--- title: "Amateur Investor Laments Losing $80,000 on Crypto" description: "It's been over a year since last summer's crypto crashes, and investors who lost on the digital currencies are still licking their wounds." date: "2023-09-10" modified: "2023-09-10" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/investor-laments-losing-crypto" categories: - "Blockchain" - "Cryptocurrency" - "Future Society" tags: - "crypto" - "cryptocurrencies" - "the digest" - "web3" --- # Amateur Investor Laments Losing $80,000 on Crypto ![It's been over a year since last summer's crypto crashes, and investors who lost on the digital currencies are still licking their wounds.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Margin Call It's been just over a year since last summer's crypto crashes, and investors who lost out are still licking their wounds. One young crypto enthusiast, 22-year-old software engineer Ethan Nguonly, reflected on his crypto losses [to *CNBC*]() this week, explaining to the broadcaster that back in 2021, he invested — on margin — a sizeable $40,000 into Bitcoin and Ethereum, while picking up some dogecoin on the side. At the time, the market was soaring, and Nguonly was soon emboldened to pour another $15,000 into Bitcoin. When the industry was at its peak, the amateur investor told *CNBC*, he was up an impressive $50,000 from his initial investments. But when the market crashed in 2022, it crashed hard, vaporizing [trillions of dollars]() in the process. Nguonly, for his part, tallied a staggering $80,000 in losses, a figure made worse by the young engineer's risky decision to borrow in order to invest. "I was investing with some money that I didn't necessarily have," Nguonly told *CNBC*. "Once the crypto market kind of reversed, my losses were amplified." ## Maybe Next Time Though $80k is a lot of cash to watch go down the drain, it's worth noting that Nguonly, though he's quite young, seems financially resilient. The engineer told *CNBC* that he's been investing with the help of his parents since he was a teen, and at 22, his portfolio includes two houses and $135,000 in retirement and brokerage funds. (Other former crypto investors, on the other hand, have been [less than lucky]() in their post-crash outcomes.) Amazingly, Nguonly told *CNBC* that he still "\[believes\] in cryptocurrencies as a whole," though he noted that he does "think that a lot of these altcoins can be very risky and I avoid putting any money towards them." A curious take, given that the vast majority of the money he put into the market seems to have been invested into Bitcoin and Ethereum rather than altcoins, and Nguonly still lost out in a major way. But, hey, [live your truth](). The lesson Nguonly says he did learn? That you should "only invest money you have," the engineer told CNBC, "and don't go un-leveraged into very speculative investments." So, in other words, don't borrow money from a broker to pour money into digital currency that [may or may not]() qualify as an unregistered security, is sometimes [named after sex acts](), and also has close ties to [expensive JPEGs of digital monkeys](). Hindsight's 20/20. **More on web3 woes:** [*The Bored Ape Crypto Just Hit an All-time Low*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()