try to find the original wisdom of “Hold to get rich” that belongs to the crypto world from the video interview clips of Duan Yongping, in the face of the market's ruthless destruction and the endless complaints and grievances.

Let's take a look at his most incisive core viewpoints: (with personal crypto world version interpretation):

1) Buying stocks is buying a company, the difficulty lies in your ability to understand the company

99% of people have heard this sentence, but less than 1% truly understand it. To understand a company means you must be able to assess its future cash flow, business model, competitive moat, and management team, and you need to know if it can still thrive in ten years.

In the crypto world, I think we need to see if the project has the ability to cross cycles, understand the ecological niche of the project in the continuous rotation of narrative evolution, clarify whether the team is purely chasing narratives or continuously achieving PMF, and see clearly if the Tokenomics is just a short-term Ponzi trap or has the ability to capture long-term value.

2) Margin of safety does not refer to how cheap a stock is, but rather how deeply you understand the company.

This understanding subverts most people's perception of “buying the dip”. Cheap things can become even cheaper, or even go to zero. The true “margin of safety” comes from the depth of understanding: when you understand this company better than the market does, short-term fluctuations are just noise to you, or even opportunities.

Most holders in the crypto world are stuck holding on, while most retail investors buy high and sell low, completely disregarding the concept of a safety margin. The true safety margin should be: you are sure that the fundamentals of this project have not changed, the team is still building, and the value is severely undervalued; only then is a drop an opportunity to increase your position.

3) I am a full position believer; holding cash makes me uncomfortable

If you really understand the company and have determined its long-term value, then cash is just depreciating waste paper. Investment decisions are always based on opportunity cost. If you sell a stock and cannot find a place with a higher return, then selling it is itself a mistake.

The high volatility and unregulated chaotic order of the crypto world are no longer suitable for most ordinary people to engage in “full position” behavior; the experience of holding coins and staying at the table for a long time is what matters most.

4) If you are constantly watching the market rise and fall every day and talking about how the market is doing, it means you don't understand the company

Real investors focus on the operation of the enterprise, not on stock price fluctuations. K-line charts, technical analysis, and short-term trading are all seen as difficult games to make money in.

In the crypto world, if you want to understand a project, you should pay attention to its Github update frequency, technological innovation, community activity, and product iteration speed, rather than the ups and downs of a few points today.

5) If you don't understand investing, don't touch stocks. Go buy the S&P 500 or Berkshire.

Copying homework is not sustainable, because you will always lag behind and not know when to sell. If you don't have the ability to understand the company, then admit this fact and hand your money over to the index.

The translation into the crypto world version is: If you don't understand, don't play with shitcoins, just invest steadily in BTC, ETH/SOL.

6) Doing the right thing is more important than doing things right

First resolve the right and wrong issues, then address the efficiency issues. Making mistakes in the process of “doing things right” is acceptable, but knowingly doing “wrong things” leads to adverse consequences that should not be tolerated.

In the crypto world, not being able to hold onto good projects and missing out on tenfold returns is a matter of ability, which can be improved; investing money into obvious scams is a matter of cognition, which is hopeless. The greatest tragedy is often not missing an opportunity, but actively stepping into a trap.

7) Once deemed untrustworthy, anything said is untrustworthy

Duang Yongping left Little Boss because the equity commitment was not fulfilled, and trust was shattered. Once a person or organization loses credibility once, nothing they say after that can be trusted.

This logic should be very useful in the crypto world, but it is filled with numerous teams that run away and then come back with a new identity to harvest the investors. True investors should establish a “blacklist”: teams that have lost trust, KOLs that have harvested investors, and protocols that have had issues, never to be touched a second time. Trust is the most scarce asset.

8) Identifying with values is very important; cooperation without shared values cannot last long

Duan Yongping believes that the company should choose people who share common values, rather than focusing primarily on training. In terms of investment, it means you should choose projects that align with your values.

The biggest problem in the crypto world is that 90% of project teams and investors have inconsistent values: project teams want to cash out and run, while retail investors want to get rich overnight, and no one cares whether this stuff has any value at all. This misalignment of values inevitably leads to the short lifespan of most projects.

9) Knowing what not to do is more important than knowing what to do

Duang Yongping has a “do not list”: do not do what you are not good at, do not do what is unhealthy and not sustainable. His business vision is “healthier and more sustainable.”

In the crypto world, establishing a “do not touch list” may be more effective in preserving capital than chasing trends: don't touch what you don't understand, don't touch what is too complicated, don't touch teams with a tainted reputation, don't touch tokens with problematic economic models. Everyone is wondering “where the next opportunity lies,” but never asks “what pitfalls I absolutely must avoid.”

10) AI is an industrial revolution, accompanied by a bubble

Duang Yongping's judgment on AI is very clear: this is a real revolution, but there will definitely be a bubble. He invests in NVIDIA not to speculate, but to “mix in a bit” and not miss the real transformation.

True innovation is always accompanied by bubbles and speculation, but that does not mean that the innovation itself lacks value. The problem is, you need to be able to discern which are true innovations and which are scams dressed in the guise of innovation. The same goes for AI + crypto; bubbles are certain, and innovation will definitely occur, it just depends on whether you have the wisdom and belief to “mix it a bit”.

Above.

Duang Yongping's value investment philosophy is centered around the four words “cognitive monetization.” Investing is not gambling, nor is it speculation; it is about capturing the undervalued worth in the market through a deep understanding of the company.

Those seemingly simple principles of “being true to oneself, integrity, and long-termism” have proven to be the most effective moats in his decades of practice. The market is never short of opportunities; what is lacking is the vision to recognize opportunities and the determination to hold onto one's chips.

Note: It is indeed quite healing to see the wise words of those who have achieved great results in their investments when the market is in a constant decline, especially for those who still hold the belief in 'long-termism.' You must come and take a look, read, and savor it. Let's encourage each other!