95% blown out of 100 million’debt investments’ vs 350% earned by 3 year investment

The price of bitcoin, a cryptocurrency leader, is continuing to rise. According to Upbit, on the morning of the 8th, bitcoins were traded at 44.8 million won each. Another exchange, Bithumb, recorded 44.7 million won in the morning. It is a much hotter rise than when the bitcoin craze at the end of 2017. As a result, a voice of caution also comes out. Bitcoin price really rode the Rollo Coaster between 2017 and early 2019. In Korea, it soared to 28 million won and then went to 3 million won, laughing at many investors. I met three 2030 office workers who have invested in bitcoin since the surge in 2017 and heard their joy, despair, and sorrow.

# Public company employee A (39)
Loss → divorce → jackpot

Family discord, divorce, rent… . A’s life fell into a pit in an instant after investing in cryptocurrency. Mr. A first encountered bitcoin in April 2017 through a high school senior working as a development director of a cryptocurrency company. At first, Mr. A distrusted this unknown being. However, as prices began to skyrocket from the summer of that year, it became attractive. Still, I didn’t show much greed and started investing in a head-and-shoulder method that bought when the price fell a little and then sold when the price went up. At the same time, Mr. A, who gained confidence, gradually increased the investment principal to 100 million won. A, who lived in Namyangju, Gyeonggi-do, dreamed of moving to Seoul by earning money from investing in bitcoin.

Is it Hosadama? As soon as the investment capital increased, the price fell out of control. I tried to sell it at a loss, but if it rises a little, I couldn’t get the point to sell because of greed. I was confident in my usual investment, but it was difficult to keep up with the dancing bitcoin graph. Eventually, in early 2018, after seeing a huge loss, he closed the investment.

After delivering the depressing news to his wife, the couple fights repeated every day. Goseong came and went even with troublesome problems such as cleaning and laundry. Mr. A eventually broke up with his wife. Mr. A could not tolerate his failure and decided to make up for the loss. After divorce, he started investing in coins with seed money in Namyangju. However, the investment method was changed. Every night I devoted myself to technical investment analysis. The end of 2017 is an intermediate wave of Bitcoin’s rise, and I think a bigger bull market will unfold in the future. In late 2018 and early 2019, the bitcoin price plummeted to the 3 million won level, but it steadily bought more. After that, it was a fight against time. As a result, Mr. A’s prediction was correct, and the price of bitcoin surged by the end of 2020. Mr. A sold all of it when the price of bitcoin recovered to its previous high. The rate of return was 170%. I am looking for a recently reconstructed apartment in Seoul with the money. In the meantime, we are weighing the timing of the purchase, seeing that the price of bitcoin will plunge once again soon.

# Broadcaster employee B (35)
Party → Debt → Stop Loss

Mr. B’s 2017 winter was a continuation of the party. As the cryptocurrency market soared day after day, we had a daily chat with friends we had invested with. Ada (Cardano), which invested in a market price of 300 won, soared to 1,200 won, and Bitcoin Cash, which was bought for 300,000 won when going to work, was 600,000 won when leaving work. In a karaoke room, singer Park Jung-hoon’s’If It’s The Same Night’ was sang as’If it’s the same place today’.

However, he was unable to suppress his desire. When the initial investment of 10 million won quickly reached 30 million won, an internet bank opened a negative bankbook with a limit of 100 million won and started a full-fledged’debt struggle’. 100 million won was evenly divided into Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Ada. But in January 2018, like a lie, the cryptocurrency market price began to crash. Mr. B was hoping to climb again, hoping to get on the water.

The results were disastrous. After the first half of 2018, the valuation assets of Mr. B’s account shrank to 15 million won. At the beginning of 2019, it shrank to 5 million won. 95.5% of total assets disappeared. They couldn’t even sell cryptocurrencies in order not to confirm the loss.

After that, Mr. B began to fight debt. I worked part-time after work to pay off the loan interest, which is billed at 400,000 to 500,000 won each month. Pain continued to repay the debt, and naturally, I fell away from my friends. When the news about the bitcoin-related good news came out, I opened the market price window in case I was wondering, but it was only inside.

Then, as I entered graduate school in May of last year, I needed a quick turnaround. I received a scholarship, but the tuition was a big burden. Mr. B finally cleaned up all the bitcoins. The amount of money he held after staying at 110 million won for 3 years was only 8 million won. Because of this, every time I see the rising bitcoin market price every day, I feel distracted. Mr. B broke his promise that he would never borrow again and invest. On the 20th of last month, he took out 10 million won from his negative bankbook and bought another bitcoin. He said he will surely win this time.

# Large company developer C (29)
Indifference → Deposited Investment → Long-term Investment

C, who joined a leading electronic company in Korea as a software developer after graduating from college. After work, he met with friends who lived close to him, drinking beer or playing PC games, but one day he was unable to engage in conversations with his friends. Everyone was enthusiastic about Bitcoin investment, so drinking and games were behind the scenes. Mr. C thought that cryptocurrency is a bubble and kept his distance. However, when the bitcoin price soared, my mind became impatient. The university motive who invested in bitcoin earlier said that he had already earned billions of billions of dollars, and that an acquaintance developer was investing a large amount of money to establish a cryptocurrency company. Then, in November 2017, I was relieved to see a couple in their 50s at a restaurant and stock men talking about bitcoin at a coffee shop in Yeouido. I thought it wasn’t long before the bubble was over.

In fact, the price of Bitcoin has plummeted. Mr. C decided that the time to invest has now come. From the second half of 2018, Mr. C has invested in a savings method of 500,000 won from monthly salary. I also bought bitcoin as part of my incentive pay.

In this way, it has invested a total of 30 million won so far, recording a return of 350%. Mr. C is comfortable watching the recent price surge. It is expected to go up to 100 million won due to the public’s vision correction and issuance limit for Bitcoin. However, altcoins are refraining from investing because the market price can change as much as the issuer decides. Mr. C plans to stick with the current investment method for the time being.

Reporter Kim Yoo-kyung [email protected]