The pain of the hodlers

Follow Us Get the newsletter Hi, it's Olga. It's been a bad few weeks to be a crypto investor. Bitcoin, the world's biggest cryptocurrency, fell 47% between April 15 and May 23. And though crypto has always been a volatile bet, investors' losses in last week's selloff have exceeded any of the prior crashes, according to tracker Glassnode. There are several known drivers of the dive: China imposed more restrictions on cryptocurrency use. U.S. regulators signaled they may not be ready to approve a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund yet, and have hinted at additional rules around Bitcoin trading on exchanges. Meanwhile, Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said that the carmaker will stop accepting Bitcoin for its products. Musk, whose company had been taking the currency for only a few weeks, cited concerns over the energy use of Bitcoin mining. Over the last few weeks, Twitter has been full of half-joking cries of anguish. "Yesterday: When lambo? Today: Where house?" tweeted a user with the handle @HODLjesus. "Lambo" is slang for the Lamborghinis purchased with crypto fortunes. "Lambo for sale. Low mileage," added Barry Silbert, founder of Digital Currency Group, which owns crypto businesses like Grayscale Investments, Genesis Trading and CoinDesk. Die-hard fans also sounded another familiar refrain: Buy the dip. "#Bitcoin may lose a battle here and there, but it will win the war," Tyler Winklevoss tweeted on Monday, when Bitcoin started to edge back up amid a boost from the Consensus conference, run by Silbert's CoinDesk, that started this week. Bitcoin also got a boost on Monday after Musk tweeted that the currency could get greener.  "I have bought the dip," said crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun. So did Laszlo Hanyecz, the man known for executing the first commercial transaction using Bitcoins, buying two pizzas with 10,000 Bitcoins almost exactly 11 years ago. (To mark the anniversary, Hanyecz ordered in Papa John's.) "I buy Bitcoin whenever I can. I bought more when I saw it on sale," he said in an email. Hanyecz believes that some of the crypto newcomers enticed by its run-up in price will stick around despite the tumult. Even with Musk's tempestuous relationship with the cryptocurrency, he "probably got a lot of people to find out about Bitcoin," Hanyecz said. "Hopefully some of the Elon fans get back in and learn about Bitcoin proper, and why it exists." It's too early to say if Bitcoin's new converts will be willing to sustain big losses. Crypto has progressed from a niche concept to an investment class now held by a sizable portion of American adults, according to surveys. Some people poured in their life savings and retirement money into the latest rally, only to see it melt away in a matter of weeks. It's possible they'll stay in and reap untold riches, like investors before them. Some believe Bitcoin could still reach $1 million in the next decade. Then again, they could lose even more. According to tracker 99 Bitcoins, the number of Bitcoin obituaries—articles forecasting that Bitcoin's price will go down to zero—just hit an all-time high. —Olga Kharif If you read one thing An experimental anti-aging company wants to prove its technology works on dogs in order to entice human customers to try it. "If we can do this for dogs, people will want it, too," its founder says.   The B2B data onboarding platform Importing spreadsheet data shouldn't require messy CSV templates or expensive services teams. Flatfile's intuitive data import wizard guides users to import even the messiest data, securely, and with confidence. No Excel formatting, no custom import scripts, and no need to build vs. buy. Get a Demo And here's what you need to know in global technology news Apple and Epic made their closing arguments on Monday.  Amazon could announce it's buying the MGM movie studio as soon as Tuesday.   Jack Dorsey's Square is quietly preparing to add checking and savings accounts.  Airbnb has revamped its site as travel rebounds post-pandemic.  Solar power has been getting dramatically cheaper for about a decade—until this year, when the price for solar modules rose about 18%.  The movie "The Boss Baby: Family Business," will debut online the same day as it's released in theaters.    Like Fully Charged? | Get unlimited access to Bloomberg.com, where you'll find trusted, data-based journalism in 120 countries around the world and expert analysis from exclusive daily newsletters.   You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Fully Charged newsletter. Unsubscribe | Bloomberg.com | Contact Us Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022