Yuri Popovich witnessed the burning of his neighbors' house, where the owners had "hid" a large sum of money.

Then he decided not to invest in real money, but in virtual money - cryptocurrencies.

But now, several years later, it is suffering the same fate as its neighbor, as the value of cryptocurrencies is plummeting.

"I can't sleep normally, I've lost four kilograms, I have a headache and I'm anxious," Popovich told

TheGuardian

.

Bitcoin fell below the "red line" of $20,000 this month, from $69,000 in November.

The value of the entire market also fell, from the three trillion dollars it was worth just six months ago to less than a billion dollars.

NFTs are also down

Parallel to the growth of Bitcoin, NFTs became popular, that is, digital works of art such as paintings, photographs, compositions... Like cryptocurrencies, they can be bought or sold on open exchanges and with a pseudonym, which guarantees the anonymity of virtual art owner.

But at the beginning of 2022, this market also suffered a big decline.

Due to this decline, many investors will lose their invested money.

And there are quite a few of them, because many entered this story motivated by the crypto boom that happened a year ago.

Accordingly, Bitcoin jumped from a low of five thousand dollars in March 2020 to $60 thousand a year later.

According to Tunis Brosens, Chief Economist for Digital Finance at the Dutch bank ING, this decline is likely to affect only cryptocurrency seekers, and he adds that although he does not want to minimize the plight of virtual cryptocurrency investors, the importance of this currency is exaggerated.

"It would be an exaggeration of the role that crypto currently plays in the economic and financial system to say that there could be consequences for the wider financial system or even a global recession caused directly by crypto assets," said Bronser.

Even the wealthiest investors are feeling the pinch

The fall in the value of cryptocurrencies affects not only small investors, but also those who have invested tens of millions of euros in this market.

One of them is Changpeng Zhao, the multibillionaire owner of the crypto exchange Binance.

In his opinion, this virtual sector will certainly recover – although it may take time.

“I think with this price drop, it will probably take a while to come back.

Maybe a few months or years," Zhao said.

But not everyone believes in it.

David Gerrard, author of The 50-Foot Blockchain Attack, says that Bitcoin will never be able to recover its previous value.

“All you need is software, blockchain and more enthusiasm.

But if there is a real consumer bubble, then the value that cryptocurrencies have had in the past may never be reached.

The bubble of the 2021 season cannot be repeated," said Gerrard.

/Telegraph/