Retail investors are finding their way through the sharp crypto crash. As prices remain subdued, experts warn against looking at the space as a get-rich-quick scheme, even as investments into the ecosystem remain intact and the clamour for regulating it continues
Akash Jain, a 34-year-old crypto investor and miner, is the true new-age investor. Investing full time in cryptocurrencies since 2015-16, he thought he spotted opportunity and invested nearly Rs 2 lakh ($2,600) into what had become a nearly worthless risky digital coin Luna, just before it got delisted at the major crypto exchanges. Luna was one of the digital coins that triggered a sell-off in the global cryptocurrency market which saw an estimated $2 trillion of losses in May.
The Luna coin, at the time of writing, remains temporarily delisted from global exchanges Coinbase and Binance and several Indian crypto exchanges including CoinSwitch Kuber and CoinDCX (where Jain holds Luna). Practically, Jain cannot exit from this trade and cannot do much until the coin is relisted.
Nischal Shetty, co-founder and CEO of another crypto exchange WazirX says: “The major dip that is being witnessed in crypto is a global phenomenon. Developments in the macro environment such as increasing inflation, raising of interest rates by the Federal Reserve, the Russia-Ukraine war, have all had their impact.”