Cryptocurrency investment: A safe venture or a new type of gambling?

Abstract

Investment behaviour and gambling overlap from time to time. It is stated that there is a spectrum between gambling and investment behaviour, and there are “speculative” investment tools in the middle of the spectrum. Considering that it presents a higher risk because of its high volatility compared to traditional investment instruments, trading cryptocurrencies can become pathological and gambling-like. This study aims to investigate the pathological trading behaviour and frequency among cryptocurrency investors, to investigate additional gambling disorders, and to investigate the relationship between cryptocurrency investment behaviour and impulsivity. An online questionnaire was created to investigate these issues. In the questionnaire, the Pathological Trading Scale, the South Oaks Gambling Screen Test and the Barratt Impulsivity Scale were all used. A total of three hundred persons were evaluated. We found that total pathological traders were 48.7% of all traders, impulsivity in 18–25 age group was higher, high-frequency traders were more pathological, and their impulsivity was higher; also margin traders and day traders show more pathological behaviour. It seems that an important part of cryptocurrency traders may be pathological, and certain of them may have cryptocurrency addiction, which can be evaluated as a subtype of gambling disorder. Resume Le comportement de l’investisseur et celui du joueur se chevauchent de temps a autre. On dit qu’il existe un spectre entre ces deux comportements, au milieu duquel se trouvent des outils d’investissement «\xa0speculatif\xa0». Compte tenu de leur risque plus eleve du a leur plus grande volatilite par rapport aux instruments d’investissement traditionnels, les echanges de cryptomonnaies peuvent devenir pathologiques et s’apparenter aux jeux de hasard. Cette etude vise a analyser le comportement des investisseurs de cryptomonnaies et la frequence de leurs operations afin d’examiner d’autres troubles lies a la pratique des jeux de hasard et la relation entre le comportement des investisseurs de cryptomonnaies et l’impulsivite. Un questionnaire en ligne a ete cree a cette fin et la Pathological Trading Scale, le South Oaks Gambling Screen Test et la Barratt Impulsivity Scale y etaient utilises. En tout, 300\xa0personnes ont ete evaluees. Nous avons constate que les joueurs pathologiques representaient 48,7% de tous les speculateurs, que l’impulsivite dans le groupe des personnes de 18 a 25\xa0ans etait plus elevee, et que les speculateurs qui effectuaient des transactions plus souvent etaient plus pathologiques et faisaient preuve d’une plus grande impulsivite; de plus, les speculateurs sur marge et les speculateurs sur seance affichaient un comportement plus pathologique. Il semble qu’une proportion importante des speculateurs de cryptomonnaies peuvent etre pathologiques, et que certains d’entre eux peuvent etre dependants a l’egard des cryptomonnaies, ce qui peut etre evalue comme un sous-type de jeu compulsif.