Substantial burn. I know what this is like. Fair play to you for keeping relatively level-headed though.

I'm very interested in decentralised technology myself, especially when it comes to those with a focus on privacy. Although I appreciate Bitcoin and a lot of others, I don't see them ever being a useful tool to combat overbearing political and corporate power while they operate with open ledgers where every transaction can be tracked.

I have a piece coming up soon that is directly related to this - I hope you manage to catch it when I post it. Aside from that, my first post here, Privacy as Data-Protection for the Individual, briefly touches on this problem while crypto is not the main focus.

All that being said, I can only hope any potential damage caused to your friendships/relationships for giving financial advice that didn't work out can be fixed. I also know how rough that can be.