Today's Topic: My Journey to Earning the First Million in Crypto

Today, I'll share how I, the monk, secured my initial 1 million in the cryptocurrency realm. Many assume I achieved this through contract trading, but in reality, my first crypto windfall stemmed from arbitrage—a key part of the largest and most enduring arbitrage movement in crypto history.

1. The Opportunity Emerges

At that time, I had been involved in crypto for under a month when the most stringent regulation ever imposed struck. On September 4, 2017, seven government agencies jointly announced a ban on ICOs and prohibited domestic exchanges from operating. This triggered widespread panic across the domestic market, causing sharp declines in various cryptocurrencies. Since retail investors in China were hit hardest, coin prices on Chinese exchanges fell significantly below those on the U.S.-based Coinbase exchange. From September 4 to September 13, mainstream coins presented an arbitrage opportunity of approximately 10%.

The 2017 Bitcoin "9/4 Incident"

Back then, Coinbase remained relatively obscure, and only a small circle noticed the 10% arbitrage gap. However, lacking U.S. identities, they couldn't efficiently transfer low-priced coins to Coinbase for conversion into dollars at higher rates.

2. Early Profits

Coincidentally, one of my close friends worked as a programmer in the U.S. with a valid work visa, enabling him to assist with cashing out via Coinbase.
We formed a partnership: I purchased ETH and LTC at discounted rates on Bter using RMB, withdrew the coins to Coinbase, and my friend sold them for USD (at that time, stablecoins like USDT didn't exist, so sales converted directly to fiat). I then coordinated with foreign trade contacts to exchange USD back to RMB and transfer it to me. Each full arbitrage cycle took roughly two days. We executed five rounds by September 13, growing our initial 500,000 RMB principal to about 750,000 RMB through compounding.
To better monitor arbitrage opportunities between China and the U.S., my friend developed a small Python program that displayed price differences for mainstream coins across exchanges in both countries.

3. Market Panic Again

On September 14, the three largest domestic exchanges—OKEx, Huobi, and BTC China—simultaneously declared they would halt new user registrations and cease all operations. When the 9/4 policy initially emerged, retail investors remained cautious yet hopeful, proceeding incrementally. But after the exchange announcements, nearly all retail investors abandoned hope and began panic selling.
Individuals dumped holdings at any cost, driving prices down further. Many believed that failing to sell Bitcoin immediately would leave no trading venues, rendering their assets worthless. The crypto world appeared doomed, with widespread expectations that BTC would plummet to zero. This was a profound panic fueled by unambiguous negative news.

4. The Ultimate Arbitrage

Within mere hours, coin prices halved, and arbitrage spreads peaked. Litecoin's price difference between Bter and Coinbase reached an astonishing 38%, illustrating the intense fear and panic among domestic retail investors that day.
We had 750,000 RMB available and, observing such a massive arbitrage opportunity, pooled an additional 1.2 million RMB for a total of 2 million RMB. We invested almost all of it to buy Ethereum and Litecoin at their lowest points and transferred the coins to Coinbase. Due to blockchain network congestion, prices had already started rebounding by the time the coins arrived, so we sold immediately. This single arbitrage yielded approximately 50% profit—around 1 million RMB.

5. The Dust Settles

As the final wave of panic subsided, major players emerged to absorb most discounted coins, rapidly narrowing the price gap. This over-10-day arbitrage movement concluded, and we netted a total profit of 1.25 million RMB.

6. Reflections and What Came Next

Although considerable time has passed, I, as a crypto enthusiast, will never forget the 9/4 incident.
On that day, 95% of Chinese retail investors surrendered their hard-earned holdings. Reflecting on this event, it not only documented the 9/4 incident's BTC bottom price of $2,800 and the 38% Litecoin spread between China and the U.S., but also delivered a stark lesson—in crypto, the despair of the majority often becomes a goldmine for the few.
Since retail investors fully relinquished their assets (akin to the 3/12 event), the subsequent super bull market propelled Bitcoin to $20,000 by year-end. When I first entered crypto, I secured the cheapest chips but lacked conviction and insight, limiting me to arbitrage profits. By October, mainstream coins had nearly doubled from their September 14 lows, revealing that trading could yield even greater returns.
Thus, in mid-October, I reinvested 500,000 RMB and re-entered the market. The ensuing events are likely familiar—I capitalized on the ICO boom for multi-fold gains and the early 2018 mega bull market, growing my 500,000 RMB principal to 12 million RMB (my first 10 million). That story, however, is for another time when I can share it.

7. Conclusion

The "9/4 Incident" marks a pivotal moment in crypto history. It directly spurred large-scale overseas migration of exchanges (e.g., Huobi, OKEx, Binance shifting focus abroad) and profoundly reshaped the global crypto market structure and domestic investor participation (transitioning to OTC and overseas platforms).
Honestly, my grasp of 9/4 may still be superficial, as I was new to crypto and profited from arbitrage then. Those who incurred losses by selling likely feel it more deeply. Experienced veterans are encouraged to share their insights in the comments.

🎁 Limited-Time Bonus — New Users Get a Bitcoin Mystery Box Worth 20+ USDT, Guaranteed!

Sign up for leading crypto exchanges such as OKX, Binance, Huobi, Bitget, Bybit, Gate, Backpack, and more—all accessible in one location!
👉🏻 Bookmark the latest official backup domains to ensure you don't miss out: https://linktr.ee

🔥 Recommended Reading

2026 Latest Top 10 Cryptocurrency Exchange Rankings 🔥【Must Save】

🔥 How to Solve Access Issues to OKX Exchange

Many exchanges' original domains may face blocks or slow access due to overseas servers. Ordinary users often struggle to start and might suspect platform downtime, but this typically results from network issues, not outages. To address this, exchanges like OKX and Binance regularly update backup domains, ensuring users can reach official sites via alternate addresses.

1. OKX backup domains OKX Overseas - requires VPN or Alternate link
1. Binance backup domain Binance
1. Bitget backup domain Bitget
1. Bybit backup domain Bybit/Bybitglobal
1. Huobi HTX backup domain Huobi (HTX)
1. Gate.io backup domain Gate.io

🔥 Alpha “Gold Dog” Tools for Sniping

1️⃣ Axiom Sniping Tool https://axiom.trade
2️⃣ Gmgn Sniping Tool https://gmgn.ai
3️⃣ dbot Sniping Tool https://app.debot.ai
4️⃣ Morelogin Multi-account Fingerprint Browser www.morelogin.com

How Did I Earn My First Million in Cryptocurrency