The bulls think Bitcoin is so back, but burned investors still need convincing
Bitcoin prices are booming and some bulls are already tipping another supercycle. But individual investors badly burned last time may not be eager to play the crypto casino again.
In May, Hamish, 32, sold about $6000 worth of Ether cryptocurrency. A year into Crypto Winter, with Bitcoin and all things blockchain having plunged in value, he had made a firm decision. He was pulling out of crypto for good.
A shipwright by day, for the better part of two years he’d spent up to six hours a night researching and trading crypto and NFTs. After some big wins and painful losses, he ended up slightly above water.
“There was a lot of time focusing on trading. It was all consuming,” he said. “I don't think it's worth the impact it had on my life for, at the end of the day, pretty menial gains.”
In breaking roughly even, Hamish fared better than a lot of crypto punters. Many were burned by the implosions of the Terra stablecoin and FTX, each of which wiped billions in value from the market. Others simply lost money as prices fell in 2022. Around 75% of people who have bought Bitcoin since 2015 have lost money, according to a Bank of International Settlements study.
