Shenzhen University Class of 2018 undergraduate Zhang Yufeng donated 50 million to his alma mater a year after graduation to achieve financial freedom in the cryptocurrency world.

"My friends around me often lament that they were born at the wrong time, saying they missed out on Taobao in 2008, WeChat in 2013, and TikTok in 2018. However, a broader world is actually unfolding beneath our feet. Web3 is opening unprecedented opportunities for young people: from industry giants like SBF to ordinary entrepreneurs, everyone should dive into this blue ocean and dance with the tides of the times."

On September 27, the news of "a student from Shenzhen University, class of 2018, donating 50 million back to his alma mater" swept through social networks, with voices of astonishment and skepticism rising and falling. Tags like "son of Tencent CTO Zhang Zhidong," "founder of Singapore's ABD Capital," and "CEO of a listed company" were wildly attached to this young alumnus. This article will restore the legendary journey of this self-made crypto genius—Zhang Yufeng, known in the circle as @octopusfeng, hereinafter referred to as oct.

Chapter One: A Glimpse into the Path—Trading Enlightenment and Deep Learning#

Despite the various speculations about oct's identity, two key facts are indisputable: he graduated from Shenzhen University in 2018 with a degree in International Trade and made an astonishing leap from fresh graduate to philanthropist during the employment winter. When "two years after graduation" starkly contrasts with "donating 50 million," some netizens attempted to dismiss this shock with the "rich second generation" label. However, those familiar with the crypto circle know that the wealth code of this former FTX trader is filled with the wealth creation legends of the blockchain era.

Looking back to 2018, the newly enrolled oct was no different from most freshmen, filled with confusion about the future. Reflecting on those years now, he admits that he held a strong prejudice against trading, especially crypto trading—influenced by traditional media, he believed all traders were high-risk speculators, and even Buffett-style success was merely a product of capital games. "A pure gamble" became young oct's initial understanding of financial trading.

The turning point occurred at the end of 2020. When the news of "Bitcoin surging 300% to break $30,000 within the year" began to impact mainstream views, oct chose to set aside his prejudices and dive into the market. This decision quietly turned the gears of fate.

If traders can be divided into action-oriented and theory-oriented, oct is undoubtedly the former. Even after earning his first six-figure sum through investments in Bilibili's US stocks and Xiaomi's Hong Kong stocks, he still chose to go all in on the crypto market. In this financial jungle of the weak eating the strong, oct displayed a cheetah-like sharpness: after months of lurking, he set his sights on $SOL.

Thanks to the deep research habits cultivated during his internship in the primary market, oct approached the crypto track from a macro perspective. He realized that Ethereum's high Gas fees had become a constraint on ecological development—"like a congested New York, bustling yet hard to navigate." The search for a public chain that combined smart contracts with low Gas fees became the core logic, ultimately anchoring on two key elements:

(1) Strong whale effect: The token's concept and price trends often appear disconnected, while SOL is backed by the crypto giant FTX. Just as BNBChain is to Binance and OKChain is to OKX, public chains have always been ecological tools for exchanges, and FTX would surely support SOL.

(2) Builder consensus: Compared to traders, builders who go all in on entrepreneurship have a better judgment of public chain potential. The quality and density of the SOL hackathon are second to none in the industry, making it an important barometer.

The real test began after the purchase. After going all in on SOL at the beginning of 2021, the token continued to decline, breaking the $1 mark multiple times. Faced with the agony of asset shrinkage, oct admitted to having the thought of cutting losses countless times. But in the end, time provided the answer: SOL launched an epic market rally from $3, reaching over $200 at its peak. While most people were still experiencing FOMO, oct had already cashed out in batches, completing his transformation from student to multi-millionaire investor.

In hindsight, this all-in strategy may seem reckless. But for a trader lost in the fog, oct demonstrated not only luck but also a cognitive resilience that penetrated market noise...

(To be continued)
[To be continued] Source of the story: 0xbeyondlee.eth

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