Breaking the Chain: Debt, Crypto, and the New Slavery

I met a 27-year-old African man in Dubai last week. He was my driver.

He told me he took out a loan just to come here. It’ll take him two years of extreme frugality—minimal food, no luxuries, constant grind—to pay it back. His passport was confiscated on arrival. It’s standard practice for low-wage migrant workers in the Gulf. He can’t leave the country. He can’t afford to get sick. He can’t even be homeless—security is tight, and they’ll deport or detain him.

He’s trapped. Legally. Economically. Psychologically.

But here’s the twist that hit me hardest: this man once had \$8,000. At the peak of the last crypto bull run, he was trading. He was up. That \$8K could’ve cleared his entire two-year loan. He could’ve bought his freedom.

But he got liquidated.

He thought he was a trader. He wasn’t. He was a gambler with a lucky streak. And like most gamblers, he gave it all back.

> If he hadn’t lost that money, he wouldn’t be here.

> That’s not a trade gone bad. That’s modern slavery dressed in financial cosplay.

The Crypto Illusion: You’re Either the House, or You Got Lucky

Crypto seduces people. Not just with money, but with identity. It tells you that you're not poor—you’re just early. That your poverty is temporary. That you're one trade, one airdrop, one token pump away from making it.

It’s a lie wrapped in possibility.

I’ve been in crypto for years. I’ve seen the cycles. I’ve also survived—barely—by luck-maxing. Not through skill, not through edge. I held through bear markets. I bought dips when others quit. But make no mistake: I could’ve easily been that driver. The only difference is timing, not talent.

Crypto conferences are the worst mirror of this illusion.

They’re not about building. They’re bait farms.

Every conversation is a variation of “I know a guy.” Everyone’s selling dreams: L2s, launchpads, meme coins, seed deals. Meanwhile, the real winners are the organizers, the hotels, the host nations. The real business is tourism with a token wrapper. The liquidity isn’t just on-chain—it’s human.

You pay to attend. You pay to be seen. You pay for hope.

> Crypto doesn’t have a Ponzi problem. It has a hope-extraction economy.

Parallel Chains: Student Loans, Visas, and the Real Estate Treadmill

This isn’t just a Dubai story. It’s not even just a crypto story.

It’s the default path for most people under modern capitalism.

Let’s talk student loans.

In most countries, taking on debt for education is seen as a rational investment. You get a degree, you get a job, you pay it off. But reality is more brutal. Most students grind for 2–5 years just to break even. Their first paycheck often goes straight to loan payments, not life upgrades.

You start your adult life in the red, not on the rise. That’s not freedom—it’s indentured servitude in a hoodie.

In Singapore, the trap isn’t student loans—it’s real estate. Public housing is affordable on the surface. But upgrades, renovations, mortgages, and CPF lockups turn it into a long treadmill. You’re not forced to run—but once you start, it’s hard to stop.

We’ve built systems that function not through overt coercion, but soft obligation. You sign up willingly. You “choose” the job, the loan, the city. But step out of line—and you’re instantly vulnerable.

> Not all cages have bars. Some have passwords and down payments.

The Systems of Control: Then and Now

Slavery hasn’t disappeared. It evolved.

Old slavery was enforced with chains, violence, and legal dehumanization. Today, it’s enforced with contracts, visas, and economic precarity.

In 19th-century America, many slaves “earned” their freedom—then immediately re-entered debt peonage under sharecropping. In colonial India, indentured laborers signed contracts that mimicked free will—but once they landed in British territories, they were trapped for years.

Today, we see the same formula:

* Confiscated passports in the Gulf

* Student debt in the U.S.

* Migrant workers living 12 to a room

* Corporate employees locked into stock options they can’t exercise without staying 4 more years

We love to talk about “breaking the cycle.” But we rarely ask: who built the cycle?

These systems are elegant. Almost invisible. They don’t need force. They just need your signature.

> Modern slavery isn’t imposed. It’s engineered.

The Psychology of False Freedom

Why don’t people fight back?

Because the illusion is strong.

You think you're free because you can technically quit your job. You can technically default on your loans. You can technically sell your house.

But most won’t. Because they can’t. Because the cost of breaking free is too high.

This is the brilliance of the system: it makes you believe you chose it.

That’s why so many people feel exhausted, bitter, but can’t name the enemy. They think it’s their fault. That they didn’t try hard enough. That they picked the wrong major. That their startup just didn’t “grind hard enough.”

I’ve been lucky. I had some capital, some timing, and some right place-right time moments. I can call out the trap now. But I also know I could’ve just as easily been the one still inside it, pretending to “make it.”

> The scariest prisons are the ones that let you decorate the walls.

Breaking the Chain

Let’s be clear: not all debt is slavery. Not all jobs are cages. Not all crypto is a scam.

But the test is simple:

Can you walk away?

If you can’t, it’s not freedom. It’s just a prettier version of control.

You don’t need a whip to be enslaved.

Just a contract.

A wallet.

And a dream someone sold to you at a premium.

The African driver I met won’t be reading this. He’s probably still driving 12 hours a day, trying to chip away at a loan that already stole two years of his life. He once touched freedom—\$8K of it. He lost it in a casino that told him he was a trader.

But that’s the final illusion: that you’re in control.

> Slavery today wears a suit. Speaks English. Offers you a career path.

So what do we do?

Maybe nothing changes overnight. But awareness is the first link to break.

Start asking:

* Who profits from your dreams?

* Who gets richer from your debt?

* What would happen if you stopped playing?

Some chains you can’t break alone.

But some?

You’ve been holding the key all along.