Gambling addiction is creeping on crypto traders in almost imperceptible ways and then it’s too late. The story of Dr Theo de Vries, the managing director of The Diamond Rehab, which focuses on drug and alcohol treatment, in Thailand is one that should resonate with people around the people.
According to de Vries, people are addicted to substances and cryptocurrencies. “I am addicted to alcohol and have a crypto problem,” de Vries told Yahoo Finance in an extensive interview for the media describing his own slide into crypto trading addiction.
De Vries is aware that people tend to dismiss gambling addiction as “laughable,” but what the common public misunderstands is that this form of addictive behavior is also amongst the deadliest as it has the highest incidence of suicide rates in the adult population. De Vries has offered an insight into the life of one of his patients who was interviewed by Yahoo Finance, but chose to remain anonymous.
Case of De Vries’ Patient Sheds Light on Addiction
The anonymous patient, aged 38 and with two kids, spoke about how their own addiction to crypto trading started. At first, the person was not really aware of what crypto was, but soon enough they were after various projects. As a self-described non-tech person, the patient said that they spent a lot of time studying crypto to the point where the person’s girlfriend was starting to notice the odd behavior and arguing that they were spending too much time on their computer.
The first traumatic event and push for the patient came when they got hacked and their MyEtherWallet was emptied up. The person had a Ledger hardware wallet, but never used it, leading to the loss of the funds. Back then, the loss resulted in a few hundred thousand dollars. In today’s terms, the loss was the equivalent of millions.
The patient said that they had been stupid not to move his cryptocurrencies into cold storage as advised by all. So, they decided to recuperate their losses and started actively looking into something new that would provide them with an immediate gain, the “100x” coin as the interviewer suggested.
The Hack Turns the Hobby into Addiction
The person had their own business prior to the hack, and plenty of disposable income. After the hack, though, more money was needed to start getting the losses (and more back). So, they admitted to taking out loans in the most creative ways. Unable to repay those loans, their girlfriend started noticing the issue, and then, the patient started taking loans from friends’ parents until they also started stealing – the “last straw” as they said.
The patient admitted that his relationship got bad as a result of their addiction and that they would be constantly preoccupied with the thoughts of trading and not missing on the “next big thing.” The company they owned was self-running was doing okay for a while, but as owner not being involved, things got out of hand.
Ultimately, this is a happy-end story as the person interviewed got better after visiting de Vries rehabilitation center. De Vries charges a pretty penny, the patient said, and their parents helped out with the money, but as a result, they are now healthy. As Twitch streamer xQc mused recently: “I am one of the fortunate enough, I can afford to be an addict.” However, not everyone can.