Money never sleeps. In China, it’s rephrased as blockchain never sleeps, so do the crypto investors. While it is exciting and exhausting, physically and emotionally, for middle-aged cryptocurrency investors to catch up with the fresh new stuff and follow the trending news happening in the crypto world.

Why are they so obsessed?

Even when the body says no, they are reluctant to put their cellphone down, keeping eye on the on-going discussions switching from several chat groups, precisely, it explains what FOMO (fear of missing out) means.

“It is much more tired to invest in cryptocurrencies than other projects.” Yang, a middle-aged crypto investor sighed. Yang has his own business and leads a fairly good life, he learned bitcoin from a friend, since then, a tight sleep has been a luxury to him, with red eyes and stubble on his face, he looks much older than his real age. Actually he knows that he is just a pawn like many others guided by several KOL (key opinion leader) in those chat groups, in whom he believes, even though they may lead the wrong way. Every time you see the price go up, you will invest more; and when it is sluggish, you are reluctant to leave. It’s like gambling, you’ll be addicted.

Dama in the crypto world

Chinese Dama (literally Chinese Aunties) refers to a group of middle-aged Chinese women famous for rushing to purchase gold as an investment in 2013 when gold prices plunged and then they hypes the real estate market, and now they are marching into the crypto world.

“Blockchain + Dama” has been among the top list of weibo (the Chinese version of Twitter) hot search recently, as they surprisingly appeared in a blockchain conference held in Macau with approximately ten thousand attendees. Few people noticed what was going on at the conference but a dama saying blockchain had cured her husband’s prostatitis made it ironic.

These middle-aged aunties know that investments in blockchain-related projects bring great profits though few of them know what blockchain is.

Aunty Wang, a 51-year-old housewife leading a well-off life with a great house in Beijing, made a 200,000 yuan ($32,000) investment in bitcoin early in 2013, and earned some money, but later she sold bitcoin for other altcoins until all the initial investment was gone. In late 2017, she started it all over again and invested some 300,000 yuan ($47,000) when bitcoin was at its peak around $20,000. Weeks later, it plunged and she was sent to hospital for high blood pressure.

Aunty Yin, a well-educated middle class freshly retired from a public institution, learned blockchain in news and then started her crypto career. She was more cautious than Wang, invested a small sum – 10,000 yuan ($1,600) in an ICO project along with her previous colleagues. “Purchased at 30 yuan per coin, the token spiked to 85 yuan in a week. I was expecting its further spike but it went back to 30 yuan and then down to 15 yuan. My daughter ‘ordered’ me to sell all of them out and I did that. A few months later, it went up above 100 yuan but I’ve been out of this.” When asked the name of the token, Yin failed to recall it but said it’s not a shitcoin and can be traded on exchanges.

The market has a risk, especially this newly-emerged crypto market, investment wants discretion. And it does reflect that more education and popularization on cryptocurrencies and blockchain is needed in the country, as well as guidance and regulations on the crypto market.