Bitcoin (BTC), the flagship cryptocurrency, has lost over 80% of its value from its all-time high of nearly $20,000 in December 2017. More than $700 billion has been wiped off the crypto markets since the combined value of all digital assets briefly surpassed the $800 billion mark in January 2018.

With the market cap of all cryptoassets currently at $114 billion, and some analysts predicting the bear market will last another 2 years, Michael Zhang, a young telecom engineer working in China’s city of Hangzhou, revealed he has been participating in various activities after investing 40,000 CNY (appr. $5,930) into cryptocurrencies. Zhang also pointed out that his invested capital has been reduced to merely one-eighth of its original value.

Indeed, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) has confirmed that more than 900 digital assets have essentially become worthless. At the height of the crypto mania, Zhang conceded that he purchased EOS tokens, at the time when the crypto was trading around $20. EOS is now trading at about $2.39 according to CryptoCompare data.

Interestingly, Zhang has developed a new “mindset” towards investing as he notes:

Later I developed a Buddhist-style mindset. I don’t check on prices any more.

Chinese Citizens Still Find Ways To Trade Crypto

As crypto enthusiasts know, China’s crypto industry was booming towards the end of 2017 – which was also at about the time when Chinese regulators cracked down on initial coin offerings (ICOs) and the nation’s authorities started banning all crypto-related activities in the world’s second leading economy.

Prior to the Chinese government-led clampdown on crypto businesses, the country had been home to leading cryptoasset exchange operator Huobi and other digital asset service providers who’ve now relocated to crypto-friendly jurisdictions such as Malta and Gibraltar. Notably, the SCMP and other local news outlets have reported that, despite the crackdown on cryptos, Chinese residents are still actively trading cryptocurrencies through certain peer-to-peer (P2P) exchanges and/or online chat groups.

Although there’s still some crypto-related activity in China at present, it has slowed down significantly. Former online retail platform owner turned blockchain vlogger, Pan Yanlin reveals her YouTube channel is not receiving as many views as it was during the last crypto bull market. Like most other crypto industry participants, Yanlin’s earnings from the nascent ecosystem have been substantially reduced.

Leaving Crypto To Participate In Matchmaking Shows

Having experienced the unpleasant effects of the crypto bear market, Yanlin is now considering signing up for a famous Chinese TV matchmaking show. This, she says is something that was on her to-do list for quite some time.

Another young 30-year-old Chinese woman named Wu Xing said she left her marketing position at Huobi in September 2018. This, after working with the digital assets company for four years. Xing is now spending time relaxing with her boyfriend at home as she spends her days learning new cooking recipes.

Explaining how she thinks the crypto industry feels right now, Xing remarked:

People say ‘a day in the crypto space equals a year on earth’. But now it’s actually ‘a day on earth equals a month in the crypto space’.

Meanwhile, another Chinese resident and the COO of the Bixin crypto wallet app, Xiong Yue, observed: ”2017 was a year that you could make money on any investment. 2018 was the opposite.”

China Has 5,000 Firms Using Word “Blockchain” In Their Names

According to Yue, the present crypto bear market might be the worst in history, as there’s even more competition in the industry. Currently, there are over 5,000 registered companies in China with the word “blockchain” in their names, Yue said. This is a 10x increase from 2017 (according to qixin.com) when there were only about 500 Chinese firms that were using “blockchain” in their official company title.

Chinese citizen Xiong revealed that when his digital asset business began to struggle, he decided to start rapping about crypto. Using the stage name TCG Yinyang, he began rapping in his Chongqing dialect: “close your eyes, don’t look at the price, there ain’t no plunge if there ain’t no price.”

Going on to diss the crypto scammers, Xiong raps: “fakers are everywhere, I’ll break their legs when I bump into them.”