Okay, well it's no secret that the popularity of
cryptocurrencies skyrocketed in recent years and over this past decade
Kryptos overall market value has jumped from 5.4 billion to
1.8 trillion. That's according to coin market cap.
But with the swell and interest of crypto trading,
there's also been growing concerns around crypto addiction and its
impact on mental health. Of course, as we
enter mental health awareness month, all those concerns were
recently outlined in a piece from the Washington post and
joining me now is the author of the report innovations
reporter for the Washington post production burma pronto. Thank
you so much for coming on such an important story
to write about and your peace. In fact citing
several addiction experts who said that crypto does have characteristics
that make it more prone to addiction than sports betting
gambling. And even traditional financial investing. Talk more
about what these experts shared on crypto addiction. Sure
. And first off, thank you so much for
having me. Um when I talked to these crypto
addiction experts, uh they noted the particular things around
Cryptocurrency that make it prone to addiction. One is
that it's available to trade at all hours of the
day. Unlike typical types of traditional stocks and bonds
that might have a regular time where they can trade
and after market trading being harder, it's more accessible
. The second is even compared to gambling, you
can stay at home and you can do it,
you don't have to drive to a casino moreover,
the volatility of crypto and I think this is the
one that really addiction experts wanted to mention more and
more was that the fact that the price can go
so high and so low, it's such a short
amount of time makes it one appealing because it's a
way for people to potentially get rich quick, but
to, it releases dopamine into the brain at levels
that are very high and that can lead to addiction
to get this thrill to chase this next big payday
. And so when you see people talking about that
, they talk about this aspect the most is the
volatility that crypto has, that it's far more than
any other and then also the decentralized and the anonymous
nature of it, if you have a crypto addiction
, hiding your addiction is maybe a little bit easier
than having a drinking addiction or having a gambling addiction
, which society knows what those signs are interesting.
Um well of course not everyone has made money in
crypto. In fact a lot of people have lost
money too because of its volatile nature. Pancho obviously
, um mental health is a factor here. What
about depression and anxiety, are those factors that are
at play as well? Yes, those are factors
that you commonly see, once an individual is addicted
to Cryptocurrency, you'll see people checking their app late
into the night because there addicted to where their investment
is at or they're worried that their investment is going
to go from millions to zero and so you'll see
people staying up all hours of the night, You'll
also see the depression from again the high swings or
the loss of money or the debt that might happen
because you go from having mountains of money to having
none in a flash. And if you're over leverage
that can bring a big concern, you then also
have these more typical things as well of familial fallouts
when you start getting into debt, Those things kind
of come up again and your families wondering where did
all this money go and you're seeing that happen?
And then at worst if it gets into a really
bad situation, experts have also noted that like a
gambling addiction, thoughts of suicide tend to be much
higher with individuals who get into a level of high
debt with Cryptocurrency, interesting. Um Well we do
know one of the key differences here between crypto and
the overall stock market is that you can trade crypto
around the clock. It's not just something that's open
from 9 30 in the morning to four p.m. Eastern
Time. How does that play into it? The
fact that it is an always on trading game.
That's exactly right. And that goes into the point
, like you said, you know, there's no
time of night or day that you can't have access
to this and with it becoming more mainstream people are
, you know trading it at all hours of the
day. They're making it into a hobby and they're
chasing the high and then they're also having this new
technology, these apps that are doing a really good
job at making it really accessible for people, according
to experts, to trade it without having much technical
savvy. So you have a situation where the markets
are open at all times of the day. I
married with the technology that makes it easier to invest
in them. And then you have this right situation
for people getting exposed and involved in Cryptocurrency and then
potentially getting into the addicted side of it Techcrunch.
We've got to leave it there. Thank you so
much for this reporting for sharing this story with us
here on Closing bell on cheddar news and Important read
of course, for anyone interested in crypto out there
. That's crunchy burma innovations reporter for the Washington post --> .