Crypto Buyers Likely to Be Psychopaths, According to New Study

A recent study published in Personality and Individual Differences, a peer-reviewed academic journal covering miscellaneous topics related to psychology, has found that people who buy cryptocurrencies tend to display anti-social personality traits based on a survey of over 500 people.

Specifically, the researchers focus on the so-called “dark tetrad” personalities. The term, which was proposed by Canadian psychologists 20 years ago, refers to such evil traits as psychopathy, narcissism, Machiavellianism, and sadism.

The study says that Machiavellians, who tend to distrust the government, get drawn to cryptocurrencies. Last year, another study also found that people who possess the aforementioned socially aversive personality traits are also more likely to believe in conspiracy theories.

Overconfident cryptocurrency investors, who believe that cryptocurrencies are likely to go to the moon, elicit some of the worst signs of narcissism, which include overconfidence, grandiosity, and egocentricity.   

The researchers also linked the fear of missing out to psychopathy. The reckless nature of psychopaths makes them more prone to taking big risks, which is why crypto investors often seek get-rich-quick schemes.

Cryptocurrency investors also derive pleasure from seeing other people suffering losses. This is a sign of everyday sadism, according to the unflattering research paper.   

Dark tetrad studies have been the subject of many flashy headlines over the past two decades. It is worth mentioning that some critics dismiss them as “too superficial” since they tend to use only a few criteria and tend to oversimplify personality traits. However, some psychologists defend the validity of dark tetrad studies, claiming that they have to be oversimplified in order to be accessible to the general population.