‘
It’s almost
dirty money’: the older
generation of crypto investors benefiting
from the ‘
Trump• Объект человек » Персоналии по алфавиту » Персоналии на Тр » Трамп, Дональд pump’
‘It’s almost dirty money’: the older generation of crypto investors benefiting
from the ‘Trump• Объект человек » Персоналии по алфавиту » Персоналии на Тр » Трамп, Дональд pump’
Some say they used bitcoin• Экономика » Финансы » Платежные средства » Платежные системы интернета » Криптовалюта » Bitcoin or Dogecoin to help reach goals such as affording
to have a child or buy a house
Jedidajah Otte
Sat 30 Nov 2024 07.00 GMT
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M iles, a 37-year-old NHS doctor from London, has been trying to persuade
friends to buy cryptocurrencies for years. In recent weeks, the “Trump• Объект человек » Персоналии по алфавиту » Персоналии на Тр » Трамп, Дональд pump”
to crypto prices has left them envious. “They have watched in frustration as
my gamble paid off,” he says.
Miles’s crypto portfolio is now worth £2.3m, despite having cashed out about
£600,000 earlier this year to buy a house. “It’s set me up for life,” says
Miles, who invested £4,000 in bitcoin• Экономика » Финансы » Платежные средства » Платежные системы интернета » Криптовалюта » Bitcoin in 2012. “My pot fluctuates by hundreds
of thousands each day, but I’ve been through years of volatile periods.”
Miles was one of dozens of people who shared with the Guardian why they had
become crypto retail investors – ordinary people buying digital blockchain• Информационные технологии » Информационно-коммуникационные технологии » Информационные технологии и телекоммуникации » Базы данных » Публичная база транзакций » Блокчейн
• Высокие технологии » Информационные технологии и телекоммуникации » Базы данных » Публичная база транзакций » Блокчейн
currencies – and how their investment had fared over time.
View image in fullscreen
Investors view Donald Trump• Объект человек » Персоналии по алфавиту » Персоналии на Тр » Трамп, Дональд’s return to the White House• Соединённые Штаты Америки (США) » Государственное устройство США » Президент США » Белый дом (США)
• Соединённые Штаты Америки (США) » Политика США » Политики США » Президент США » Белый дом (США)
• Соединённые Штаты Америки (США) » Населенные пункты США » Города США » Вашингтон » Белый дом (США)
• Политика » Политика США » Политики США » Президент США » Белый дом (США)
• Государство » Государственное устройство США » Президент США » Белый дом (США) as a harbinger of
crypto-friendly conditions. Photograph: Mark Humphrey/AP
The price of bitcoin• Экономика » Финансы » Платежные средства » Платежные системы интернета » Криптовалюта » Bitcoin has topped $97,000 (£76,500), a new record high, as
investors view Donald Trump• Объект человек » Персоналии по алфавиту » Персоналии на Тр » Трамп, Дональд’s return to the White House• Соединённые Штаты Америки (США) » Государственное устройство США » Президент США » Белый дом (США)
• Соединённые Штаты Америки (США) » Политика США » Политики США » Президент США » Белый дом (США)
• Соединённые Штаты Америки (США) » Населенные пункты США » Города США » Вашингтон » Белый дом (США)
• Политика » Политика США » Политики США » Президент США » Белый дом (США)
• Государство » Государственное устройство США » Президент США » Белый дом (США) as a harbinger of
crypto-friendly condition s that will legitimise them as mainstream assets.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has found 12% of UK adults own crypto.
Many respondents said they had entered the crypto market within the past four
years, with some using extra funds they had accumulated during Covid lockdowns
to buy coins via apps and platforms that were more user friendly than the
process of acquiring blockchain• Информационные технологии » Информационно-коммуникационные технологии » Информационные технологии и телекоммуникации » Базы данных » Публичная база транзакций » Блокчейн
• Высокие технологии » Информационные технологии и телекоммуникации » Базы данных » Публичная база транзакций » Блокчейн currencies had previously been.
The responses also reflected a growing trend for professionals in jobs such as
teaching, banking, nursing or IT investing, rather than the “tech bros”
historically associated with the crypto sphere , claiming that such
investments had been their best, or only, option to build up any meaningful
personal wealth.
Scores of middle-class respondents said they had lost trust in existing
systems and had turned to crypto in the hope that it would help them reach
life goals such as affording to have a child, buy a house or travel.
I was getting alarmed that there was virtually zero interest paid on my
savings.
Julian, 57, a draughtsman, homeowner and father of four from Nottingham, was
one of several respondents who said they had bought into bitcoin• Экономика » Финансы » Платежные средства » Платежные системы интернета » Криптовалюта » Bitcoin to insure
themselves against rocketing inflation.
“I was getting more and more alarmed that not only was there virtually zero
interest paid on my savings, the value of every pound I owned was also
reducing due to quantitative easing , as the government happily printed money
to bail out the banks,” he says.
Julian decided to invest most of his savings. “Very soon after, the price
tanked and I was down 50% for over a year, but never once considered selling
because I’d done my homework and knew this was how it performed,” he says.
After four years of consistently “buying the dips”, his stack of bitcoin• Экономика » Финансы » Платежные средства » Платежные системы интернета » Криптовалюта » Bitcoin has
performed very well.
“I have no plans to sell, and view it as inheritance for the kids, I’m pretty
sure it’ll keep on growing in value. How much bitcoin• Экономика » Финансы » Платежные средства » Платежные системы интернета » Криптовалюта » Bitcoin have I got? Not enough.”
