A man who invested in bitcoin has spoken to Sky News about watching his holdings drop by $440,000 in a matter of weeks following the sudden collapse of the cryptocurrency.
Alix, who did not want to give his full name, saw the value of his bitcoin drop from almost $600,000 at Christmas to $160,000 this week.
Despite the fall, he says he is confident about his investment, and that he believes bitcoin’s peak is still a long way off.
“I started in September 2017 with about $41,000 invested and it gradually hit almost $600,000 around Christmas, which was awesome. But now it’s $160,000.
“I’m not worried about losing all my money. It won’t vanish into thin air, it will have its peaks and troughs, there is going to be mass influxes and mass exoduses of money.”
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Bitcoin fell as low as $5,920 (£4,250) on Tuesday, according to Bitstamp Exchange, down 13% on the previous day amid worries about a global regulatory clampdown.
The decline comes following a huge surge in 2017, when it started the year at about $900 (£650) and went on to top $20,000 (£14,400) in December.
Alix, from London, says he is not worried.
Despite having having no financial or computing background, he says he decided to invest in bitcoin last year as he started to read more and more about it in the media.
“It’s crazy because it’s something that I never thought I’d be involved in,” he says.
“I first bought bitcoin when it was about $3,000 a coin. I bought about half a bitcoin to start with. Then I went on to purchase about 10 more.”
Alix’s app is open during our interview, and it is shocking to see the big value figure of his ‘wallet’ jumping around every few seconds.
It jumps between $165,000 and down to $151,000 in the blink of an eye. Alix doesn’t flinch.
“The money that I’ve earned in crypto, I’ve kept in crypto,” he says.
“There is no reason for me to take it out. I have a job so this is extra money for me. I don’t need this money to rely on. The advice I would give is do your research and only put in as much as you are willing to lose.”
It’s clear that Alix has bought into the crypto culture and is not just in it for the speculative gains. He shows me how he has spent bitcoin on various real-life products and truly thinks it’s the future.
There are of course many who say it is nothing but a bubble that will eventually burst, leaving many people out of pocket.
Meanwhile, those on the sidelines watch the bitcoin graphs with interest.
