22-year-old Google Engineer lost over Tk87 lakh in crypto

22-year-old, Ethan Nguonly, a software engineer with Google recently talked about his biggest financial mistake. Mr Nguonly revealed that he lost about 87 lakh taka ($80,000) by investing in crypto on margin- it means using borrowed money to purchase cryptocurrency, CNBC Make It reported.

The young techie, living in Orange County, California started investing in the stock market with the help of his parents before he was a teenager. His investment portfolio includes more than Tk 1.32 crore in retirement and brokerage accounts, plus two houses.

The techie shared that he lost USD 80,000 in crypto between November 2021 and June 2022. 

He told that his losses include Tk 31.6 lakh of his original investment and an estimated Tk 52.68 lakh in unrealised gains. 

He told the publication that he had already invested around Tk 43.45 lakh in Bitcoin and Ethereum, apart from a few thousand taka that he used in altcoins like Shiba Inu and Dogecoin. 

But as bitcoin‍‍`s price went on a tear, he decided to buy more - about Tk 16 lakh worth - on margin.

The 22-year-old told the publication that he was up about Tk 55.3 lakh as the price of Bitcoin reached its all-time high. But at the end of 2021 the crypto market took a turn, and by the summer of 2022 bitcoin‍‍`s price crashed over 70 per cent.

"I was investing with some money that I didn‍‍`t necessarily have," Mr Nguonly told CNBC Make It. "Once the crypto market kind of reversed, my losses were amplified."

Looking back, Mr. Nguonly doesn‍‍`t necessarily regret the decision to invest in crypto, he borrowed money for investments. He continues to keep some money invested in cryptocurrency but sticks to historically more established tokens like Bitcoin and Ethereum versus the more volatile altcoins.

"I still believe in cryptocurrencies as a whole," he says. "However, I do think that a lot of these altcoins can be very risky and I avoid putting any money towards them."

The biggest lesson he learned from his mistake is to "only invest money you have and don‍‍`t go un-leveraged into very speculative investments," he says.

In an earlier interview, he told CNBC that he is aiming for an early retirement with a target of accumulating $5 million (roughly over Taka 54 crore) by the age of 35.