Growing numbers of young men are requiring NHS treatment after becoming addicted to trading bitcoin, with the health service calling for action against “unregulated cryptocurrency sites”.
Specialist NHS gambling clinics are being left to “pick up the pieces” after patients become hooked on trying to make money from the volatile markets.
Amanda Pritchard, the chief executive of NHS England, said there were “ever more opportunities springing up for younger people to get addicted to gambling — including unregulated cryptocurrency markets”.
Staff at the NHS’s network of 15 gambling clinics have begun to see addicts in crisis after losing money from cryptocurrencies, alongside those addicted to online sports betting. Most are young men, often enticed by polished social media adverts promising rapid wealth.
Speaking at the