I've lost over a million dollars in crypto.
Not in one bad trade. In three different ways: an exchange that collapsed, meme coins, and a sports bet. Each one felt reasonable at the time. Together, they taught me the most expensive lesson of my life.
$700,000 in opportunity cost on FTX
In November 2022, I had about $300,000 worth of Bitcoin and Ethereum sitting on FTX, split roughly half and half.
Why FTX? It promised 5% APY on all coins. Free yield, just for leaving my crypto there. That was the bait, and I took it.
Then FTX stopped withdrawals. Overnight, my money was stuck.
I was desperate enough to message CZ, the founder of Binance, directly on X.
The funny part: right after that message, Binance announced it wanted to buy FTX. I'm not saying I did that. I'm just saying the timing was suspicious.
The next day, the deal fell apart. Days later, FTX filed for bankruptcy. All I could do was file a claim and wait.
Two and a half years later, this email arrived.
On paper, it sounds like a happy ending. FTX paid creditors back around 119% of their claims, in cash. Most people in a bankruptcy never see their money again.
Here's the catch: my claim was frozen at November 11, 2022 prices, the day FTX filed for bankruptcy. That was close to the bottom of the crypto market.
The math:
- What I had when withdrawals stopped: about 8.6 BTC and 115 ETH, worth around $300,000.
- What FTX said it was worth: BTC at $16,871 and ETH at $1,258, the bankruptcy-day prices. That made my claim about $290,000.
- What I got paid: about 119% of the claim, roughly $345,000 in cash.
- What those same coins are worth now: with BTC around $84,000 and ETH around $2,700 as of early October 2026, about $1.03 million.
I got my money back, with interest. And I still lost out on about $700,000.
It could have been worse, depending on how you look at it. If I'd held it all in Bitcoin, the gap would be about $1.1 million. If I'd sold at the peaks, with Bitcoin near $126,000 in October 2025 and Ethereum near $4,950 in August 2025, the gap would be about $1.3 million.
Getting paid back in dollars felt like a rescue. It was really a forced sale at the worst possible price.
$300,000 in meme coins
FTX wasn't my only mistake. I also lost about $300,000 on meme coins.
SHIB. MUBI. WIF (dogwifhat). DOGE. BEAM. And more I'd rather forget.
There was no product behind them. No customers. Just a ticker symbol and the hope that someone would buy it from me for more than I paid.
$100,000 on Argentina
Then came the 2026 World Cup. I lost over $100,000 betting on Argentina.
I wasn't even wrong about Argentina. They kept winning. They just kept winning in extra time.
My bets were on Argentina winning within 90 minutes. Extra time didn't count. So every time they scored late and won, I lost.
I told myself it was a smart bet, not gambling. It's gambling.
The total
Add it up:
- FTX: about $700,000 in opportunity cost, the gap between the cash I got back and what the coins are worth today.
- Meme coins: about $300,000.
- Argentina: over $100,000.
That's over a million dollars.
I'm out
After all that, I've completely exited the crypto market. I don't own any crypto now.
I still believe in Ethereum as a technology, and in what it could do alongside AI. But I lost all my money in crypto.
It is what it is.
Don't gamble. Create value.
Looking back, all three losses have the same shape. I put money into something and hoped the price would go up, or the next buyer would pay more, or the team would win in 90 minutes. I wasn't building anything. I was betting.
Compare that with the first money I ever made online: $113.46 from a website that explained ACT questions. It was small. But it was real, because someone paid for something useful. That site went on to earn about $50,000, and the skills I learned building it made me millions.
Gambling moved money around and took mine. Creating value is what actually made me money.
So here's the lesson I paid over a million dollars to learn: don't gamble. Create value.
I'm Joe. I'm done with crypto, but if you're building something, find me on X at @JoeXuY or on LinkedIn.