A new survey by Basel, Switzerland-based Bank for International Settlements has revealed that retail investors who chose Bitcoin as their preferred option have made a smaller return in the period 2015-22 than they would have if they were simply playing online slots. An estimated 73-81% of all retail investors actually ended up losing money, the Bank argues in a new study that spans dozens of countries and thousands of investors.
Bitcoin Retail Investors Have No Luck in 2015-2022
According to the Bank for International Settlements, the period between 2015 and 2022 was when the most of crypto investment happened. To reach its present conclusions, the institution surveyed a novel database of the daily use of cryptocurrency exchange apps in 95 countries over the specified period.
The Bank said that assuming each person who invested placed an average of 100%, they have all most likely lost money. How much money is not exactly clear in the report, but the online gambling industry promises at least a 96% return on people’s money if they played something as simple as slots.
This begs the question – what has made Bitcoin less safe of an investment than pure gambling? According to the Bank for International Settlements, this can be attributed to two specific events. The first is the crackdown on cryptocurrency mining in mid-2021 which took place in China and caused a mass exodus, with many companies migrating to Kazakhstan. However, the country soon run out of cheap electricity and later spiraled into social unrest.
Bitcoin prices have been affected during both events, which is what has most likely caused retail investors to lose money. According to the Bank, the majority of investors actually got started with Bitcoin when the price was close to or already soaring above $20,000, and before it had reached its $69,000 all-high value in November 2021.
The figures presented by the Bank of International Settlements do stand, though, with the bank feeling confident that three-quarters of all investors who took a chance on Bitcoin have actually ended up losing money more so than turning an ROI.