Three things set cryptocurrencies apart, however. The first is novelty. Even now, 14 years after Bitcoin supposedly was invented by the mysterious person or persons known as Satoshi Nakamoto, crypto still feels like a new-new thing. The second is volatility and, with it, the dopamine-rush thrills of highwire trading.
And then there is a third, and a big one. Despite the craziness that can prevail on the fringes of crypto, established tokens have taken on the air of legitimate investments. That makes it easier for people to rationalize speculative bets that, in some cases, are little more than a throw of the dice. Plus, crypto-trading plays out globally, 24/7, with the swipe of a smartphone or the click of a mouse.
Experts say all of this can be a recipe for trouble.
“It’s very similar to being at a roulette table,” says Dylan Kerr, an online therapist in Thailand who has treated about 15 self-professed crypto addicts and accepts payment in cryptocurrency. “It’s seemingly never ending, and it demands your attention,’’ Kerr says of crypto-trading. “If you take your eyes off the prize, you could miss out on massive opportunities and incur massive penalties.”
Says Lia Nower, director of the Center for Gambling Studies at Rutgers University: “Excessive crypto trading and high-risk stock trading could be forms of gambling and lead to gambling disorder.”
The $90,000-a-week view stretches across Lake Zurich to the snow-peaked Alps beyond. Here at the luxury Paracelsus Recovery clinic, a range of mental suffering is discretely treated in velvet-rope style. Amenities include butlers, personal chefs, chauffeured limousines and more.
Behavioral “addictions” handled here include some that don’t appear in conventional diagnostic manuals: plastic surgery, pornography, exercise, work, shopping. Another problem that’s been coming up more lately: cryptocurrency.
Clients here undergo therapy with a team of three psychotherapists. Personal trainers, nutritionists, yoga teachers, acupuncturists and the like help soothe troubled minds, says Jan Gerber, who runs the private clinic.
To Gerber and his psychiatrists, compulsive crypto-trading looks a lot like compulsive online gambling. But in some ways, they say, crypto can be even more treacherous. Many people view trading crypto-trading as a form of investing, which confers a certain respectability. Inquiries about crypto problems are up 300% between 2018 and 2021, Gerber says.
The lead psychiatrist here, Thilo Beck, says compulsive crypto-traders are simply responding to their brain’s reward mechanisms.
“You do it to get the feeling, the rush,” Beck says. “And you have to repeat it again and again, to get more of the rush.”
He goes on: “And it's amazing. These are very intelligent people, but they stop thinking straight. They know enough about statistics to understand that the chance that they will win back is really small, but they still believe it, and the more they lose, the more they want to play or buy.’’