The head of the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS), Amanda Pritchard, has urged lawmakers to address the growing issue of crypto trading addiction among young people.
Call for Legislative Action
Speaking at the ConfedExpo of NHS managers in Manchester on June 12, Pritchard highlighted a disturbing trend: the increasing number of young people seeking help for crypto trading addictions. This year, the NHS opened its fifteenth specialist gambling addiction clinic to meet this “real and growing social need.”
“As a society, we need to ask: Are we okay to just continue picking up the pieces while the methods employed to keep people hooked get ever more sophisticated?” Pritchard questioned. She noted that unregulated cryptocurrency markets are contributing to the problem, creating new opportunities for addiction.
The Impact on the NHS
Pritchard emphasized that this addictive behavior involves people investing in volatile assets with no fixed value, leaving the NHS to manage the fallout. “This growing problem could create further demand for the health service,” she warned, stressing the need to reconsider the allocation of the NHS’s finite resources.
Legislative Context
In June 2023, King Charles enacted laws to regulate cryptocurrencies under the same rules as other financial services. However, the UK Treasury rejected a May proposal to regulate crypto retail trading like gambling, opting instead to treat it as a financial service. Economic Secretary Bim Afolami mentioned in April that new laws are forthcoming, which will bring activities like operating exchanges and taking custody of customer assets under regulatory oversight.
The Lure of High-Risk Investments
Many crypto users are attracted to high-risk tokens, hoping for substantial returns. Memecoins have seen a resurgence in popularity, despite their lack of inherent value. Decentralized crypto exchanges allow users to place highly leveraged bets on token price directions, often resulting in significant losses when bets fail. The always-on nature of the online crypto space has also led to a rise in crypto gambling platforms.
One such platform, Polymarket, has nearly $29 million in value locked, according to DefiLlama. It offers bets on various events, including sports and elections, as well as niche markets like whether Elon Musk will ban Apple devices at his companies.
