I was talking to someone recently who said they regretted ever getting involved with crypto. I asked him why and he said he lost a lot of money in the past few years of being involved with crypto.
This wasn't surprising.
2021 was probably one of the best crypto cycle, and the next cycle followed with more multiple scams.
The likes of $TRUMP and $MELANIE was touted to take people out of the trenches, a lot of people bought before the pump, made good money but didn't take profit because they expected the coin to pump even more, some people bought when it was already at 10$, thinking it might do a generation run up to 50$ only for them to become exit liquidity.
Entering early or late wasn't the problem it was the expectation and miscalculation of the pump that wrecked people. Some people bought meme coins and made 30,000% in profit only for them to miscalculate the pump and ended up losing the money. Some people bought at a very high price, made a little profit and just couldn't settle for the little profit they made.
Not just about money
So when people say crypto messed up their life, it wasn't just about them losing money, it was about making money but never taking profit, it was the pain of being suddenly rich only to lose it all, it was about experiencing the feeling of plenty, but losing it all because of one mistake, and just one little miscalculation.
A lot of us experienced the market building up from 2024, and how we saw crazy swings, the market wasn't in synchronization with expectations with was already escalating, and this brought the massive pain we experienced in late 2025.
Also, there's the feeling that comes with regrets especially the things we should have done that we didn't do. The coin we should have bought and the ones we should have stayed away from. Living in all that regret is the mental suffering you experience from being an OG crypto bro.
The crypto experience
I still think no one can replace the crypto experience with anything, and I also think crypto is the culprit, the problem is us. While he market doesn't have a blueprint, shouldn't we just buy and sell when we see pump and dump?
Yes, but unfortunately it's more complex than that. People only want to ape in when prices are pumping and only sell when it's dumping. This looks very mad and ridiculous but this is the sentimental way we actually treat crypto, and all this results from feeling of fear, greed and FOMO.
Game of chess
Most times people don't treat crypto as an investment, we treat it like a game of chess; like a king being knocked down by a pawn, when all is should be is research, better choices, buying and selling at the right time, unfortunately things like making choices is still tied to our emotions, Fear and expectations and that's why we hate that it messes with our state of mind and reality.
In Conclusion
In reality we all love this beautiful experience; crypto. So many good things have happened to me because of crypto, but I've also experienced a lot of bad things because of crypto.
I've failed in many ways because of crypto, but this isn't inherently because of crypto, it's actually because of the way I've made decisions, and emotional reactions towards crypto.
This is the same with everyone too. If 90% of people had made better choices, I'm sure crypto would not get the blames that we should get. At the end of the day, were who our fears, emotions and FOMO have made us become