After surreptitiously racking up $180,000 in debt as a result of his cryptocurrency trading activities, a man who admits to being addicted to cryptocurrency trading and who is also the father of two children faces the terrifying potential of losing his family forever.

Reddit user “u/Leather Opposite2135” posted his account on the r/relationship advisor forum on February 21. In the post, the user indicated that he began experimenting with cryptocurrency trading around the year 2021.

Fast forward another two years, and we find him living on the streets now, having been thrown out of the house by his wife and at least $180,000 in debt.

“At first, it was just a hobby,” Leather said. Since it is about technology, I thought that aspect was quite fascinating. She joined various online communities, including Discord, and after a while, she saw some people get involved in bitcoin trading. Afterwards, I was instantly hooked.

After just one year, he had already “burned” a total of $50,000 by trading cryptocurrencies, with most of the money lost coming from his software company.

“Fast-forward another year, and it got really ugly,” Leather said, adding that his addiction had begun to take root when he began supporting his business through other methods, such as personal loans and credit cards. “Go ahead another year and it got really bad,” Leather added.

“I’m sure you’ve heard it before, but I found all kinds of methods to finance it, including getting personal loans, credit cards, and lying about everything,” the announcer says. “I’m sure you’ve heard it before.”

“I played on my phone when I went to the bathroom, while the kids were sleeping, and on my computer when I wasn’t busy working,” the player said. “When I wasn’t busy working, I played on my phone.”

Leather said that about three weeks ago he finally told his wife the truth about the debt they owed. His wife did not react well to the news and she threatened to divorce him and take control of the house they shared.

Since then, he has cut himself off from the cryptocurrency market, handed over management of his trading accounts to his wife and has met weekly with a gambling addiction counselor. However, he admits that breaking the gambling addiction was difficult at first.

“Emotionally, the first two weeks were a disaster for me. I was out of control. I had to suddenly quit something that I was spending at least ten hours a day doing. While all this was going on, a small, small voice on my shoulder kept encouraging me to go see some graphics.

Although Leather Opposite2135 deleted the original Reddit post, it is not the first nor the last story to bring to light the potential consequences of being addicted to cryptocurrency trading.

Along with treating addiction to alcohol and narcotics, as well as mental health issues, rehab clinics around the world have begun offering treatment for compulsive behaviors like addiction to cryptocurrency trading.

“Similar to gambling, many of them will claim that it interferes with their daily lives, that they spend a lot of time thinking about it, and that they may also be experiencing financial difficulties as a consequence.”

Dr. Hronis noted that addiction to cryptocurrency trading is comparable to online gambling, as both include “easy accessibility” that can be “very harmful to people.”

It is possible to see a person doing their typical day-to-day activities, such as going to work, spending time with family and friends, engaging in hobbies, etc., while at the same time trading those activities. This indicates that a person’s addiction can genuinely progress to a significant level before someone else in that person’s life is aware of it.

“Given how recent cryptocurrency trading has emerged, I think therapy is still catching up to some degree. While the general concepts of addiction treatment can certainly apply here, there are quirks with trading. of cryptocurrencies that would benefit from being better.” understood to better guide clinical therapies,” said Dr. Hronis. “There is a lot of room for improvement in this area.”