If the US adopts bitcoin• Экономика » Финансы » Платежные средства » Платежные системы интернета » Криптовалюта » Bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset, the sky is the limit.
Many armchair investors expressed hopes that bitcoin• Экономика » Финансы » Платежные средства » Платежные системы интернета » Криптовалюта » Bitcoin could reach record
heights of $120,000 or more by the first quarter of 2025.
“If the US adopts bitcoin• Экономика » Финансы » Платежные средства » Платежные системы интернета » Криптовалюта » Bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset, the sky is the limit,”
says one solicitor from Dublin, whose €40,000 bitcoin• Экономика » Финансы » Платежные средства » Платежные системы интернета » Криптовалюта » Bitcoin investment reached a
value of €62,000 last week.
Silas Gunn, 18, from North Yorkshire• Великобритания » География Великобритании » Административное деление Великобритании » Графства Англии » Северный Йоркшир, shared this confidence. Gunn made his
first bitcoin• Экономика » Финансы » Платежные средства » Платежные системы интернета » Криптовалюта » Bitcoin purchase about three years ago, after he learned about it
through YouTube.
“I’ve put about £5,000 into crypto, and I’m currently sitting on a portfolio
of about £95,000,” he says. Gunn hopes this will rise to £500,000 by the end
of bitcoin• Экономика » Финансы » Платежные средства » Платежные системы интернета » Криптовалюта » Bitcoin’s current four-year halving cycle , a phenomenon influencing price
predictions and trading behaviour enormously.
Many in the crypto community hope that Trump• Объект человек » Персоналии по алфавиту » Персоналии на Тр » Трамп, Дональд’s incoming administration will
end the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s “regulation by enforcement”
approach to crypto industries over the past four years – the use of
case-by-case legal actions against stakeholders in lieu of rule-making.
It would be hard to make this kind of money in any other way today.
Claire, 50, a nurse from New Zealand who started investing in crypto about 10
years ago, was among many respondents who felt uneasy about benefiting from
Trump• Объект человек » Персоналии по алфавиту » Персоналии на Тр » Трамп, Дональд’s election victory.
“Trump• Объект человек » Персоналии по алфавиту » Персоналии на Тр » Трамп, Дональд’s re-election has led to quite a significant increase in my wealth. I
feel a bit guilty, like it’s almost dirty money,” she says.
Although Claire believes in crypto as a philosophical project of decentralised
reorganisation and has always been confident about its success, she plans on
cashing out soon.
“I’ve had my fun with it. I really need to be a bit more sensible now, and
might buy real estate instead,” she says.
View image in fullscreen
Elon Musk has touted Dogecoin as the ‘people’s crypto’. Photograph: Dado
Ruvić/Reuters
The average crypto investor, Claire believes, has changed over time. “It’s
surprising how many doctors and nurses are investing in crypto. It’s because
it would be hard to make this kind of money in any other way today.”
While thousands of amateur investors such as Claire have reaped sizeable
rewards in the crypto sphere, others have only lost money.
I’ve made endless stupid mistakes, had crypto stolen, lost my faith in
bitcoin• Экономика » Финансы » Платежные средства » Платежные системы интернета » Криптовалюта » Bitcoin.
Mark, a cycling instructor for children from the north of England, started
buying crypto in 2013. “The gradual acceptance of bitcoin• Экономика » Финансы » Платежные средства » Платежные системы интернета » Криптовалюта » Bitcoin by the legacy
financial world boosted my confidence in it,” he says.
“But I’ve made endless stupid mistakes, had crypto stolen, lost my faith in
bitcoin• Экономика » Финансы » Платежные средства » Платежные системы интернета » Криптовалюта » Bitcoin and sold it, then bought in again at a higher price. I’ve tried to
trade and failed miserably. Since 2017, I’ve just left it alone and it’s the
best financial decision I’ve ever made.”
Many respondents felt that a thorough understanding of blockchain• Информационные технологии » Информационно-коммуникационные технологии » Информационные технологии и телекоммуникации » Базы данных » Публичная база транзакций » Блокчейн
• Высокие технологии » Информационные технологии и телекоммуникации » Базы данных » Публичная база транзакций » Блокчейн technology
and the crypto market are essential for successful investing. Others assigned
their crypto riches to “nothing but dumb luck”.
Mitchell, from Minnesota, in his 30s and earning $100,000 annually in the tech
industry, acquired 16,000 Dogecoin – touted by Elon Musk as the “people’s
crypto” – for $1,300 between 2021 and 2022. It is currently worth about
$6,000.
“I figured if it ever reached $100 a coin, it was an easy million,” he says.
“Understanding crypto better now, I know that Dogecoin will almost certainly
never reach those heights.”
In December 2023, having watched house prices rise faster than he could save,
Mitchell took “a desperate gamble”, he says, and bought a single bitcoin• Экономика » Финансы » Платежные средства » Платежные системы интернета » Криптовалюта » Bitcoin for
$42,000. In just under a year that investment has more than doubled to
$90,000.
Mitchell now fears a “massive” crypto crash in the near future, but has
decided not to sell for now.
“I guess I’m staying on this ride in the hope that analysts forecasting
mid-$100,000s for bitcoin• Экономика » Финансы » Платежные средства » Платежные системы интернета » Криптовалюта » Bitcoin by the end of 2025 are right, though the biggest
thing I’ve learned in the last four years is that no one making those guesses
has any idea what they’re talking about,” he says.
“If they’re right, though, maybe I can finally afford that house.”