Chapter 165: 1 Dollar
Chapter 165: 1 Dollar
When Tay's price dropped by one cent to 99 cents, few investors sensed anything unusual.
―Sell now and it's 99 cents.
―Wait it out and it'll normalize.
―Just a glitch. Lol.
A coin with a market cap over $30 billion occasionally glitching like this.
The coin forums suddenly filled with posts about Roona.
―Feeling uneasy. Kim Shin told us to sell...
―It's nagging at me. The 20% interest rate hurts, but time to cut losses.
―Yeah. Plenty of other coins pumping. Might not be bad to switch.
Some Roona holders started dumping.
Most stuck with it, lured by the sweet interest and its status as the year's top performer.
―Why is Tay at 97 cents?
―It's keeps dropping?
―Don't sell now, wait. Only a 3% loss.
Tay wobbled briefly, seeming to recover to $1, but then plunged without mercy.
The coin pegged at $1 fell to 99 cents, 98, 97.
―Tay's at 95 cents now, still dropping.
―Roona just tanked 13%.
―What the hell? What's going on?
Roona investors knew all about the recent Earth Resource exchange drama.
Even if they didn't fully trust Kim Shin, they'd heard why it got an F rating and the stories behind it.
―Didn't he say Roona could collapse out of nowhere?
―Roona sell orders flooding in?
―Whatever it is, sell first, ask later.
―Gotta cut losses.
More and more people on the forums vowed to dump Roona.
―Roona down 23%!
―Tay hit 90 cents.
―What is this? Why's it happening now?
―Massive sell volume.
The exchanges overflowed with Tay and Roona sell orders.
Two hours after Tay's $1 peg broke.
―Tay at 70 cents.
―Roona's down 55%?
―Insane. Pulled my retirement savings. Can I break even after months?
―Uncle, snap out of it and sell now.
The forums were swamped with Tay and Roona posts.
―Price drop won't stop.
―Scary how a $33B market cap #9 coin halves in hours.
―Coins have no bottom, but even shitcoins don't do this.
―Roona finally hit -80%. Holy crap.
Even veterans who'd survived the early 2018 crash had never seen anything like this.
―Roona up 20% again.
―Buyers jumping in at lows? Hit bottom, rebounding?
―Could be dead cat bounce.
―Dead cat?
―Means even a dead cat bounces if dropped from high enough.
―Buy Roona now and 2-3x easy. Invest in crises.
Roona's price swung wildly—down 30% in ten minutes, up 25% next—utterly unpredictable.
Coin investors around the world were now watching, and trading volume surged.
―Dropping again.
―This dip's brutal.
―No buyers?
―Sell volume insane. No one can catch it.
After twenty-four hours, Roona had finally fallen by 96.9 percent.
$1 million in Roona left you with $31,000.
―Roona to the moon!
―Burning 10 mil. If it recovers, 30x opportunity.
―Better than lotto if it bounces.
Aggressive gamblers chased one-hit wonders.
It continued falling the next day and the day after that.
Roona dragged down even the bargain hunters.
Weekly return: -99.99999%.
Investors stared at their screens' returns and valuations in disbelief.
―Went all-in $1M on Roona. Guess how much left?
―How much?
―10 bucks.
―For real?
―Yeah...
―Roona's the real equalizer coin.
―Why?
―Timing doesn't matter. Returns are -99.99999% or -99.9997%. Nobody has over $100 left anyway.
* * *
My keyboard battle with Kwon Do-jin was a crushing defeat.
[Kim Shin is lying.]
[Isn't reality proving it with Roona? Need more theory?
In short, Kim Shin ignores reality. He's become a ugly rich man blind to justice.]
[Earth Resource's coin ratings will go down as the dumbest comedy.]
[The coin network's future looks dim because of Kim Shin. He commands respect yet blocks finance's future with his stubbornness.]
[Wanna send dentures to Kim Shin's address.]
It was doomed from the start.
Unlike Kwon Do-jin, who could spew anything, I couldn't.
As Earth Resource's CEO, under media spotlight.
'No need to be a saint, but picking this dogfight—even winning hurts my image.'
I just took hits from his keyboard swings.
〈Goldman Sachs: "Thrilled to join Roona's stress test."〉
〈Morgan Stanley CEO: "Short call, but saw Kim Shin's vision for crypto. Earth Resource did what the industry needs for its future."〉
Global finance giants backed me in interviews.
