The Encrypted "Black Thursday": The Revelation of the Plunge on March 12 and the Return of Rebirth

Five years ago on March 12, what did you do on this day? Was it a missed opportunity with Bitcoin at its lowest or a sense of complacency while abandoning coins? Of course, no one can predict whether tomorrow or an unexpected event will come first, and no one can evaluate right or wrong, just like no one believed that Bitcoin could reach $100,000 five years later. After all, during that time of hardship, no one was thinking about tomorrow's big pie because survival was the urgent truth.

Back to that day, like the opening scene of a war history: March 12, 2020

"Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! Everyone is selling, even the air is selling Bitcoin."

On the streets of New York, a cryptocurrency fund manager was desperately screaming on the phone. At that time, Bitcoin was plummeting at a rate of $2,000 per hour—falling from $7,000 to $6,000 in just 15 minutes; from $6,000 to $5,000 in another 12 minutes. The candlestick chart on the screen was crumpled like tin foil by an invisible hand, and the pale light spots danced on the traders' faces, reflecting their bloodshot eyes and trembling fingers.

The destructive power of this crash far exceeded anyone's imagination:

• 100,000 people were liquidated: Even conservative investors using 2-3x leverage saw their digital assets in their accounts vanish in an instant. A miner posted a "divorce agreement" on social media—he mortgaged his marital home to buy Bitcoin and ultimately lost the down payment.

• MakerDAO's life-and-death speed: The decentralized finance protocol MakerDAO on Ethereum faced a $450 million bad debt crisis due to the plummeting collateral triggering liquidations. Founder Zachary Herschkovitz tweeted at 3 AM: "We are writing the darkest chapter in crypto history."

• Exchanges' "doomsday survival": At that time, the world's largest derivatives platform BitMEX suddenly crashed, preventing users from closing positions to stop losses. When it restarted, Bitcoin's price had already dropped by 30%. Industry leaders later joked: "BitMEX unplugged, saving the entire industry."

Under the intertwined factors resonating, where can there be a complete egg? When the avalanche comes, every snowflake is the last straw that breaks the camel's back.

As the COVID-19 virus spread exponentially, traditional financial markets collapsed first:

• U.S. stocks circuit breaker twice: The Dow Jones fell 2,000 points in a single day, and the S&P 500 index entered a "technical bear market," evaporating $3 trillion in market value in 8 days.

• Oil prices turned negative: The oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia caused WTI crude oil futures to drop to -$37 per barrel on April 20. The Wall Street Journal's headline was shocking: "Negative oil prices mean sellers have to pay buyers."

• Liquidity black hole: The global capital markets were in despair, with investors frantically selling all assets for cash. And Bitcoin—once hailed as "digital gold"—also became a target for selling.

After the avalanche, the snow begins to melt, and the crawling life forms start to sprout. We saw changes:

• Explosive growth of DeFi: After March 12, DeFi (decentralized finance) ushered in DeFi Summer, starting the most magnificent wealth creation era in cryptocurrency history.

• Layer 2 revolution: Layer 2 protocols like Arbitrum and Optimism reduced Ethereum's transaction costs from $20 to $0.1, and TPS (transactions per second) increased from 15 to 2000.

• Accelerated institutional entry: Large institutions like MicroStrategy and Tesla began to include Bitcoin on their balance sheets, and El Salvador adopted Bitcoin as legal tender.

• Rise of NFTs/inscriptions: The rights confirmation and community belonging gameplay of NFTs brought crypto into the real world, with everyone discussing the hidden attributes of small images, seeking kindred spirits, whether they are monkeys, cats, or pixels. The NFT craze attracted phenomenal attention, and inscriptions in the bear market proved that even barren land could yield oil; there are still opportunities to make money even in difficult times.

• Bitcoin ETF approval: The connection between Bitcoin and the stock market meant that once dismissive large investors began to enter crypto, making it more attractive and providing more operational funds. Following this, ETFs for ETH, SOL, XRP, LTC, etc., were also approved, with discussions not about when the bull market would come but how long it would last.

• SOL/meme innovation: The victim of the FTX incident, SOL, then staged a comeback like a hero. What I lost will eventually be regained, and I will climb to the next peak, relying on meme innovation and fair competition mechanisms. On-chain opportunities first made some people rich, leading to a vibrant market, and the bull market followed.

• Trump/crypto president: All the good news cannot compare to the endorsement of a national president. Trump's support gave Bitcoin the momentum to challenge $100,000, and indeed, the entire crypto industry's market value doubled, with outsiders and those who once left returning. Everything was again looking at the favorable conditions of the bull market and the fluctuating numbers.

Looking back, the market will kill everyone, but only two types of people can survive: those who play dead and those who truly understand risk control.

Those who bottomed out at $3,800 have gained over 28 times their investment by 2025. A miner joked in his memoir: "I never look at candlesticks; I only remember that on March 12, 2020, my wife said, 'You're crazy,' but now she is retiring on my Bitcoin."

The number of addresses holding less than 0.0001 BTC has increased by 300% in five years, and diversified investment has become a consensus. "I used to go all in; now I only invest 5% of my funds." The theory of putting eggs in different baskets also teaches the art of risk management.

Since its inception, Bitcoin has been declared "dead" over 400 times. From the first major crash in 2011 to the Mt. Gox incident in 2014, then to the bear market low in 2018, and finally to the massive crash on March 12, 2020, Bitcoin has experienced countless brutal declines of up to 80% or even 90%.

However, after each collapse, Bitcoin has been able to rise from the ashes and create new historical highs. This extraordinary vitality perfectly illustrates Nietzsche's saying: "What does not kill me makes me stronger."

Of course, not everyone can become Nietzsche, but survival is the only philosophy of existence. The longer you live, the clearer the things and truths you understand become, serving as signposts on the journey, guiding the next dreamer.