What to say to someone pushing crypto on you

The end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023 has brought with it a multitude negative crypto newsfrom layoffs in the industry to fraud charges against one of the industry’s former gurus. Once you’ve digested the bad news (and brushed up on the basics of all things cryptocurrency), you may feel dissolved in your skepticism about investing in volatile digital assets that are not regulated or backed by central banks.

Even if you’re sure you’re not personally going to buy Bitcoin anytime soon, you may find yourself caught up in a conversation with someone who insists that the only reason you’re skeptical of crypto is because you don’t understand it . That’s why we’ve put together a short list of the primary anti-crypto talking points, so you can be armed and ready to escape a pro-crypto debate.

This is how you sound like you have just enough expertise to end a conversation with someone trying to push crypto on you.

“It’s just too much of a risk for me.”

The easiest thing you can do to end a conversation quickly is to frame crypto as too risky for you personal. If you press, you can go into a little more detail:

• So-called decentralization. Many are attracted to the decentralization of cryptos, as they are theoretically immune to government interference or manipulation. You could argue that reality is not that simple. For example like Investopedia reports, ownership is highly concentrated: Only 100 addresses hold about 12% of circulating bitcoin and total value, which would give them unusual leverage over the overall market.

• Lack of regulation. The most obvious disadvantage of decentralization is that crypto is not backed by a banking system. Right now, if the company managing your crypto holdings fails, you likely won’t have any means to get your money back – a sad fate recently experienced by many who invested with the crypto exchange FTX (a target of the aforementioned federal investigation). Of some estimatesabout a fifth of all bitcoins are now inaccessible due to lost passwords or incorrect sending addresses.
• Potential for fraud and theft. The two points above make crypto a prime opportunity for fraudsters. If someone manages to get into your crypto wallet, you have little or no recourse.

“Crypto is too hard to value.”

Compared to valuing stocks and other assets, crypto doesn’t have a long track record that you can use to form an opinion about its value. The history of crypto is short, and in that time, crypto prices have proven volatile. This time last year, Bitcoin saw its value drop from $69,000 to around $33,000 in a matter of days – and by 2023, it’s sitting at around $23,000 (admittedly a good bit better than the mid-$16,000s in December). While these declines reflect the general uncertainty in the economy, crypto was significantly hit harder than the stock market – a 60% drop, compared to 20% for the overall stock market (although some individual stocks experienced even greater volatility). To put it simply, many consider crypto to be a speculative bubble which will really burst in the end. Even if it doesn’t collapse tomorrow, crypto isn’t stable enough to risk money you can’t afford to lose.

“I can’t justify how bad crypto is for the environment.”

Another important argument against crypto: climate impact. You’ve probably heard that Bitcoin alone consumes as much electricity as the Netherlands. Combined with thousands of other cryptocurrencies, the burden on the planet only gets worse.

Probably the person pushing crypto on you doesn’t care about the environmental tax or have an argument to justify it. In this case, maybe you can start discussing climate change instead. It should probably go well.

The bottom line

Ultimately, a defining feature of the current state of cryptocurrencies is that they simply aren’t mainstream yet. You’re not crazy to err on the side of caution with a relatively new, highly speculative investment. If someone in your life insists on arguing crypto with you, stick to your decision. Tell them you understand the risks of crypto and choose not to accept them.

Note that the points above do not go into great depth, as your goal is to avoid a heated debate, not ignite one. For a more thorough critique, check out this talk from technologist David “DSHR” Rosenthalpresented at Stanford in December 2021 and adapted from a talk he gave at an investor conference, from which this article draws.