Recently, I came across a piece of news that resonated with me quite deeply. A leading company in the gold industry faced collective defaults on its financial products, leaving nearly 4,000 investors stranded, with their funds trapped inside.

Here's the thing: This large company, with an annual revenue of over 50 billion yuan, is promoting a financial product called "Cultural Gold" through its subsidiary, claiming it can provide high annual returns of 8%-14%, and they earnestly assure that the funds are safe and in cooperation with banks. What happened? The product could not be redeemed upon maturity, the headquarters was vacated, all engineering projects were halted, and employees were demanding their wages.

The majority of investors are middle-aged and elderly, with individual investments exceeding 7 million yuan, and some investing nearly 1.4 million yuan, only to be told upon maturity that the company is "financially strained." How ridiculous is that—an industry giant suddenly claims to be out of money.

This matter can actually illustrate the problem quite well. No matter how much traditional financial products promise "security guarantees", they ultimately cannot escape the risks of centralized credit. Poor company management, misappropriation of funds, and internal corruption leave investors with no choice but to consider themselves unlucky. Without transparent ledgers and the constraints of smart contracts, all promises are merely on paper.

In contrast to on-chain assets, although there is significant volatility and market risks, at least the funds are in your own wallet, and on-chain transaction records are always traceable. No one can freeze your assets or suddenly declare "funding tight." This is also why more and more people are beginning to reassess the limitations of traditional finance.