I still think about the trollbox. A scroll of snark, panic, moon chants, and someone saying that this small-cap jewel would "flip Litecoin by Tuesday." It was like a carnival at Cryptsy. A coin listing may make a Tuesday feel like the Fourth of July. Then the wallet would go into "maintenance" mode for days, and the fireworks looked more like smoke. 
The order books were rather slim. You\'d put in a buy and the price would go up a mile. There was no bug in slippage. It was the trick of the party. I once raced after a coin with a dog joke on it and saw my order fill up in three jagged bites. The chat room cheered. My balance cried out. There was one big clock behind the turmoil. Safety. Storage in the cold. Managing keys. Checks. The dull things that keep the lights on. Cryptsy messed up. Years later, we heard about lost bitcoin and litecoin, an alleged breach, and a slow-motion collapse that was covered up by court filings. People woke up to withdrawals that wouldn't go through and a shrug. Screenshots were used as proof. Affidavits came from forum threads. The punchline was mean: promises are currency you don't hold. Exchanges are not banks; they are convenience merchants. That's what every hardware wallet get the full breakdown package says nowadays. It hurt to sew it there. Imagine a flea market with all kinds of altcoins under one roof if you weren't there. Every week there are new tickers. Scrypt, SHA, N-factor, and unknown flavors. The atmosphere was lively, sometimes reckless, and sometimes lovely. People traded strategies like they were recipes. "Set up notifications. Try out withdrawals. "Keep your stack split." Another person said, "Buy low, sell high." If you squint, it helps. Cryptsy's collapse made people act better. Proof-of-reserves went from something great to have to something people wanted. The serious gamers share their wallet balances, and the cautious crowd wants to know about their debts as well. Multisig became popular. Withdrawal whitelists become a regular switch. Use it to make sure that no crook may send your funds to a new address. Send short test messages. Don't keep much of your money online. As in, really offline. The people in charge also wrote things down. Lawsuits are harsh on people. Names were brought into courtrooms. Receivers chased after leftovers. Some victims felt better, but many did not. That pain that won't go away still affects how older users understand exchange promises. People look at glittery banners with suspicion. People raise an eyebrow and laugh dryly at flashy coins. Platforms seem different today, but the main risk is still the same. Centralized stores are quick and nice, but sometimes they're not. Self-custody feels heavy, but then a headline reminds you why it exists. Use exchanges to get from one place to another. Once you cross, get off the bridge. Keep track of things. Diversify risk. Don't believe the hype. Be very careful with weird tokens. Cryptsy was noisy, dirty, and, yeah, a little different. It made legends and scorched fingers. It also gave us a playbook in a painful way. Get it. Do it again. And if a chat box says you'll get free lambos by Friday, you might want to go for a stroll, drink some water, and touch grass.
The order books were rather slim. You\'d put in a buy and the price would go up a mile. There was no bug in slippage. It was the trick of the party. I once raced after a coin with a dog joke on it and saw my order fill up in three jagged bites. The chat room cheered. My balance cried out. There was one big clock behind the turmoil. Safety. Storage in the cold. Managing keys. Checks. The dull things that keep the lights on. Cryptsy messed up. Years later, we heard about lost bitcoin and litecoin, an alleged breach, and a slow-motion collapse that was covered up by court filings. People woke up to withdrawals that wouldn't go through and a shrug. Screenshots were used as proof. Affidavits came from forum threads. The punchline was mean: promises are currency you don't hold. Exchanges are not banks; they are convenience merchants. That's what every hardware wallet get the full breakdown package says nowadays. It hurt to sew it there. Imagine a flea market with all kinds of altcoins under one roof if you weren't there. Every week there are new tickers. Scrypt, SHA, N-factor, and unknown flavors. The atmosphere was lively, sometimes reckless, and sometimes lovely. People traded strategies like they were recipes. "Set up notifications. Try out withdrawals. "Keep your stack split." Another person said, "Buy low, sell high." If you squint, it helps. Cryptsy's collapse made people act better. Proof-of-reserves went from something great to have to something people wanted. The serious gamers share their wallet balances, and the cautious crowd wants to know about their debts as well. Multisig became popular. Withdrawal whitelists become a regular switch. Use it to make sure that no crook may send your funds to a new address. Send short test messages. Don't keep much of your money online. As in, really offline. The people in charge also wrote things down. Lawsuits are harsh on people. Names were brought into courtrooms. Receivers chased after leftovers. Some victims felt better, but many did not. That pain that won't go away still affects how older users understand exchange promises. People look at glittery banners with suspicion. People raise an eyebrow and laugh dryly at flashy coins. Platforms seem different today, but the main risk is still the same. Centralized stores are quick and nice, but sometimes they're not. Self-custody feels heavy, but then a headline reminds you why it exists. Use exchanges to get from one place to another. Once you cross, get off the bridge. Keep track of things. Diversify risk. Don't believe the hype. Be very careful with weird tokens. Cryptsy was noisy, dirty, and, yeah, a little different. It made legends and scorched fingers. It also gave us a playbook in a painful way. Get it. Do it again. And if a chat box says you'll get free lambos by Friday, you might want to go for a stroll, drink some water, and touch grass.