How to Make it in Crypto (without getting lucky) - Jez

Jez (https://x.com/izebel_eth) discusses how crypto's PMF is financial speculation, and how one can make money off of his "long degeneracy" thesis. He shares lessons learned from past blowups and how a retail investor can navigate the MMORPG that is crypto. He also explains the mechanics behind his new experimental project, papertrade (https://x.com/papertrade_xyz) on HyperEVM. He's a great example of a degen making it in crypto, and we can all learn a thing or two from Jez about building conviction. After all, why would you ever put capital behind your second best idea? Recorded October 6, 2026 at Token2049 in Singapore. my previous interview with Jez: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csgM5gxoLwI Join the HFA Premium Discord: https://whop.com/humble-farmer-army Free Newsletter: https://hfaresearch.substack.com/ New Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@FarmerTaiki Taiki's Twitter: https://twitter.com/TaikiMaeda2 HFA Research Twitter: https://twitter.com/HFAresearch PODCASTS: Crypto Market Wizards: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6bwqqJO_txgGQySGK5-HSuTPp0LjeGqA Steady Lads: https://www.youtube.com/@0xSteadyLads Timestamps: 0:00 Bull or Bear Market? 3:51 How Jez Got into Crypto 10:20 Long Degeneracy 18:21 Building Conviction & Risk Management 28:37 Importance of Finding Your Group 34:07 Learning from Past Blowups 41:48 Launching papertrade 55:48 Are Great Traders Born or Made? 1:01:31 Most Memorable Trades 1:07:20 Why is Leverage so Addicting? 1:10:26 How to Make it This Cycle 1:22:45 Final Words of Advice MY VALUES: QUALITY OVER QUANTITY A lot of content creators are incentivized to pump out content for ad revenue. Taiki has never run YouTube ads on his channel because he believes in creating quality content, not monetizing your eyeballs via ads. On top of not running any YouTube ads, Taiki has never participated in a paid promotion, a channel sponsorship, or even a CEX ref-link. PREMIUM RESEARCH HFAResearch offers a Premium subscription. This is not meant to be a "copy trading" service or a “pump and dump” signal group. Taiki publishes two premium videos and an AMA livestream every week. Think of Taiki as your personal research analyst that keeps you on top of the markets so you can focus on what you do best. You also gain access to a private discord with the largest premium DeFi community. There, Taiki also gives frequent updates as well as real-time analysis on current events in crypto.