UK public health system says investors are addicted to exorbitant profits.
The NHS, the United Kingdom's public health system, believes that investments in cryptocurrencies are a gateway to gambling addiction. The speeches were made by Amanda Pritchard, director of the NHS, during a conference in Manchester this Wednesday (12) and were published by The Sun newspaper.
“More and more opportunities are emerging for young people to become addicted to gambling,” Pritchard said. “This includes — as I heard from officials when I visited the national problem gambling clinic earlier this year — unregulated cryptocurrency markets.”
Although cryptocurrencies are legal in the United Kingdom, the four-country region is one of the strictest on the subject. As a highlight, they even proposed a law that would treat Bitcoin and other projects as gambling last year.
One of these clinics is called Castle Craig and is located in Scotland. The hospital has been accepting admissions for cryptocurrency addicts since 2018, shortly after the sector's big boom in the previous year.
For Tony Marini, director of the clinic, “cryptocurrencies are the crack of gambling”, that is, they have an addictive content and consequences that are much more dangerous than gambling proper.
According to the text, cryptocurrency addicts constantly check prices, spend all their free time at brokers, face financial problems and have mood swings.
Investors are addicted to high profits, says NHS director
The National Health Service (NHS), the United Kingdom's public health service, has opened its 15th clinic for gambling addicts. According to Amanda Pritchard, director of the NHS, this is a response to a real and growing social need.
Stating that cryptocurrencies do not have a fixed value, the director notes that investors are addicted to exorbitant profits.
“The habit of addiction causes people to invest their own money in something with no fixed value, leaving the NHS to deal with the consequences.”
According to data from Triple-A, 7.1% of Britons invest in cryptocurrencies, a figure above the global average of 6.8%. In total, there are more than 4.8 million investors in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.
For Dr Niall Campbell, a psychiatrist at Priory Hospital, this addiction to cryptocurrencies is noticeable.
“Over the past few years, we have seen a steady stream of patients who have experienced serious difficulties with cryptocurrency trading,” Campbell said. “For some, it becomes an addiction, dominating their lives.”
“It can be very similar to gambling addiction in that people are constantly trying to recoup their losses.”
One of the most famous cases happened in 2022, when a British man was admitted to Castle Craig after losing everything he had after spending 5 years tirelessly trading cryptocurrencies. At the time, the investor stated that he no longer cared if he was winning or losing, he just wanted to continue.
It's worth remembering that everyone feels like a genius during bull cycles where any cheap memecoin can record gains of 1,000%. However, the situation changes when the market turns around and erases not only the gains but also the initial investment.