My Excel Graveyard of “Smart Investments”

DeFi Voyager

My Excel Graveyard of “Smart Investments”

There’s something haunting about opening those Excel sheets.
They were supposed to be blueprints for my future, tidy rows, carefully balanced positions, the illusion of control.

Now they look more like gravestones.
Rows of tokens that promised forever and lasted barely a season.

The Perp Token Experiments

Here’s an example of one of my “portfolios” that was supposed to generate amazing cashflow: INTX, VRTX, GNS, and AARK.
I thought I was building a smart “cash-flow portfolio” with them.

In reality? Only Gains (GNS) actually survived. The rest either burned through money, pivoted into nonsense, or just faded away.

IntentX — the best tokenomics nobody cared about

IntentX went all-in on splashy trading events with ridiculous prize pools.
I made a good chunk of money there, so I can’t complain.

But under the surface, the product never stuck.
Users didn’t return, momentum disappeared, and the team eventually rebranded into something I don’t even remember.

Still, I’ll say this much: their tokenomics were probably the sharpest I’ve ever seen in DeFi. Shame it didn’t matter.

Vertex: How to Burn Time 101

Vertex had real potential. Then they decided the future was on half-dead L2s.
Spoiler: it wasn’t.

After burning through time and money, they sold themselves to Ink Chain, leaving their token holders with nothing.

New rule for me: ex-Vertex founders? Hard pass.

AARK: Printing ARB Like a Broken ATM

During Arbitrum incentives, Aark DIgital felt like a free money glitch.
The ARB rewards were so insane it was almost rude to not farm them.

Then came the mysterious hack. No answers, no accountability.
Next thing you know, the project turned into a 500x leverage playground for degenerates.

If you ask me, that “hack” smelled like it came from inside the house.

What Those Sheets Really Show

I wanted to believe I was building a long-term cashflow machine.
But in truth, I was just chasing adrenaline wrapped in spreadsheets.

The strange part? I escaped.

Thankfully, some weird gut feeling told me to bail.
So instead of licking wounds, I cashed out with gains.

So what’s the lesson?

It’s easy to get blinded by rewards, airdrops, and slick UIs.
But the projects that really last? They tend to be quieter, steadier, and far less flashy.

The real question is simple:
Are you investing or are you just chasing another slot machine dressed up as a protocol?

DeFi Voyager

1 min read·September 16, 2025