Getting Rich from Cryptocurrency: The Illusion of Huge Profits

VTV.vn - In the whirlwind of getting rich from virtual currency, many people, especially young people, have rushed into this market with the hope of changing their lives after just a few "surfs".

Who is caught up in the virtual currency craze?

Drawn to the prospect of getting rich quick, many young people invest in digital currency (virtual currency) recklessly, only to realize that behind the "gains" are unforgettable losses and painful lessons.

Recently, a series of fraud cases involving virtual currency have been exposed, showing the level of risk and the increasingly sophisticated nature of this type of investment. Worryingly, many young people have fallen into this vortex.

Mr. TH (30 years old, office worker in Hanoi ) said that he started to know about cryptocurrencies in mid-2021, when social networks were flooded with information about Bitcoin, Ethereum and emerging "coins".

“At first, I just wanted to find out, but then I saw my friends boasting of 50-70% profits in a few months, so I wanted to try it too. At that time, Bitcoin was around 35,000 USD, everyone said it would go up to 100,000 USD, so I bought a few million to try,” Mr. H. recalled.

Seeing that trading was so easy, just download the app, deposit money and click buy/sell, Mr. H. was quickly caught up in the spiral of prices going up and down every minute. “I once spent 20 million, and made a profit of 3 million after a few days, feeling as happy as winning the lottery. But then just one price drop, all the profit evaporated, and I lost a few million more,” he said.

Mr. H. realized that what makes virtual currency attractive is that it can be bought with very little capital. Just a few hundred thousand or a few million can own a part of Bitcoin. Everyone thinks the opportunity is within reach, but in reality, the winners are usually the early ones, while the newcomers only bear the risks.

After many ups and downs, Mr. TH learned a lesson: “Some people say that investing 10 million can make a profit of several billion, but few people tell stories of losing everything. I believed it and paid for it.”

Without knowledge and risk management tools, easy profit opportunities become traps that cause many people to go broke overnight. Photo: Unsplash.

NQD (32 years old, living in Ha Dong, Hanoi) started learning about cryptocurrencies in 2022, mainly out of curiosity and wanting to “catch up with the trend”. Being a techie, he quickly accessed a series of forums, investment groups, and instructional videos online.

“I remember there was a time when my account increased by nearly 40% overnight. But that joy did not last long. Just a few weeks later, the price fell freely, and I lost almost all my capital. It felt like someone was draining my blood,” Mr. D. said.

According to Mr. D., the danger of this currency is the feeling of “luck”. People win the first few times, think they are good, then play more and more recklessly and believe they understand the market, until their account is burned.

However, Mr. D. did not completely abandon the market but maintained long-term investments with small amounts of money, considering it as tuition. “I understand that cryptocurrencies are not bad, but if you rush into them with the mentality of getting rich quickly, you will definitely fail. The most important thing is to be alert and disciplined,” he said.

In fact, there are still people who make money from the boom of the cryptocurrency market, but most of them are just lucky in the short term. When lacking knowledge and risk management tools, the opportunity to make easy profits becomes a trap that makes many people "burn their pockets" overnight. According to experts, it is the gap in knowledge and the legal system that causes most individual investors to fall into a "spiral" of losses.

“90% of investors can lose money”

Financial experts say that cryptocurrency investment and trading activities in Vietnam have been in a “legal gray area” for many years. In essence, cryptocurrency is not a legally recognized currency, but only a form of digital trading asset, without a full legal framework to protect investors.

Up to now, there has only been Resolution 05 of the Government on solutions to perfect the institution for developing the digital economy to build a legal framework for managing digital assets, digital currencies, and cryptocurrencies. This is considered the first step to bring this new type of asset out of the "gray zone", towards a transparent and controlled management mechanism.

Accordingly, there are two main reasons why many Vietnamese people flock to this market. Firstly, cryptocurrencies are almost unregulated by tax and do not require declaration, so they are considered a "tax haven".

Second, people's ignorance is exploited through seminars, investment groups and excessive promotion activities. Many people are lured into the promise of "huge profits", while the nature of the transaction is that the later comes to pay the earlier comes, the real value of the assets is almost negligible.

Cryptocurrency is not yet a currency recognized by Vietnamese law, but is only a form of digital transaction asset, without a full legal corridor to protect investors.

Dr. Dang Minh Tuan, former Chairman of the Vietnam Blockchain Alliance, said that it is necessary to clearly distinguish between virtual currency (cryptocurrencies) and blockchain technology - a platform that can be legally applied in the financial sector. The government currently allows pilot applications of blockchain to issue digital assets, for example, instead of printed shares, electronic tokens can be issued. In essence, it is a legal capital mobilization channel, similar to securities, not currency.

This pilot aims to bring asset digitization into a management framework, serving the goals of anti-money laundering, anti-tax loss and fraud reduction. If properly oriented, blockchain can become a tool to support businesses in transparent capital mobilization. However, in reality, most activities labeled as "virtual currency" in Vietnam do not follow this direction, but are exploited by the name of technology to call for illegal investment.

Take the case of Mr. Nguyen Hoa Binh, who was recently arrested. The subjects set up a company, issued their own "currency", organized seminars and advertised loudly to gain trust. But the mobilized capital was not put into any clear business activities; the increase or decrease in value only depended on the number of buyers, not on the actual foundation.

Assessing the profitability of cryptocurrencies, Mr. Harry Vu, Operations Director of SotaTek Technology Company, made a comparison: “In the stock market, a field with a legal corridor and a higher level of trust, up to 70% of investors still lose money, only 30% make a profit. With cryptocurrencies, this number is even more severe: 90% of investors can lose money.”

A report by VinaCapital also informed that there are currently about 17 million Vietnamese people participating in cryptocurrency trading, with a total annual transaction value of over 100 billion USD. Most of the activities take place on foreign exchanges such as Binance, Bybit, or platforms in Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong (China). This reality reflects a strong investment wave but at the same time also reveals the lack of technical and legal understanding of many people when "investing in things they do not understand, just because they see others doing the same".

Mr. Vu recommends that investors should have strategies and make wise choices by carefully understanding the reliability, the team behind it, the development roadmap and the practical application of the projects before investing money. If a project cannot clearly answer these questions, it is likely to be a risky platform.

The digital asset market in Vietnam is at a turning point, opening up both development opportunities and potential risks. Perhaps the most urgent thing now is to quickly form a clear enough legal framework to protect investors and encourage innovation. When a transparent monitoring mechanism and regulations on issuance and trading are completed, the market will gradually separate legal blockchain applications from disguised speculative activities. Only then can Vietnam exploit the potential of the digital economy without encountering the "floor collapse" of hundreds of billions in recent times.

Source: https://vtv.vn/lam-giau-tu-tien-so-ao-mong-loi-nhuan-khong-lo-10025091116122719.htm