They said that cryptocurrencies would change the world. Many others jumped in with their wallets in hand and their eyes open, thinking they were the first to explore the digital world. Then exchanges started to show up faster than you could say “blockchain.” Each has its own thing. Some had simple interfaces. Some people bragged about how many coins they had. In the middle of all the crazy expansion, one platform quickly became a favorite among users. But then it suddenly broke into pieces, sending trust flying like confetti at a party that went awry. Get started.

In the early days of crypto, this exchange had an almost dizzying number of coins to choose from. Not just the major ones. Nope, it became narrow, selling rare tokens with trendy short names that sounded like the names of new businesses. People were drawn in by the potential. Small investments could turn into huge amounts of money (or disappear faster than a raindrop in the Mojave). Its chat boxes were full of activity throughout day and night. Traders traded memes, techniques, and sometimes even horse GIFs.

But things really changed. One winter, withdrawals went from being quick to slow, and finally they stopped completely. The rumor mill went crazy. Did someone hack the exchange? Was it broken? Was someone hiding money, donning a nasty mustache, and laughing in a dark cellar? The truth came out slowly. A break. Millions disappeared. Users checked on, looking for balance, but all they discovered were zeros—empty as a politician’s word.

It felt like a frigid slap after. There were a lot of complaints on forums. The police got involved. Overnight, it became a perfect example of “what not to do.” Traders who put their savings on the line felt everything from anger to giving up. Some people never went back to digital money. What else? They just shrugged and went to a different exchange. After all, crypto draws in both gamblers and stoics.

There were lessons everywhere, mingled along with the ashes: Safety isn’t a joke. You can’t trust something just because it has a cool interface and big claims. Always, always keep your own keys. Exchanges can fall apart overnight, no matter how fancy they are. “Not your keys, not your coins” became a rallying cry. People who didn’t follow this rule typically paid a high price.

But the story isn’t all about bad things. Some people learned. They got sharper and more cautious. They looked at people’s pasts, looked for signs of trouble, and fought about whether to use cold storage or hot wallets as if their lives depended on it (and occasionally it did for their funds). New names came onto the market. Regulators looked over their glasses and wrote down notes.

Is the world of cryptocurrencies safer now? Maybe a little. The scars from that fall still hurt when storms come. But the story is still a popular warning story around digital campfires. It’s strange, and sometimes funny, to think about how one bad trade trained a whole generation not to blindly follow flashy tokens. The internet never forgets, and neither do the people who lost more than sleep that long, chilly night.