The Crypto Deep: From the Rooftop to the Summit

May 12, 2022, 3:17 p.m. Chen Feng's fingertips dug into the concrete railing on the office building rooftop, his nails oozing blood. The monitors in the office behind him were still lit. The Luna coin candlestick chart looked like a cliff split open by a giant axe, plunging straight from $80 to $0.0001. The red downward curve made his eyes sting. Three sheets of A4 paper lay scattered on the desk: bank statements showing the misappropriation of 500 million yuan in company funds. The wind lifted the corner of the top sheet, revealing a red “Transfer Failed” stamp. In the ashtray, the twenty-seventh cigarette butt smoldered with its last wisp of smoke, scorching the foil lining the bottom with a faint hiss.