Mental health crisis emerges in crypto community: ‘Crypto has ruined my life’

If you have a friend who likes cryptocurrencies, now is the time to check them out. In late January, the prices of two of the most popular cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ethereum, plummeted to levels that many experts never expected, dragging memecoins like Dogecoin down with them. Countless people watched thousands of pounds disappear before their eyes.

It was a sudden shock, not a slow burn. Bitcoin hit an all-time high of about $69,000 in November, but then fell more than 40% in a few months. Overall, the crypto market has lost more than $1 trillion in value since Bitcoin peaked, but has shown signs of a rebound in the past week or so.

Many experts tout cryptocurrency as a democratized form of Wall Street investing, with the promise of a financial boost for anyone brave enough to join the community. But in reality, it seems to have worked out for only a select few. Many cryptocurrency investors are regular people risking their life savings, not elite traders who can withstand sudden losses. A recent CNBC survey of 750 crypto investors found that a third actually know very little about what they’re investing in. The question is: What happens when these people lose a lot?

Experts like Peter Klein, a cognitive behavioral psychotherapist who provides CBT for cryptocurrency-related mental health issues, warn that the market crash will lead to “an increase in the severity of the crypto addiction symptoms that people are experiencing.” This rapidly growing community of investors appears to be generating its own rapidly growing mental health crisis.

Hashim Yasir, 19, an NFT project founder and cryptocurrency trader, lost "a ton of money" in the recent crash. He told VICE that it affected his mental health for a while: "Before that, I felt like I was finally getting confident in this new skill, but now I really feel like the market is really going to go to zero."

His dealings with cryptocurrencies and NFTs led to “insomnia and constant stress and anxiety.” He told VICE that it changed the way he behaved and interacted with others, “causing me to become very irritable.”

Contrary to the common man who often proclaims that investing is the path to wealth and happiness, respondents told me that cryptocurrency nearly ruined their lives.

Sandip Das, 27, is an Indian trader who makes money by shorting Bitcoin — in other words, betting against the market. He has profited from the cryptocurrency’s decline, but he said he has still incurred losses from trading over the past year.

“I was sleeping only three to four hours a day, which led to me making serious mistakes in the market,” he said. “I also started to experience pain in the back of my neck and shoulders due to the excessive stress.” Das suffers from bipolar disorder and says cryptocurrencies have been tough on his mental health. “Crypto will destroy you emotionally and physically,” he warned. “You will be scarred for life.”

A 33-year-old man from Russia, who asked us not to use his name, told me he became addicted to crypto trading and was stuck in a cycle of trying to recoup losses but losing more in the process.

He started investing in November 2017 - a year when bitcoin experienced a huge surge - and made some profits, but has now lost his life savings, totalling £110,000. "Mentally it's sickening because I can't even share this with my wife," he said. "I'm in a terrible financial situation and it's not the place I want to be. It's ruined my world and my mental health... I've gotten to the point where I've tried to commit suicide."

Despite the intense stress some crypto investors are experiencing, it’s not easy to find a space to discuss these experiences. In conversations around crypto on Reddit and Twitter, there’s often one response to a downturn: “Don’t be an anxious bitch, HODL [hold on to dear life]” — in other words, don’t you dare quit. Memes often circulate making this joke about the immense stress and torment that comes with investing.

The need to put on this brave face probably comes down to the fact that expressing your anxiety has a direct impact on the market, which is essentially a reflection of confidence. The higher a token goes, the more people invest, and the more people exit. Crypto may cause anxiety, but people don’t make money by admitting it, and if they do, they actively fail.

Klein is one of a handful of specialists who offer counseling for cryptocurrency addiction, and he began offering this type of therapy in 2017. He primarily treats men and has patients all over the world. He believes they come to him because of increased demand and a distinct lack of mental health support.

“A lot of times, people who trade crypto excessively — meaning on a daily basis — often already have anxiety issues,” he said. “When people have anxiety, the way they see the world is more intense than someone who doesn’t have anxiety. The intensity of the cryptocurrency market matches the way they process the world.”

Like any addiction, crypto allows people to escape the world and give them a short-term dopamine rush at the expense of everything else in their lives. Klein tries to help his patients by encouraging them to stop avoiding other aspects of their lives, like dressing in a cohesive way or socializing. He draws on counseling methods from behaviorism, classic CBT, and modern approaches like mindfulness to bring them to a more stable place.

A London-based businessman and investor — who prefers to be known by his Twitter handle @BritishHodl — said seeing a therapist helped him understand his anxiety and how to manage the emotional swings of investing. The experience made him realize that “ when you’re so focused on the markets, and you’re an investor, volatility starts to seep into everything else ,” like relationships and work. “That’s something you have to be careful about, or you ruin your life,” he said.

What about those who are simply struggling with the crash due to financial losses? The advice of Adam Smith, investor and creator of advice forum The Crypto Advisor, is to “take a deep breath, have diamond hands, and HODL.” He explained: “Bitcoin, and the entire crypto market, will likely continue to be volatile in the near future while many global and regulatory decisions remain unresolved.”

Potential conflict in Ukraine, and discussions about banning the use and mining of cryptocurrencies in Russia, will further affect the market.“If you’ve put cash into crypto and are now seeing its value plummet, it can be an incredibly anxious time, especially if that money is needed elsewhere,” Smith admitted.

HODL has become a running joke in the cryptocurrency space, but that’s exactly what many investors trying to address their mental health issues are failing to do. Experts say crypto will eventually bounce back — as it often does — but you have to wonder how much damage will be done to investors’ lives before it does.