> I have some friends who lost everything in this, and it sucks. I did my best to explain this exact scenario to people who would listen, and ended up getting some pretty high praise this week from people I saved, but you can't save everyone.
Same here.
I was asked about crypto many times since it became legal tender in my country.
The country definitely went through an 'investment' craze for some months. Maybe in a similar way to what Robin Hood / GME was in the US in late 2020/early 2021.
For some people the damage was limited to the $30 they received from the government in their wallets, as a consequence of buying high and selling low.
For others who went all in and bought crypto with credit cards, is a different story.
Like for many people here the best investment they can make is paying up their up to 49.99% APR credit cards, but that doesn't seem exciting enough for many.
I remember having conversations with friends and acquaintances about investment options. Researching which bank offered the highest APR for term deposits, (they can sometimes be up to 5.5% for USD time deposits here), which investment options were available, or how usually investing in yourself (education) or paying debts is a much better investment.
At least one of them decided to go full on crypto "deposits" with higher APR, I haven't asked if they are underwater after the recent news.
Another thing that surprised me is that the ones that spent the most weren't IT people. Since originally here, Bitcoin was mostly an IT niche topic. A few lucky people that mined when it was possible to do it with GPUs or bought when it was bought about a $100.
With all this, most of my friends in IT were like "oh, I've known about this for a long time, I wish I had bought them years ago" but didn't take major actions. On my case I remember the first Slashdot post about Bitcoin and even downloading one of the early Bitcoin Windows wallet but I never mined.
Others were mostly bit annoyed for having to work after hours to update their companies' payment systems to handle crypto in a short notice.
But non-IT people where like very excited about it. It was surprisingly popular with 60+ and older acquaintances. I'm sure it was heavily promoted on local TV and probably by social media posts targeting their demographics.
I've met some 75+ retirees that even wanted to buy ant miners and others that bought crypto with their pensions. Like their first online purchase with card was for buying coins really. And I'm talking about the demographics that actually goes every month to the bank to update their bank booklet after their pension is deposited.
Same here.
I was asked about crypto many times since it became legal tender in my country.
The country definitely went through an 'investment' craze for some months. Maybe in a similar way to what Robin Hood / GME was in the US in late 2020/early 2021.
For some people the damage was limited to the $30 they received from the government in their wallets, as a consequence of buying high and selling low.
For others who went all in and bought crypto with credit cards, is a different story.
Like for many people here the best investment they can make is paying up their up to 49.99% APR credit cards, but that doesn't seem exciting enough for many.
I remember having conversations with friends and acquaintances about investment options. Researching which bank offered the highest APR for term deposits, (they can sometimes be up to 5.5% for USD time deposits here), which investment options were available, or how usually investing in yourself (education) or paying debts is a much better investment.
At least one of them decided to go full on crypto "deposits" with higher APR, I haven't asked if they are underwater after the recent news.
Another thing that surprised me is that the ones that spent the most weren't IT people. Since originally here, Bitcoin was mostly an IT niche topic. A few lucky people that mined when it was possible to do it with GPUs or bought when it was bought about a $100.
With all this, most of my friends in IT were like "oh, I've known about this for a long time, I wish I had bought them years ago" but didn't take major actions. On my case I remember the first Slashdot post about Bitcoin and even downloading one of the early Bitcoin Windows wallet but I never mined.
Others were mostly bit annoyed for having to work after hours to update their companies' payment systems to handle crypto in a short notice.
But non-IT people where like very excited about it. It was surprisingly popular with 60+ and older acquaintances. I'm sure it was heavily promoted on local TV and probably by social media posts targeting their demographics.
I've met some 75+ retirees that even wanted to buy ant miners and others that bought crypto with their pensions. Like their first online purchase with card was for buying coins really. And I'm talking about the demographics that actually goes every month to the bank to update their bank booklet after their pension is deposited.
Very weird days.