I guess I’m feeling a bit emotional today. 😬
Today is the time to reveal something from my depths.
Those who’ve been around for a while know… we’ve been through a lot at Arena.
I still remember my first months working as a mod, and seeing where we are today honestly makes me emotional.
Years ago, the old team suddenly disappeared, and I found myself completely alone on the app.
That was probably the toughest time of my life in this industry.
You wake up one morning, everything has crashed, and no one’s there anymore.
It’s just you and hundreds of angry users looking straight at you.
That day, I made a decision: “No matter what happens, I won’t abandon the ship.”
For almost a month, I stayed active every single day, trying my best to respond to everyone.
There wasn’t much I could do after all, there was no team left.
But I could at least keep the connection with our users.
Of course, most people were angry. 99% of the frustration was directed at me.
Even though I wasn’t part of the old team, no one wanted to understand that. But I couldn’t really blame them , I was the only person they could see.
The first two weeks were brutal.
I barely slept a few hours a night.
I had no source of income. There was no team to pay me anyway. I lost everything in the hack. I lost weight, I was mentally exhausted.
But after a while, things started to change slowly.
Some users realized they were being unfair to me.
A few even told me to get some rest and started helping me on Discord.
This was the first spark that brought me back to hope.
Thanks to them, I could finally sleep a bit more. 🫶
By the third week, I could actually have normal conversations with users.
They began to see that I was just a mod trying my best.
Many apologized for being harsh earlier.
We were all drained, but instead of attacking each other, we started supporting one another. This situation was proof that I had made the right decision not to abandon ship.
And then , the moment we’d all been waiting for ,
@jasonmdesimone came back with his team.
The team was incredibly disciplined, user-focused, and incredibly hardworking. At that moment, I thought, “Fck! This is it! Now we go! ''
From that day on, Arena started to rise.
Since then, we’ve kept growing.
This time, I wasn’t alone I had an incredible team beside me.
We’ve accomplished so many firsts in the Social-Fi space, and we’re still pushing forward.
What was once a “dead” app has turned into a living ecosystem, a platform that changes people’s lives with flawless airdrops, offers great features, and gives users the chance to build their own economy and income cycle.
There’s still so much more to do.
Arena will keep growing every day, together with its community and users.
And I am very, very happy to have witnessed what I have seen today compared to the past.
Long live Arena 🫶
Love you Gladiators. ⚔️