Crypto platforms feel like gambling because they are: Users are drawn to high-risk behaviour

Crypto trading platforms, where millions of people buy and sell digital currencies, don’t just look like casinos. In many ways, they function like them. Michal Parzuchowski/Unsplash, CC BY

When Kim Kardashian paid a fine in 2022 for promoting a crypto token without revealing she was paid for it, and Matt Damon told us that “fortune favours the brave,” in a crypto currency ad, it became clear that crypto had crossed over into pop culture.

But beneath the celebrity sheen and Super Bowl ads, there is something that feels more familiar.