I’ve long thought that buying crypto is less like an investment, which is how it is usually touted, and more akin to gambling. There’s the get-rich-quick promises, the gamified trading platforms and the sheer unpredictability of the markets.
It wasn’t until I hosted the latest series of the FT’s Tech Tonic podcast that I realised quite how deep and disturbing the parallels are. “A Sceptic’s Guide to Crypto” took me on a wild ride, from monomaniacal tech billionaires in Virginia to no-nonsense cattle farmers in Wyoming. But it was in the Scottish Borders, about 20 miles south of Edinburgh, that I came across Castle Craig, an imposing 18th-century manor that has been used as a rehabilitation centre for more than three decades.
Castle Craig treats all kinds of addictions, from alcoholism to compulsive gambling, but, in 2016, it became the first rehab clinic to diagnose and treat crypto addiction. Since then, it has worked with almost 250 patients, and the numbers are growing every year.