Cryptocurrency trading should be regulated in a bid to limit the harm caused by gambling addiction, the NHS chief has suggested.
Amanda Pritchard said the health service has seen a rise in the number of young people seeking help after getting hooked on the volatile digital currency market.
He warned that the NHS risks becoming a “costly safety net” if the nation fails to “grasp the nettle” and do more to prevent ill health, rather than simply treat it.
Ms Pritchard, chief executive of NHS England, raised the alarm today at the NHS ConfedExpo conference in Manchester following a recent visit to an NHS addictions centre.
Amanda Pritchard said the health service has seen a rise in the number of young people seeking help after getting hooked on the volatile digital currency market. She warned that the NHS risks becoming a “costly safety net” if the nation fails to “grasp the nettle” and do more to prevent ill health, rather than simply treat it.
Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency, was trading at $69,300 this afternoon, but this year it reached a high of $73,700 and a low of $24,800. Others have seen their value destroyed
Cryptocurrencies are digital currencies that escape the control of authorities such as central banks and governments.
They are bought and sold like stocks and traded globally, but their values fluctuate wildly and they are the focus of speculative traders hoping to make quick profits.
Addiction experts warn that it’s easy for traders to get “trapped in a cycle of speculation, profit and loss,” and social media gurus tempt people to try it with sexy stories about how they made a fortune.
MPs on the Treasury select committee have previously described digital markets as akin to the Wild West, with committee chair Harriett Baldwin branding the coins “fool’s gold”.
Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency, was trading at $69,300 this afternoon, but this year it reached a high of $73,700 and a low of $24,800. Others have seen their value wiped out.
Mrs Pritchard said: “In 1948 betting shops were still illegal. Fast forward to the beginning of this year.
‘The NHS has opened a 15th specialist gambling addiction center in response to a real and growing social need.
‘The NHS can help, it will help. But again, we cannot solve this alone.
‘So, as a society, we need to ask ourselves: are we okay with continuing to pick up the pieces while the methods used to keep people hooked become increasingly sophisticated?
‘More and more opportunities are emerging for young people to become addicted to gambling, including (as staff told me when I visited the National Problem Gambling clinic earlier this year) in unregulated cryptocurrency markets.
‘Will we tackle the problems at their source or accept the NHS becoming an expensive safety net?
“That kind of service is what the NHS was born to do, but it shouldn’t be our ambition now.”
He later added: “The addictive habit causes people to invest their own money in something of no fixed value, leaving the NHS to pick up the pieces; this growing problem could create greater demand for the health service.”
“Gambling can have a debilitating impact on personal relationships, your finances and seriously damage your mental wellbeing, so if you are concerned about your relationship with gambling, please come to our self-referral clinics or speak to your GP.”
The Treasury Committee report, released last year, called for cryptocurrencies to be regulated as gambling, rather than a financial service, to avoid creating a “halo” of credibility around the $1.2 trillion market. Dollars.
He highlighted that a 2022 survey showed that around 10 per cent of UK adults (five million people) own or have held crypto assets, with “cryptocurrencies” being the most common type (79 per cent).
The most cited reason for owning crypto assets was that they were a “fun investment” (52 percent).
There was also anecdotal evidence of schoolchildren speculating in crypto assets.
The price volatility of unbacked cryptoassets (and their lack of intrinsic value) exposes consumers to significant risks of loss.
Dr Niall Campbell, a consultant psychiatrist specializing in addiction treatment at Priory Hospital Roehampton, said: “Over the last few years we have seen a steady stream of patients who have had serious difficulties with cryptocurrency trading.
‘For some it becomes an addiction, in the sense that it takes over their lives. As with other addictions, there are huge consequences for your mental health, your financial health, and your relational health.
“It can be very similar to gambling addiction, as people constantly chase their losses.
“We would use a treatment model similar to other addictions, recommending abstinence.”