So, what happened to the unflinching bravado that has long been the trademark of the staunchest cryptocurrency supporters?
About $400 billion in losses , that’s what.
This has been a particularly brutal spell, and it certainly feels like more than just another “buy the dip” opportunity. Bitcoin BTCUSD, -1.01% has now shed about half its value since knocking out a record high around $20,000 last month, and blood is being spilled across the entire crypto space.
But it’s more than just the numbers.
The tone has changed. While prior retreats have been waved off with the “HODL” rally cry , this one is different.
A MarketWatch Twitter poll posted on Wednesday reveals a serious lack of confidence among readers in a bitcoin bounce:
What’s your take on the bitcoin and crypto plunge?
— MarketWatch (@MarketWatch) January 17, 2018 In fact, it’s gotten so bad that Reddit’s popular cryptocurrency forum, with its half million subscribers, featured this post linking to a suicide hotline:
After reading some of the posts, that link only makes sense.
For instance, on the Bitconnect subreddit, which has since gone private after Bitconnect Coin lost almost all its value this week, anonymous investors shared their tales of financial disaster, like this one.
“Please help.
I have invested over $500,000 into Bitconnect and currencies on the exchange with the help of a business loan. I planned to withdraw within a month or two. Now I can’t access the funds to seel and the market crashed. I cannot pay for the business, my family needs the funds. I need help.
For the sake of all that is good in the name of assistance, I need financial advice.
This is the worst day, and I feel like making $5,000,000 by gambling n the crypto market with another loan before it’s too late and the prices go up again.”
And this one:
“This can’t be. I lost everything. EVERYTHING.
This is all a bad joke, right?.
.. If this is real, I’m ruined. Like, really f**king ruined. My wife doesn’t know yet. She will come home soon.
What am I going to f**king tell her? How am I supposed to care for my family now? I have literally nothing…”
More of the same:
“I’m literally shaking. This can’t be happening.
My mom came into my room to bring me a plate of chicken nuggets, and I literally screamed at her and hit the plate..
.
out of her hand.
.. I’m so distressed right now I don’t know what to do… I feeling like I’m going to explode. I’m having a f**king breakdown. I don’t want to believe the world is so corrupt.”
You get the idea. Whether those are fake or not, there’s no question that the suffering is real.
Still, sympathy, as it often is on the internet, was in short supply, particularly from those who missed out on the way up:
Live video from outside Bitcoin HQ: pic.twitter.com/sTAfrsh3jY
— Jerry Bell (@Maliciouslink) January 17, 2018 Bitcoin all time highs
Vs
Crypto Armageddon pic.twitter.
com/UW2OzFlN4d
— Frank Chaparro (@fintechfrank) January 17, 2018 Bitcoin. pic.twitter.com/33tixGtNby
— Tom Eaton (@TomEatonSA) January 17, 2018.