Intentional or just answering questions—who knows.
[Roona should leave Earth Resource exchanges.]
When Kwon Do-jin's SNS post hit, I thought calmly.
'Not a bad chance. Better to boot them?'
Most other coins fell simply because investors lost interest in them.
Tay and Roona could implode from their algorithms.
Plus, Kwon Do-jin would blame me for any gripe.
'Roona fees are decent, but... no big loss without.'
Roona still ranked ninth by market capitalization.
Year's biggest gainer in price and volume.
Yet it contributed under 5% to exchange revenue.
At our growth, a week's dip recovers it.
'No more coddling toxic customers.'
[Earth Resource doesn't hold back those who want out.]
I decided to delist Roona and Tay, sipped canned coffee.
The loss of revenue hurt less than the bitterness of losing the argument online.
Then Oh Myeong-woo patted my shoulder.
"You lost."
"Yeah. Didn't even fight properly."
"Basic keyboard battle rule you missed."
"Rule?"
"Online, say anything. Treat opponents like NPCs, not humans. No etiquette. Anonymity's your shield."
"..."
Keyboard world was that brutal—I got it.
During the 3-day orderly delisting, Roona traded briskly on Earth Resource.
Sellers sold, buyers bought.
Leonard reported.
"Tayform Labs seems to be buying a ton of Roona."
"Yeah?"
They'd dumped Roona hard for profits till now.
Rumored $8B in assets.
Crypto's unique; normal firms can't net near $8B yearly.
"Post-argument, Roona dip hurts their business. Buying to exit the exchange."
"Makes sense."
"To fund Roona buys, Tayform Labs dumped tons of Source Coin. No price impact."
Source Coin supply grew over 1.5 years, but price soared.
They sold over $5B worth—market absorbed without us buying.
Officially, Roona and Tay trading ends.
Not a toothache gone, but Kwon Do-jin saga over, I thought.
'Live lean, eat light.'
Even so, the defeat at the keyboard continued to bother me.
Three days later, Leonard reported.
"Roona's price is crashing hard."
"Huh?"
The report concerned the collapse of Roona and Tay.
I'd watched live—Tay and Roona down over 50%.
Normally 20-30% dips draw buyers; this nosedived.
"Leonard, Roona sell volume's massive. What's happening?"
"Investor sell orders mixing with algorithm-issued Roona to prop Tay to $1."
With few buyers and an overwhelming number of sellers, the price collapsed.
The algorithm flooded the market with Roona in an attempt to defend Tay.
Massive supply crashes Roona, panics Tay holders to sell as $1 breaks.
Whenever Tay fell, the algorithm issued even more Roona.
'Hell for Tay or Roona holders today.'
I could only watch helplessly.
"CEO, other coins dropping too. Investors spooked by Roona crash."
Earth Resource listings fell 10-20%.
Bitcoin and majors tanked hard.
Only Source Coin, down 5%, held firm.
* * *
Han Chae-won stared blankly at her monitor.
She'd spread book royalties, advances, interview fees across crypto.
'Easy money.'
Her positions had risen by ten to twenty percent in only a few days.
Her net worth had surpassed one hundred million dollars, and she jumped for joy in her apartment.
'Investment genius. Roona's the top performer?'
She knew investing adages.
'Ride the winning horse.'
Laggards rarely recover.
Dumped others, all-in on Roona.
Days ago, valuation ballooned.
'This is why people invest.'
Her portfolio was valued at 120 million dollars.
Dreamed big for life ahead.
This money could do anything.
'Need more. $1B. Trillions...'
Greed for cash.
Roona would magically fix everything.
During Kim Shin vs. Kwon Do-jin, she fumed like a rabid leopard.
"Useless humans in my life!"
Why trash Roona?
Even suspected they knew her position.
Days later...
Roona and Tay crashed.
"No! No! No way!"
Screamed in her Han River-view Gangnam apartment.
Each 10% drop gnawed her heart.
"Miss, noise complaints from neighbors."
"Get lost!"
Security came; intercoms from next door, below—she swore them off.
Roona plunged vertically, couldn't even sell.
Han Chae-won binged booze, lived like a wreck for days.
"My money! Recovered yet?"
Sobered up, checked valuation.
After only a week, her fortune of more than one hundred million dollars had been reduced to a single dollar.