--- title: "Crypto Investors Despondent After Losing Life Savings in FTX “Bloodbath”" description: "Cryptocurrency stans are being forced to face the music as the industry continues trending ever-downward following a series of major crashes in 2022. In interviews with Reuters, crypto investors the world around bemoaned the stunning hits their digital wealth took this year amid multiple industry crashes — the most recent, and perhaps dramatic, of which […]" date: "2022-12-07" modified: "2022-12-07" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/investors-lose-savings-crypto-winter" categories: - "Blockchain" - "Cryptocurrency" - "Future Society" tags: - "crypto winter" - "ftx" - "stablecoin" - "the digest" --- # Crypto Investors Despondent After Losing Life Savings in FTX “Bloodbath” ![Cryptocurrency stans are being forced to face the music as the industry continues trending ever-downward during 2022's "crypto winter."]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Bloody Mary Crypto stans are being forced to face the music as the industry continues trending ever-downward following a series of major crashes this year. In [interviews with *Reuters*](), crypto investors the world around bemoaned the stunning hits their digital wealth has taken — the most recent and dramatic of which occurred just last month when the [FTX exchange went belly-up]() and took with it [billions of dollars in customers' money](). "This is not the winter season anymore, this is a bloodbath," Linda Obi, a Nigerian crypto investor who works for the Zenith Chain blockchain firm, told the news agency. ## Last Coins Abu Dhabi-based Jad Fawaz left his real estate job a year ago, back when the [market was significantly healthier]() and saw bitcoin trading at around $50,000 per coin, to enter the industry. Now, he's going broke. "I'm nearly bankrupt," Fawaz told *Reuters*. "I'm laughing because there's no point in exerting more depression and more frustration about it." The destitute Emirati said he went from holding 40 tokens in various currencies to just two — bitcoin and Ripple XRP, the latter of which is currently mired in a [Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit](). "These are the last two coins," Fawaz said, "and I will die before selling them." ## Cry More This is, of course, far from the first time we've heard from people going broke in crypto. In May, after the Terra/Luna "stablecoin" project proved to be anything but in a [spectacular crash]() tied into the overall downturn of the crypto market this year, the sister coins' subreddit saw an [uptick in self-harm posts]() that sounded like the modern version of the [storied rash of suicides]() when the stock market crashed in 1929. Since then, the crypto winter has only gotten colder, and while there are still [some shills]() who encourage investors to "[buy the dip]()," there's much less to be optimistic about on this side of 2022 than there was in May. On the one hand, it's certainly possible the bulls are right and a crypto investment right now would be a great idea. But it's just as likely that you'd end up just like Obi and Fawaz. **More on crypto:** [*Impoverished Crypto Bros Desperately Trying to Sell Luxury Cars*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()