Are cryptocurrency investments possible? Although more than three quarters of buyers of cryptocurrency say they would like a different investment method, a Pew Research survey revealed that only half of buyers of cryptocurrency said they thought it was a good way of making money. It’s not a great way to make money, according to a quarter of its buyers. More than 40% of buyers wanted to be part of a “community.”
Another group of men I know make the same “investment” in loosest terms and are part of a larger community. They bet on sports. They both bet on the same game, so they share the same rooting interests. This is what buying crypto means to many of the small fish with money–it’s not investing. It’s just sports betting.
There are many similarities at the surface. Both appeal to young men. A combination of technological advances and loose regulation have made it possible to do both from your smartphone in recent years. Despite the fact that ads everywhere encourage both, I believe crypto’s poor past few months will reduce this. (Maybe because I’m a male sports fan aged 18-34 and so I fall within the target demographic, but ads have been placed for sports betting in every space online.
There are many people online who will gladly explain that cryptocurrency or sports betting is the future. Even if it’s not the future, it’s still fun. Both revolve around the increasing feeling of having money at stake. In My Fair Lady Freddy Eynsford Hill tells Eliza Doolittle, “I have a wager on number seven.” You would be so happy to accept it. It will be a lot more fun for you to race.”
The human tendency towards loss aversion, which is the feeling that most people feel the loss or gain of a certain amount of money more than the gain of the same amount, drives a peculiarity in crypto and sports-betting culture. This includes the valorization of those who have made a lot of money from small investments, even if that process was not good. It was possible to put a small amount of money into Bitcoin in 2012 and keep on investing. It is not a good idea to bet on a 17-leg parlay. People who have been paid to do this and should know better will be happy to share their experiences with you, with the possibility that it could be them.
It is there, right in front of your eyes. All you had to do was deposit a few dollars in Bitcoin a decade back and you will have the down payment on a house depending on when you did it. Or a house. Or several. It seems so easy from the chart. The chart makes it seem so simple.
Then it becomes clear that you have lost all your money in a “shitcoin pump-and-dump” scheme. Then it turned out that Sam Bankman Fried mismanaged billions of customer funds. The most bizarre thing is that it turns out that some people who had been investing in crypto began to put it into sports betting. This was because the crypto world needed some money to keep the lights on.
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Crypto has an advantage over sports because the blockchain is more entertaining than sports. When you win your bet, you feel good. You feel disappointed when you lose. You might blame the refs, the decision-making by the coaches, or the fates. It is, however, self-contained. Crypto, though? It’s not about betting on the Giants. This is a bet on a new currency. You are betting on the transformation of the world. The other side was not just wrong about the game’s outcome, they were wrong about everything.
You’re betting traditional finance, and all its damage, all the crashes, all those in it with more than you, will soon be gone. You are betting on yourself. It doesn’t really matter what anyone says. You are intelligent. You can see where the world is heading. You will get in now, at the ground floor. They’ll be sorry they didn’t listen and appreciate your unique insight. The earth will be yours, along with your Reddit and Discord friends. You are united by the desire to see the line rise. You could inherit the world.
What happens if you have to lose your money? It’s easy to blame those who are afraid of crypto and don’t want it to succeed. Even if one coin is destroyed, others will continue to exist, even if one company goes bankrupt. You can always make another bet tomorrow. It might pay off tomorrow. Crypto is the greatest underdog ever. How can sports compete with that?
